Jaime King
Jaime King (born April 23, 1979) is an American actress and model. In her modeling career and early film roles, she used the names Jamie King and James King, which was a childhood nickname given to King by her parents,[2] because her agency already represented another Jaime—the older, then-more famous model Jaime Rishar.[3]
For the swimmer, see Jaime King (swimmer). For people with similar names, see Jamie King (disambiguation) and James King (disambiguation).
Jaime King
April 23, 1979
- James King
- Jamie King
- Jaime King-Newman
- Actress
- model
1993–present
2
175 cm (5 ft 9 in)
- Next Model Management (New York, London, Los Angeles)
- Why Not Model Management (Milan)[1]
A successful model, King was discovered at age 14 in 1993 and appeared in Vogue, Mademoiselle and Harper's Bazaar, among other fashion magazines. From 1998, she moved into acting, taking small film roles. Her first major role was in Pearl Harbor (2001) and her first starring movie role was in Bulletproof Monk (2003). She has since appeared in other films including Sin City (2005) and My Bloody Valentine 3D (2009) and, from 2011 to 2015, starred in the television series Hart of Dixie. In 2016, she had the lead role in The Mistletoe Promise, a Hallmark movie. She also voiced the role of Aurra Sing on Star Wars: The Clone Wars.
Early life[edit]
King was born on April 23, 1979, in the suburbs of Omaha, Nebraska, the daughter of Nancy King, a former beauty queen, and Robert King. She has an older sister Sandi, an older brother Barry and a younger brother Robert (Robbie).[4] King was named after Lindsay Wagner's character, Jaime Sommers, on the 1970s television series The Bionic Woman.[5][6] King's parents separated in 1994.[3] King had attended Nancy Bounds' Studios, a modeling school, and in 1995 dropped out of Westside High School in order to pursue a modeling career in New York City. She later enrolled in a home-study program run by the University of Nebraska.[3][7]
Modeling career[edit]
King was discovered in November 1993, at age 14,[8] while attending Nancy Bounds' Studios. After being spotted at her graduation fashion show by model agent Michael Flutie, King was invited to New York City to begin modeling professionally.[4][9] She joined Company Management, which already represented Jaime Rishar, a more established model. To avoid confusion, King opted to use her childhood nickname, James, for the duration of her modeling career and later, at the beginning of her film career. In March 1994, she traveled to New York for test pictures and received enthusiastic responses, however, she did not return to New York until July 1994, after gaining a successful advertisement for Abercrombie & Fitch. Much of fall and spring 1994 were spent commuting between Omaha and New York.[3]
King had a successful early career as a fashion model, and by age 15 she had been featured in the fashion magazines Vogue, Mademoiselle, Allure, and Seventeen. At sixteen, King had graced the pages of Glamour and Harper's Bazaar. She was featured in the cover story of the New York Times Magazine published on February 4, 1996,[10][3] and had walked the runway for Chanel, Alexander McQueen and Christian Dior. In 1998, she began co-hosting MTV's fashion series, House of Style, with fellow model turned actress Rebecca Romijn. Despite her success, King noted that she "remember[s] the times where I was so alone" and thought she was "never gonna be able to be a kid."[3]
In 2004, King, along with Halle Berry, Julianne Moore, and Eva Mendes was chosen as a spokesmodel for a high-profile ad campaign for Revlon. The advertisements were featured in print, television, theatrical, outdoor, and Internet venues,[11] banking on their spokeswomen's "collective star power" to sell the cosmetics products.[12] In 2006, King was chosen by Rocawear CEO Jay-Z to become the new face of the line; her advertisements were featured for the winter 2006 season.[13]
Acting career[edit]
Early work (1998–2004)[edit]
In 1999, King began her acting career and made her debut in the Daniel Waters' comedy Happy Campers, as Pixel. Happy Campers was screened at the Sundance Film Festival in 2001, and in 2003, King was nominated for Best Actress at the DVD Exclusive Awards.[14] Filmed in 1999, she also appeared in Filter's music video for "Take a Picture". Following her debut acting roles, King appeared briefly in the film Blow, portraying the adult Kristina Jung, daughter of cocaine smuggler George Jung (portrayed by Johnny Depp).[15]
Personal life[edit]
During her first job modeling, King began using heroin and had an addiction to the drug from age 14 to 19, at which time she went to rehabilitation for her addiction.[40] Her boyfriend, 20-year-old fashion photographer Davide Sorrenti, died from a kidney ailment.[40] She briefly dated Kid Rock at the age of 21.[40]
In 2006, while working on the set of Fanboys, she met future husband Kyle Newman, the film's director. Within three months of dating, the two moved in together.[41] Newman proposed in spring 2007, and the two married on November 23, 2007,[42] in an "intimate and relaxed" ceremony in Los Angeles at Greystone Mansion, where Newman had proposed.[43] King told InStyle magazine, "I want at least three children."[41] King and Newman have two sons together;[44] Taylor Swift is godmother to their second son.[45] In 2014, she revealed her struggles with endometriosis and polycystic ovary syndrome, which led to infertility. King suffered five miscarriages and an ectopic pregnancy prior to her first successful pregnancy.[46]
In May 2020, King filed for divorce from Newman after 14 years of marriage.[47] King also filed a domestic violence prevention petition and was granted a temporary restraining order against Newman,[47] which was later withdrawn.[48] The divorce was finalized in September 2023.[49]