Regina King (born January 15, 1971) is an American film and television actress.

Biography

Personal life

King was born in Los Angeles, California, the daughter of Gloria, a special education teacher, and Thomas King, an electrician.The two divorced in 1979.She is also the older sister of actress Reina King. Regina and her sister's names have essentially the same meaning: Reina and Regina both mean Queen, in Spanish and Latin, respectively. Essentially, both their names are Queen King.

She attended Westchester High School (Los Angeles) and the University of Southern California.

King married Ian Alexander, Sr. on April 23, 1997. Their son, Ian Alexander Jr., was born on January 19, 1996. King filed for divorce on November 8, 2006 citing "irreconcilable differences".

Career

King began her acting career in 1985 in the role of Marla Gibbs' daughter Brenda on the television series 227, a role she played until 1990. She went on to appear in the John Singleton films Boyz N the Hood, Poetic Justice and Higher Learning. In 1995, she was featured in the hit comedy Friday. In 1996, she played the love interest of Martin Lawrence in A Thin Line Between Love and Hate. Also in 1996, she gained notoriety starring in the blockbuster romantic comedy Jerry Maguire, with Tom Cruise and Cuba Gooding Jr. This film brought King mainstream recognition in her role as Cuba Gooding Jr.’s wife.

Soon thereafter she played Will Smith's wife in the spy thriller Enemy of the State, and was also featured in How Stella Got Her Groove Back and Disney's remake Mighty Joe Young. She continued playing feature roles in a variety of films, including Down to Earth, with Chris Rock, Daddy Day Care with Golden Globe winner Eddie Murphy, Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde with Reese Witherspoon and Sally Field, and A Cinderella Story, with Hilary Duff.

In 2004, King played Margie Hendricks, a singer in Ray Charles’ backup group The Raelettes and one of the musical legend’s mistresses, in Ray, and in 2005, she co-starred in Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous as Sandra Bullock's tough FBI agent partner. Additionally, she voice acts for the characters Huey and Riley Freeman on the Adult Swim show The Boondocks, as well as the feature film The Ant Bully. Most recently, she appeared in season 6 of the hit show 24 and the film This Christmas with an all star cast, such as Loretta Devine, Idris Elba, Columbus Short, and Chris Brown. In 2008 she appears in the TV film Living Proof.

Political Campaigning for Barack Obama

Regina King has been a vocal and prominent supporter of Barack Obama in his campaign for election to the US Presidency.[4] She travelled all across Ohio, prior to the Ohio Primary, stumping for Senator Obama. She is said to be encouraging African American women in particular to vote. She has been quoted as saying "So it's just it's a very grass roots way to get the word out. And you know it's how Obama started his campaign and that's how he's been winning the last few primaries, by not forgetting about the so called little people."

Partial Filmography

* Boyz N The Hood (1991)
* Poetic Justice (1993)
* Higher Learning (1995)
* Friday (1995)
* A Thin Line Between Love and Hate (1996)
* Jerry Maguire (1996)
* Enemy of the State (1998)
* How Stella Got Her Groove Back (1998)
* Mighty Joe Young (1998)
* Down to Earth (2001)
* Daddy Day Care (2003)
* Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde (2003)
* A Cinderella Story (2004)
* Ray (2004)
* Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous (2005)
* The Ant Bully (2006)
* This Christmas (2007)
* Year of the Dog (2007)
* Living Proof (2008)

Awards/nominations

* BET Award
o 2005, Best Actress: (Winner)
o 2001, Best Actress: (Nominated)

* Black Reel Awards
o 2005, Best Actress (Drama): Ray (Nominated)

* NAACP Image Awards
o 2005, Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture: Ray (Winner)
o 2002, Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture: Down to Earth (Nominated)
o 1999, Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture: Enemy of the State (Nominated)

* Screen Actors Guild
o 2005, Outstanding Cast in a Motion Picture: Ray (Nominated)