REGINA KING Southland’s Queen Bee

Regina King has cleverly persuad­ed me to sit outside on one of the hottest days of summer. It’s an oppressive, triple-digit degree afternoon in August for which the only logical cure is a continuous blast of near-freezing, air-conditioning. But instead of taking a seat inside Puran’s Restaurant in Los Feliz, we don’t make it beyond the sidewalk.

She is sitting, unassumingly, at a corner table wearing shades, a Lakers t-shirt and jeans, and when she sees me walk up, she says, “Hello, queen.” We both laugh. It’s an inside joke between two women named Regina. After all, we not only share a first name, but we also share a knowledge that our mothers were fully aware that they were blessing their daughters with a name that means “queen.” Once the pleasantries are out of the way, she asks the unthinkable — “Do you mind if we sit outside?”

Before I can muster a single word in protest, I look down and see a dog loung­ing by her feet. He’s an Akita-Lab-Shep­herd mix and his name is Cornbread, in honor of one of her son’s favorite movies, Cornbread, Earl and Me. How could we possibly leave such a cutie outside, all alone? We simply cannot. So I pull out a chair, reach for my recorder, and take a sip of ice water. An outside table it is! 

There’s no doubt that King is as convinc­ing off-screen as she is when the camera is rolling and this month she makes her way back to television for the return of “South­land.” If you have her tell it, she’s still trying to figure out her character, Lydia Adams, a dedicated LAPD Detective who pulls no punches when she’s on duty, even as she wrestles with her own personal shortcom­ings. Lydia is tough-as-nails on the outside, so much so that last season, she didn’t even flinch when her partner asked, almost loving­ly, “Why are you so bitchy?” It was only when we got a glimpse of her home life that we saw that she wasn’t anywhere near as pulled together as she’d like to be. Obvious­ly, we’ll have to tune in to see how her story unfolds, which is something that King, her­self, is excited to find out, too.

While she’s remained a welcome presence on the screen for nearly a quarter century, the real magic of Regina King’s career is her versatility. Whether tackling drama or come­dy, she’s managed to segue between main­stream and independent films with ease, even as she’s made a name for herself on television. Then there’s the fact that many people believe that she got her start as Cuba Gooding, Jr.’s uber-supportive wife in Jerry Maguire. In reality, her credits, before and after that pivotal role run steep — think “24,” Enemy of the State, Boyz N the Hood, Year of the Dog, The Boondocks, Miss Congenial­ity 2, and her memorable turn in the Oscar-nominated film, Ray — but it all started with her portrayal of a bright-eyed, bushy-tailed teen by the name of Brenda on the ’80s sit­com, “227.” She was just 14 years old then and since that time, King, whose next film, Family Wedding, is slated for release in the spring, has been pushing full-steam ahead. By her own admission, she can only recount a single year that she was without a gig. That’s not too shabby.

So, to what does she attribute such longevity? Her recipe is quite simple, actual­ly. There’s the constant flow of love and encouragement she receives from her tight-knit family, coupled with an ability to stay in tune with her gut instincts. Oh, and throw in a dash of “good energy,” too, and there you have it.

After our brunch selections arrive and we’ve had ample time to indulge in some girl talk — from hairstyles (she cut her shoulder-length tresses last year) to the zodiac (she’s a January-born Capricorn) — we get down to the business of talking about, well, “the business,” her choices, and which projects she passed on, without regret.

Venice: First of all, congratulations are in order for the new show! Regina King: Thank you very much.

So, tell us, who is this Detective Lydia Adams?

Well, I’m still learning about Lydia, but what’s definitely clear is that she very-seri­ously loves her job. She was also living with her mother, who had been sick, but is now living in Paris. I think being back at home had been Lydia’s way of not dealing with her own shit. It was like, I’ve got to take care of my mom.

What do you think is next for her?

Well, you’re definitely going to see what happens with her relationship with her part­ner, Russell, who was shot in the final episode. I would like for Lydia to be recog­nized for being strong, but vulnerable…and not to come off as “too hard.” I really want her to be compassionate, but not a punk. It’s like, “Dude, you see this steel on my hip?

