Regina King, first-time Oscar nominee, has everyone rooting for her to succeed
NEW YORK — So, Regina King walked into a 99-cent store. And what’d she get? A prophecy on her life.
No joke. King was shopping around when a woman walked up to her with something of a prediction.
“She said, ‘You don’t know it but you’re going to run for president.’ And I was like, ‘President of a company?’ She was like, ‘No ... of the United States,’” King recalled, adding that she thought the woman was a clairvoyant.
“She said, ‘Close your eyes. You are. I see it,’ ” King continued. “I was like, ‘Girl, I appreciate that, but no — that’s not happening. I like my life too much. I like my family too much. I like my friends too much.”
The idea of King, 48, running for presidency isn’t a stretch for people to jokingly ask her to: The seasoned actress is one of the most likable and genial celebrities in the industry, and one fans and peers are constantly rooting for.
Now King is hitting new heights with her first big screen role since 2010: Her portrayal of a devoted mother in Barry Jenkins’ “If Beale Street Could Talk” already won her honors at the Golden Globes and the Critics’ Choice Awards. She’s up for best supporting actress at the Academy Awards Feb. 24, pitting her against Oscar winners Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz; Amy Adams, a six-time Oscar nominee; and first-time Marina de Tavira, who co-starred in “Roma.”
“(Regina) has been stalwart in this industry for so long. For a long time, she was doing the work to do the work and I think the industry sort of catches up to wonderful artists like Regina. She shows up and does the work, whether it be in front or behind the camera, and the industry is taking notice,” said Colman Domingo, who plays King’s husband in “Beale Street.” “I think it’s not only an Oscar nomination for ‘If Beale Street Could Talk,’ I think it’s also for her body of work.”
King called the nomination “extraspecial” since it’s her first. But she has shined on-screen since she appeared on NBC’s “227” in 1985. Her credits include films like “Jerry Maguire,” “Friday,” “Ray,” “Boyz N the Hood,” “Enemy of the State” and “Miss Congeniality 2.”
But King traded movie roles for TV ones so she could easily raise her son — her regular date at awards show — in Los Angeles: “I wasn’t interested in homeschooling my son.”
She landed a starring role in TNT’s “Southland” in 2009, playing Detective Lydia Adams — a part originally not written for a black woman. More TV roles came to her, including “The Big Bang Theory,” “Shameless,” “American Crime,” “The Leftovers” and “Seven Seconds.” She won two Emmys for “American Crime,” created by Mequon native John Ridley, and one or “Seven Seconds.”
King’s son, Ian Alexander Jr., will be by her side at the Academy Awards to cheer her on — just like so many others.
“I feel the love,” she said. “I can just be anywhere, from the grocery store to wherever. Sometimes, it’ll be the sweetest thing, I’ll get a woman that’s just like 70, 80-years-old say, ‘Just thank you. Thank you for just representing us.’ ”
But she’s not running for president. “When you make the choice to be in the public’s eye, you are letting go of anonymity. You’re letting go of some things that you want to hold dear and protect . ... For a president, that’s on level 9 million,” she said. “I am all here for sacrifices, but not that one.”