Regina King

Regina Rene King (born January 15, 1971[1]) is an American actress and director. She is the recipient of several awards, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and four acting Primetime Emmy Awards, the most for an African-American performer.[2] Time magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2019.[3]

Regina King
King at the 2018 San Diego Comic-Con
Born	Regina Rene King January 15, 1971 Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Alma mater	University of Southern California
Occupation	Actress director
Years active	1985–present
Spouse(s)	Ian Alexander ​ ​ (m. 1997; div. 2007)​
Children	1
Awards	Full list

King first gained attention for her role in the television series 227 from 1985 to 1990. She rose to prominence with roles in the films Friday (1995) and Jerry Maguire (1996), and the crime television series Southland (2009–2013). From 2015 to 2017, King starred in the ABC anthology series American Crime, for which she won two Primetime Emmy Awards, and in 2018, she starred in the Netflix miniseries Seven Seconds, for which she won her third Emmy Award. Her role as a troubled mother in the 2018 film If Beale Street Could Talk won her the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress and the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress. King won her fourth Emmy award for starring in the 2019 superhero television series Watchmen.

King has also played supporting roles in the films Boyz n the Hood (1991), Poetic Justice (1993), Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde (2003), Ray (2004), and Miss Congeniality 2: Armed & Fabulous (2005). Her other television roles include the drama series The Leftovers from 2015 to 2017 and the sitcom The Big Bang Theory from 2013 to 2019.

King has directed episodes for several television shows, including Scandal in 2015 and 2016 and This Is Us in 2017. She has also directed the music video for the 2010 song "Finding My Way Back" by Jaheim. Her feature film directorial debut came with the drama One Night in Miami (2020), for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Director at the 78th Golden Globe Awards. She became the second black woman to be nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Director since 2015.

Early life and education

King was born in Los Angeles and grew up in View Park–Windsor Hills. She is the eldest daughter of Gloria (Cain), a special education teacher, and Thomas King, an electrician.[4][5] King's parents divorced in 1979.[6] King's younger sister is former actress Reina King, who appeared on What's Happening Now!! King attended Westchester High School; graduating in 1988[7] and later attended the University of Southern California.[8]

Career

King began her acting career in 1985 playing the role of Brenda Jenkins on the television series 227,[9] a role she played until the show ended in 1990. She went on to appear in the John Singleton films Boyz n the Hood, Poetic Justice and Higher Learning.[10] In 1995, she was featured in the hit comedy film Friday.[10] In 1996, she starred in the Martin Lawrence dark comedy-romance A Thin Line Between Love and Hate as Mia.[11] King gained fame starring in the 1996 blockbuster romantic comedy film Jerry Maguire as Marcee Tidwell.[10][12] She had a role in Enemy of the State[13] and was also featured in How Stella Got Her Groove Back, Mighty Joe Young, Down to Earth, Daddy Day Care, Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde, A Cinderella Story, Ray and Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous.[14][15]

Beginning in the mid-2000s, she had ongoing roles on several TV series, including acclaimed work as the voice of Huey and Riley Freeman for the animated series The Boondocks and Detective Lydia Adams on the TNT police drama Southland.[16] She also appeared in roles on 24, The Big Bang Theory, and Shameless. In 2007 she played Lisa Moore in This Christmas. She was a cast member on ABC's John Ridley-penned ensemble drama American Crime, and played a devout member of the Nation of Islam and sister to a drug addict accused of murder.[17]

In September 2015 and September 2016, King won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or a Movie for American Crime.[18][17] In 2018, she played the role of the mother of a murdered black teenager in Netflix original series Seven Seconds, winning her third Primetime Emmy Award.[19] Her performance in the 2018 film If Beale Street Could Talk, directed by Barry Jenkins, garnered critical acclaim and earned her the Golden Globe Award and Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.[20]

In July 2019, it was announced King would direct One Night in Miami based upon the play of the same name.[21] Principal photography began in January 2020.[22] The film had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival on September 7, 2020, the first film directed by an African-American woman to be selected in the festival's history.[23]

Personal life

In 1997, King married Ian Alexander, but they divorced in 2007. They have one son, born in 1996.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1991	Boyz n the Hood	Shalika
1993	Poetic Justice	Iesha
1995	Higher Learning	Monet
1995	Friday	Dana Jones
1996	A Thin Line Between Love and Hate	Mia Williams
1996	Jerry Maguire	Marcee Tidwell
1998	Rituals	N/A	Short film
1998	How Stella Got Her Groove Back	Vanessa
1998	Enemy of the State	Carla Dean
1998	Mighty Joe Young	Cecily Banks
1999	Love and Action in Chicago	Lois Newton
2001	Down to Earth	Sontee Jenkins
2002	Truth Be Told	Rayne
2003	Daddy Day Care	Kim Hinton
2003	Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde	Grace Rossiter
2004	A Cinderella Story	Rhonda
2004	Ray	Margie Hendricks
2005	Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous	Sam Fuller
2006	The Ant Bully	Kreela	Voice
2007	Year of the Dog	Layla
2007	This Christmas	Lisa Whitfield-Moore
2010	Our Family Wedding	Angela
2013	Let the Church Say Amen	Director
2014	Planes: Fire & Rescue	Dynamite	Voice
2018	If Beale Street Could Talk	Sharon Rivers
2021	The Harder They Fall		Post-production