I’m going to listen to your story, but you can’t fuck with me – for real.”

Also, I think we’re going to delve more into her personal love life. We’ve done a lot of research with detectives and finding out what the psyche is behind someone wanting to become a cop. A lot of cops, and detec­tives, are socially-retarded in a lot of ways because of their [work] lives and all the gnarly stuff they see. It’s not great conversa­tion for some people, so that’s probably why you see so many cops who are married to, or date, other cops.

Speaking of dating, what happened with the guy whose front door Lydia showed up to, in the middle of the night?

Well, we’ll see. Like I said, I’m still learning about her. That was an ex — they had been deeply-involved, but he wanted to have a child and she didn’t want to. So, he ended up having a child with another woman.

The mystery is, what took place between her deciding that she didn’t want to have a child and his having a child. And who is the woman at the door? That was left very…open.

Yes, I noticed that the woman didn’t seem too pissed when she saw Lydia standing at the door.

Right, they had her play it to the point where she could have been pissed, or not. She could have been the “other woman,” so she would have no right to be pissed. She could be his sister or…

You’re being very vague. [laughs]

No, no, I truly don’t know. I just know the perimeter of the story. The writers are deciding where they’re going, as we’re shooting. So, I’m not trying to be like, Ooooohhh, it’s such a mystery. It’s a mys­tery to me, too! [laughs]

So, how does it feel to not know what’s going on with the story, with your character?

It’s exciting in a lot of ways because I don’t know what to anticipate. My energy is that of an anticipating type. I’m anticipating that we’re going to revisit [that situation] on the porch. I want to know. I don’t want to leave that hanging. I think that people are curious because enough of something dropped to make you go, hmmmmm…

I also think it’s going to be interesting to see how [the writers] service eight charac­ters.

How has your experience been with being part of an ensemble cast?

It’s been good. You’ll have an episode that you might be working on for four, five, or six days and then there’s an episode that you’re working on for two or three days. So, it works out great for family life.

And [executive producer] John Wells and that whole production company, they’re real­ly about family, which was another reason why the project was intriguing to me. When I met with him, he was like, “We are all about family. Ask your friends.” Mekhi Phifer and Angela Bassett are both friends of mine [Phifer and Bassett worked with Wells on “ER”]. We very rarely go over 12 hours a day.

Did you have any reservations about going back to television?

Well, I wanted to do TV because I needed to stay here, in LA. My son, Ian, is 13 and is in his last year of middle school. He’s going to high school soon. He used to travel with me when I did movies and we’d be gone for a month. My grandmother would come meet us in whichever city we were in, but once school-age really settles in, that’s not an option anymore.

I’ve always said that if a project took me out of town for two weeks, I couldn’t take it, so my reps and I started looking for TV [projects]. My manager reached out to Joel Surnow over at “24” and they were like, “Oh wow, yeah, that would be great.” So, after their fifth season, they came back and said, “We have two options of characters.” The sister of the President seemed like the best option and [although] it started off great, it just didn’t pan out. It was no fault of anybody’s. I did about seven or eight episodes there and then when pilot season came up, we started looking at scripts again. I wanted to do an ensemble piece and “Southland” was the most intriguing of the scripts that I’d read. 

Aside from scheduling, how has moth­erhood affected your choices?

I remember that soon after Ian was born, Vivica [Fox] was doing Booty Call. She called me up and said, “There’s this part and I think you should do it.” We’d always wanted to work together, but I was like, “Vivica, I can’t do a movie named Booty Call. I’m a momma now. I just can’t.”  

I didn’t judge her for doing it because it was a funny movie, but I just wasn’t there anymore. By no means do I think that she shouldn’t have done it or that Tamala [Jones] shouldn’t have done it, but it just wasn’t for me.

You’ve been pretty consistent with your work and you seem to be able to maneu­ver your way between television and ani­mation and voiceovers…

I think it’s a blessing, you know? And it’s about staying positive.

