Regina King (born January 15, 1971 in Los Angeles, California) is an American film and television actress. She first started 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 star in John Singleton's film Boyz N the Hood. In 1996, she played the love interest of Martin Lawrence in A Thin Line Between Love and Hate. Also in 1996, she got much notoriety starring in the blockbuster Jerry Maguire with Tom Cruise and Cuba Gooding Jr. This film brought King mainstream recognition in her role as Cuba Gooding Jr.'s wife. She went on to star in Daddy Day Care with Golden Globe winner Eddie Murphy. King played Margie Hendricks, a singer in Ray Charles' backup group the Raylettes and one of the musical legend's mistresses. King went on to star in Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous in 2005 starring opposite Sandra Bullock as a tough FBI agent. The actress then went on to her next film project Ant Bully. Today King acts in feature films. Recently she has played backup singer Margie Hendricks in Ray. She also voice acts for the characters Huey and Riley Freeman on the Adult Swim show, The Boondocks. She appeared in season 6 of the hit show 24. She attended Westchester High School (Los Angeles) and University of Southern California. She played Will Smith's character's wife in the spy thriller "Enemy of the State."
She married Ian Alexander, Sr. on April 23, 1997. The couple has one child. Regina filed for divorce on November 8, 2006 citing "irreconcilable differences."