Regina King always chooses daring stories. One chose her.
On some mornings, Regina King opens her eyes to a set of questions: Can I do this? Why am I doing this? Am I taking care of myself?
The answers come as a choice: Stay in or go out there. Onto the red carpet. Into the world. But with a movie to promote (Netflix’s “Shirley”) and more projects on her slate, King knows full well the decision she has to make. But that doesn’t make it any easier.
“It’s a lot to wrap your mind and your emotions around,” said the actress, director and producer, who worked for more than a decade to bring the story of the glass-shattering politician Shirley Chisholm to the screen, even after her own personal tragedy two years ago. “There are times when I find myself kind of falling into autopilot, but I think that space is self-preservation. My body and my mind are like, ‘OK girl, check out a little bit.’ And luckily I’ve been doing this for so long that that muscle is still there and I’m able to activate it involuntarily.”
What King has been doing for so long is entertaining us. First as the quintessential teen Brenda on the 1980s sitcom “227,” then as a quintessential around-the-way girl in John Singleton’s classic ’90s triptych: “Boyz n the Hood,” “Poetic Justice” and “Higher Learning.”
For years after, King was known as a supporting actress (in “Jerry Maguire,” in “Ray”) with big main-character energy. But she couldn’t be pigeonholed. She voiced two smart-mouthed Black boys on Aaron McGruder’s animated satire “The Boondocks.” In 2019, she earned an Oscar for her role as a mother on a mission in “If Beale Street Could Talk.” The next year, she directed her first film, “One Night in Miami.” To cap off 2020, she won an Emmy for her starring role as Sister Night in HBO’s dystopian superhero series “Watchmen.” Choosing right is King’s calling card.
So out she goes.
But this year it’s different out there. She’s different. Since the death of King’s son, the musician and DJ Ian Alexander Jr., in 2022, King has stayed in. Filming for