I never feel like the universe doesn’t have me covered. By no means am I saying that I’ve never had any hard times. I’d be sitting here, lying. But for the most part, I’ve always understood that everything is meant to be, so I embrace every moment, even if it does-n’t seem like a moment that is embraceable. I’ve always landed on my feet because I don’t visualize anything else.

OK, I’m going to take that lesson with me! Although you were only 14 when you started on “227,” did you have any visions of what you wanted for your career?

I wasn’t really looking at it as a career at that point. It was something that I liked to do. It was a hobby. I was going to acting school and things just sort of parlayed into that [show]. My mom always supported what my sister, Reina (pronounced ray-nah), and I wanted to do, so she’d find programs at the Y where we took jazz, tap, ballet, baton, piano — everything. Acting class is the one thing that we stuck to. So it all kind of evolved from going to acting school and doing theater productions. 

But I remember, from a very young age, watching actors who made me feel some­thing — whether I laughed so hard or I cried. I’d think, Ooohh, I want to make people feel like she’s making me feel right now.

Like who?

Oh, like Sally Field, Alfre Woodard, and Meryl Streep. There was also Debra Winger, Sissy Spacek, Shirley MacLaine, Carol Bur­nett — all of those women. There are a slew of men, too. When I was growing up, I would think, They are so dope.  

So, it kind of started there. I never thought, I’m going to be a star and I’m going to be on TV and in movies. I think it was when “227” was cancelled that I realized, “Wait a minute, this is my job.” It was proba­bly then that I began to see it as more than something I just did as a hobby.

Not long after “227,” you played Shalika in Boyz N the Hood. I remember being stunned by your performance. It was like, Brenda, is that you?

Right! That was great; it was perfect for me. I was so grateful.

I was 19 at the time and had been working since I was 14. I think it took for me not to be working and for people not to see me and to actually say they weren’t going to see me for me to realize that I‘d been working. Also, when I had to write an income tax check for $64,000, I thought, “Oh wow, OK…you’ve been working.”

John Singleton and I went to USC together. I didn’t know him, but he knew me and I think that he probably told Jaki Brown-Karman, who was the casting direc­tor, “Yeah, go ahead and bring her in. Let’s see what she does.” Before that, no one would see me, for anything.

Why do you suppose that was?

Because people just saw me as Brenda. If you’d just watched me on “227,” there was no reason to believe that I was a particularly good actress…not a bad actress, but not a particularly good actress. I don’t think [that role] left a lasting impression, but I knew what I could do because of the theater and the plays that I’d done.

So, when Jaki brought me in, I read maybe six lines and she was like, “OK, I’ll bring you back in for the director and the producer. I just wanted to see if you could ‘get ghetto.’” No one thought that was possible. So, then I came in and read for John and the produc­er, Steve Nicolaides, and on my way out, I remember walking out of the building and he came running down the steps and said, “Regi­na!” When I turned around, he whispered to me, “You got the part!” I thought that was cool. That was how my relationship with John Singleton started.

What’s so interesting about your career is that some people know you from your “227” days, while other people think you came onto the scene with Jerry Maguire.

Yes, that’s been very interesting. I’ve watched those specials about celebrities who were kid actors and I’m like, man, they never ask me to be a part of that. I think it’s because the industry really doesn’t know. Most people in the industry think that life for me start­ed with Jerry Maguire. A lot of times, they don’t connect the dots.

Your transitions between genres have been very smooth. How have you managed to make that happen?

It’s an art form and I love what I do. I still love what I do.

I go out and I audition, like everybody else. Once Boyz N the Hood happened, people knew that I could do something other than Bren­da. I’m not sitting here trying to toot my own horn, but nobody that you see in a movie, who’s auditioned, is in it because they didn’t do a good job in the audition.

And how about transitioning from playing the wife and mother to playing a single woman…

[Being typecast] is like a blessing and of course because it means that you’ve done a performance so well that people want to continue to see you in that role. But you know, I was stuck in “ghetto world” for a while with Boyz N the Hood and Poetic Justice. Then, I got stuck in “wife world” with Jerry Maguire and Enemy of the State, even though I had done Mighty Joe Young and How Stella Got Her Groove Back, simultaneously, with Enemy of the State. I wasn’t a wife in either of those films, but they didn’t resonate, or weren’t as big, as Enemy of the State, even though they came out [around the same time].

