The Stunning Transformation Of Joey King

Joey King started her career at 4 years old, and she has since racked up a considerable number of high-profile credits to her name all without ever showing up in tabloids looking a bit worse for wear. And that's not an easy feat, as, over the years, far too many child actors have succumbed to the pressures of the industry and fallen victim to drugs and alcohol addictions, rendering their careers all but obsolete. Fortunately nowadays, there are more and more young performers, who started their careers while still in diapers, making the move to adult stardom more seamlessly. Think of Bailee Madison or even Maude and Iris Apatow.

But Joey King stands out from the rest, as she's been driven to tackle horror, comedy, and teen romance projects, making a name for herself in all genres. She's also fallen for a co-star, and she has even shaved her head three times over, which must be some kind of record for an actor.

All things considered, King has transformed from cutie co-star to full-fledged leading actress in her own right. This is her stunning transformation.

In 2010, Joey King had another brush with Disney, starring opposite Wizards of Waverly Place's Selena Gomez in the sweet family comedy Ramona and Beezus, an adaptation of Beverly Cleary's books in which the two played siblings. That same year, they were snapped by paparazzi heading to get breakfast at a Denny's in West Hollywood. According to celebrity gossip site Just Jared, both ladies enjoyed a Grand Slam that morning.

Almost ten years later, in 2019, King gushed to Entertainment Tonight about how much of an inspiration her on-screen sister has been to her. "From the time we worked together until now, I've always really looked up to her. I'm really proud of everything she's done," she explained, noting that Gomez's public stance on mental health and well-being is very powerful. "She's a big inspiration to people, whether she realizes it or not," added King.

As for Ramona and Beezus itself, the actress told ET, "I'm so appreciative of that film and everything it did for me." She noted, "But I'm so excited now, for people to see me go from something like that to all the things I've had in between."

Joey King's desire to be seen as a real actor is palpable. Although she's very proud of getting her start young, King doesn't wish to be defined as a "child actor." As she explained to Refinery29 in a 2019 interview, "I'm very proud of the accomplishments I made when I was a young child, and I'm proud of the person I became from that. But I think that when describing me, I'm an actor. That's who I am. I was an actor before; I'm an actor now." She continued, "Being called an actor and being respected as an actor is something that I wish I felt more sometimes." 

King is eager to show a different side to herself, noting how happy she was to see fans of her teen rom-com The Kissing Booth "rally" for the shocking true-life crime drama The Act, as she was, "Really excited for them to see me in a completely different light."

Midway through her teen years, Joey King was cast in Fargo, the TV adaptation of the beloved Coen Brothers movie of the same name. And, as a 2014 interview with Uproxx attested, King made quite the impression on set, where she played the daughter of Colin Hanks' character. The actress noted she was intent on driving a car for real in one scene, but it clearly wasn't to be. She admitted to Uproxx, "I tried to convince the director to let me drive and he's like, 'It's not on me if you run over Colin [Hanks] so I'm not gonna let you do it.'"

Considering throughout her career that her onscreen parents have included Hanks, Amanda Peet (in TV series Bent), and Magic Mike's Channing Tatum (in movie White House Down), it must be tough for King to play favorites. Or, maybe not, as she told Uproxx, "Colin made me promise him that I would always say that he was a better dad than Channing Tatum. He made me promise [him] that, but I'm gonna have to say that Channing was amazing. He was so much fun."

After embracing her dark side on The Conjuring and Wish Upon, Joey King was more than ready for a break. She told Pedestrian.TV in August 2018 that shooting her then-latest horror feature Slender Man was exhausting, noting, "It does take an emotional toll ... Shooting that library scene with Slender Man was one of the most fun and mentally exhausting days on set that I've ever had."

When pressed by the publication, King confirmed she'd be taking a break from the genre as, "Mentally these movies are taking a bit of a toll on me. I am so scared, I have to sleep with the lights on when I go home. As much as I love the horror genre, I'm definitely looking forward to my other films coming out later this year that aren't horror." 

She told Girlfriend earlier that same month that her work on the dark side was pretty much done, too, stating, "I feel like I've been a part of so many cool genre films as far as horror goes and I think I've accomplished in like the horror genre so much of what I wanted to."

She's grown up in the limelight, so naturally Joey King hasn't gotten to enjoy many of the usual hallmarks of typical teenage life. But she did get to attend at least one high school prom, however, as the date of her BFF. Posting a photo on Twitter, King showcased how the two wore some finger lickin' good corsages for the event. Literally. The two wore "chicken corsages from @kfc."

Speaking to Schön magazine in 2018, King shared that being famous has just as many disadvantages as advantages. "The best part has been that over the years I've gotten to meet people that I will call friends and even family for the rest of my life. I've been so lucky, almost everyone I've encountered along the way has been lovely," she told the publication. "I think the worst part for some people is that they can get very caught up in the lifestyle of being somebody with a lot of attention on them, but although it sounds cliché, having a good family around you is the best thing to keep your head right. I'm very lucky in that aspect too."

Seeing herself on a massive billboard advertisement is surreal to Joey King, as it probably would be for most people. In 2019, she took to Twitter to show how excited she was to see her face plastered everywhere for the first time promoting her role in Hulu's The Act, later telling Refinery 29 that the experience would never be commonplace for her. "I think people think that that's a normal thing for someone to see. They think that it's normal for me to see myself on the side of a bus bench," she explained.

Even though King has been famous forever, she appreciates the freedom she has "to look like s**t and go to Whole Foods." She attested, "I may be in a position where I have a lot of eyes on me, but I'm still just a young gal living her life." When it comes to the pressures of the industry, King added that she just wants "to do everything I can to the best of my ability, but I never want to put pressure on myself."

As of 2019, Joey King's most high-profile role was opposite Patricia Arquette in that year's shocking true crime series The Act, for which she was nominated for an Emmy. Starring as Gypsy Rose Blanchard — who, along with her boyfriend, murdered Gypsy's mother, after years of suffering due to Munchausen by proxy — required King to shave her head for the third time.

Speaking to Variety in 2019, King admitted it was a difficult but fruitful process getting into character. "The physical transformation was really, really huge for me. I shaved my head, I wore four different sets of fake teeth for the role, and with the costumes, the wheelchair and the voice, everything really seemed to fall into place for me," she said.

As for performing alongside Oscar winner and living legend Arquette, King gushed to Vulture, "Working with her was the greatest experience of my life. She's such a generous actor and a generous human being." To Variety, she noted that the experience had irrevocably changed her. "I've never had to dive into a character like this before — to transform myself like this — and I'm really proud of myself," she enthused.