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1985–1990	227	Brenda Jenkins	Main role (seasons 1–5)
1994	Northern Exposure	Mother Nature	Episode: "Baby Blues"
1994	New York Undercover	Marah	Episode: "Tasha"
1995	Living Single	Zina	Episode: "The Shake-Up"
1999	Where the Truth Lies	Lillian Rose-Martin	Television film
2000	If These Walls Could Talk 2	Allie	Television film
2002	Leap of Faith	Cynthia	Main role (season 1)
2002	Damaged Care	Cheryl Griffith	Television film
2005–2014	The Boondocks	Riley Freeman / Huey Freeman	Voice; Main role (seasons 1–4)
2006	Women in Law	N/A	Pilot
2007	24	Sandra Palmer	Main role (season 6)
2008	Living Proof	Ellie Jackson	Television film
2009–2013	Southland	Detective Lydia Adams	Main role (seasons 1–5)
2012	RuPaul's Drag Race	Herself (guest judge)	Episode: "Dragazines"
2013–2019	The Big Bang Theory	Janine Davis	6 episodes
2014	The Strain	Ruby Wain	3 episodes
2014	Shameless	Gail Johnson	4 episodes
2014	The Gabby Douglas Story	Natalie Hawkins	Television film
2015–2017	American Crime	Aliyah Shadeed	Recurring role (season 1)
		Terri LaCroix	Main role (season 2)
		Kimara Walters	Main role (season 3)
2015, 2017	The Leftovers	Erika Murphy	Main role (season 2); guest role (season 3)
2018	Seven Seconds	Latrice Butler	Main role
2019	Watchmen	Angela Abar / Sister Night	Main role
2021	Saturday Night Live	Herself/Host	Episode: "Regina King/Nathaniel Rateliff"

As director

Year	Title	Notes
2013	Southland	Episode: "Off Duty"
2015	Being Mary Jane	6 episodes
2015–2016	Scandal	2 episodes
2016	The Catch	Episode: "The Princess and the I.P."
2016	Animal Kingdom	Episode: "Child Care"
2016	Greenleaf	Episode: "Veni, Vidi, Vici"
2016	Pitch	Episode: "The Break"
2017	This Is Us	Episode: "The 20s"[24]
2017	Shameless	Episode: "Fuck Paying It Forward"[25]
2018	The Good Doctor	Episode: "Heartfelt"
2018	Insecure	Episode: "Ghost-Like"
2020	One Night in Miami	Feature film;[26] also executive producer

As music video director

Year	Song	Artist
2010	"Finding My Way Back"	Jaheim
2011	"Not My Daddy"	Kelly Price featuring Stokley

Awards and nominations

References

1. "Regina King Biography at". TV Guide. Archived from the original on September 10, 2015. Retrieved March 21, 2013.
2. Sep. 20, Tracy Brown Digital Editor; Pm, 20206:15 (September 21, 2020). "Regina King ties record for most acting Emmys won by a Black performer". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved September 21, 2020.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
3. Davis, Viola (April 17, 2019). "Regina King". Time. Retrieved April 17, 2019.
4. "Regina King Biography (1971-)". www.filmreference.com. Retrieved November 2, 2018.
5. Stated on Who Do You Think You Are?, December 17, 2018
6. "Regina King profile at Yahoo! Movies". Retrieved November 2, 2018.
7. 1988 Westchester High School Yearbook (Los Angeles, California)
8. "The scene stealer". Vulture. Retrieved July 31, 2019.
9. "It's Evening in America". Vanity Fair. May 2012. p. 155.
10. "Regina King's Most Memorable Roles". Essence.com. Retrieved October 24, 2017.
11. "A Thin Line Between Love and Hate". Variety. March 31, 1996. Retrieved July 31, 2019.
12. Morris, Wesley (March 6, 2016). "Regina King Has So Many Stories to Tell". The New York Times. Retrieved July 31, 2019.
13. "Enemy of the State". austinchronicle.com. November 20, 1998. Retrieved July 31, 2019.
14. "Review: Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous". Slant magazine. Retrieved July 31, 2019.
15. "Regina King". IMDb. Retrieved October 15, 2018.
16. "Regina King is the queen of 'Southland'". Newsday. February 25, 2010. Retrieved July 31, 2019.
17. "Aliyah Shadeed played by Regina King". ABC. Retrieved July 31, 2019.
18. McNary, Dave (October 25, 2017). "Film News Roundup: Regina King Joins Barry Jenkins' 'If Beale Street Could Talk'". Variety. Retrieved November 10, 2017.
19. Petski, Denise (September 17, 2018). "Regina King Lands Her Third Emmy; Portrays Mom Whose Son Is Killed By Police". Deadline. Retrieved July 31, 2019.
20. "Regina King wins supporting actress Oscar for 'Beale Street'". Reuters. February 24, 2019. Retrieved July 31, 2019.
21. Day-Ramos, Dino (July 9, 2019). "Regina King To Direct Adaptation Of One Night In Miami". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved January 7, 2020.
22. Fleming Jr (January 7, 2020). "Regina King Directing Debut One Night In Miami Underway With Kingsley Ben-Adir, Eli Goree, Aldis Hodge & Leslie Odom Jr As '60s Icons". Mike. Retrieved January 7, 2020.
23. Bakare, Lanre (September 7, 2020). "Regina King makes history at Venice film festival with One Night in Miami". The Guardian. Venice. Retrieved September 7, 2020.
24. Williams, Kendall (October 31, 2017). "This Is Us Season 2 Episode 6 Review: The 20s". Den of Geek. Retrieved November 4, 2019.
25. Hampton, Shanola (September 18, 2018). ""The queen has arrived to direct episode 4!!!! Yaaaaassss! #ReginaKing #Shameless"". Instagram.
26. Ramos, Dino. "Regina King To Direct Adaptation Of One Night In Miami". Deadline. Retrieved September 15, 2019.

External links

• Regina King at IMDb
• King, Regina. "The Emmys: As White As Ever", The Huffington Post, September 3, 2010; retrieved October 9, 2010.