I had to choose to say, “No,” to offers that were coming in to play “the wife.” At a certain point, you look at what you’ve done and then you get a phone call where someone is interested in seeing you play Sam Jackson’s wife [in The Negotiator]. When you get that phone call, you think, Hmmm, maybe it’s time that you not be the wife, again. Because if they think that I can be Sam Jackson’s wife and the story not specifically have to do with her being the younger wife, then it would not be a good idea for me to make that movie, you know?

Do you have any qualms about saying “No?”

No. Every role is not for you. For some people, it would have to make sense, financially, but I’ve been lucky to have a mom that made sure I understood the importance of saving a dollar.

It seems like you’re running your own race. You’re under the radar, a bit, but your pace is pretty steady…not too loud, not too over-the-top.

Yes, slow and steady wins the race! Life is not a bunch of 100­meter sprints. It’s about the marathon, the long haul. It’s great to play hard, but living hard? I’ve seen the results of that. We’ve all seen it, far too many times. I don’t want to be that actor who is doing informercials. I don’t want that.

And do you think that happens because of poor choices?

I think that’s due to putting all of your eggs in one basket. Some actors get on shows that are huge [and that’s all]. Then, you have someone like Jennifer Aniston who has been able to navigate the balance of movies and TV and be regarded as an actor who can do both. I think character actors go much further than the people who are just “the pretty girl” or “the wife.” I am really an “energy” person and if I’m not feeling something [I don’t do it]. I feel that if you put it in the universe, you will attract it. Nothing’s by mistake.

So, how do you keep your instrument tuned?

Being able to work, often, keeps it in tune. I think the longest I’ve gone without working is probably a year. But I’m all for doing table-readings and quick one-night-only performances. I’m all for that.

And what do you think the key is to having maintained your momentum, and your sanity, in this business for the last 25 years?

I was born and raised in Los Angeles, so I probably have a sup­port group that a majority of other people don’t have, because they’re transplants. This is a business that will eat you up and send you home in a straight jacket. I’ve seen people come here and ten years later, their family will have to come get them. 

There are definitely times when I feel like I’m doing a lot, but not any more than a mother who is a lawyer and has three big cases going on. I’m a professional. I happen to be an actor who is in the public’s eye, but I don’t deem what I do as any more busy than a lawyer or a doctor or a teacher, who is a mother and has a family.

Big respect goes out to all career mothers. I can’t say that [my path] is tougher than theirs. I have a girlfriend who is an anesthe­siologist and she has four kids…and looks fabulous!  [laughs]

And speaking of looking fabulous…

[laughs] I want to be that 73-year-old woman doing push-ups! So, if that’s what I’m visualizing, I have to create the foundation so that can be possible.

I just have to ask you, with such an extensive resume on IMDb, do you ever go back and watch your old stuff?

No, I don’t sit around and watch my performances. You’re always going to find something that you wish you’d done differ­ently, but you can’t fix it.

So, you’re not going home and watching Ray this after­noon?

No! [laughs] I’ve only seen Ray twice.

Really? I’ve seen it four times and cried like a baby each time!  So, what is the continuous evolution of Regina King?

My sister and I have a production company, Royal Ties, and we have a couple of projects in production, including a remake of The Big Chill. We’re working on that now and we hope to be shooting it during my hiatus next year. We’re putting our wish list together, but so far, we haven’t cast anyone other than myself. I’ll be playing the Meg character. I’m going to direct a movie, it just depends on which project goes first — it’s either The Big Chill or Let the Church Say Amen, which is a project we’re [adapting] from a book. 

I hope to be able to control my destiny a bit more and create opportunities. So, what I want to be — no, what I’m going to be — is a successful producer and director. ▼

“Southland” premieres Friday, October 23rd at 9PM on NBC.