A rep for Beals confirms exclusively to PEOPLE that the 41-year-old actress is expecting her first child in November.
The father is her husband of seven years, Canadian entrepreneur Ken Dixon, who has two children from a previous marriage.
The pregnancy is something of a role reversal: On Showtime's The L Word, Beals portrays a lesbian whose partner, played by Laurel Holloman, is pregnant.
Despite her appearance in such films as The Runaway Jury and Roger Dodger, it was Beals's starring role on the L Word (which begins filming its third season this month) that prompted talk about a career resurgence – more than 20 years after her first star turn in Flashdance.
