Jaime King Bio
Jaime Barbara King (born April 23, 1979) is an American actress and model best known for her roles in the television series Hart of Dixie (2011–2015) and Black Summer (2019–2021), as well as appearances in films such as Pearl Harbor (2001), White Chicks (2004), Sin City (2005), Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (2014), Ocean’s 8 (2018) and Lights Out (2024). She was discovered at age 14 in 1993 and built a successful modeling career before transitioning to acting in the late 1990s. Standing at 175 cm, King has worked in both fashion and film for more than three decades, appearing in magazines including Vogue, Mademoiselle and Harper’s Bazaar.
Early Life and Background
Jaime Barbara King was born on April 23, 1979, in the suburbs of Omaha, Nebraska. She is the daughter of Nancy King, a former beauty queen, and Robert King, and she has an older sister Sandi, an older brother Barry and a younger brother Robert, often called Robbie. Her parents separated in 1994. King was named after the character Jaime Sommers, played by Lindsay Wagner on the 1970s television series The Bionic Woman.
King attended Westside High School in Omaha but dropped out in 1995 in order to pursue a modeling career in New York City. She trained at Nancy Bounds’ Studios, a modeling school in Omaha that helped launch her career. Later, she enrolled in a home-study program run by the University of Nebraska–Lincoln to continue her education.
Path to Acting
King was discovered in November 1993 at age 14 while attending Nancy Bounds’ Studios. After being spotted at her graduation fashion show by model agent Michael Flutie, she was invited to New York City to begin modeling professionally. Her breakthrough shoot was an advertisement for Abercrombie & Fitch in 1994, and by age 15 she had appeared in Vogue, Mademoiselle, Allure and Seventeen. At sixteen, she graced the pages of Glamour and Harper’s Bazaar, and she later walked the runway for Chanel, Alexander McQueen and Christian Dior.
In 1998, King began co-hosting MTV’s fashion series House of Style with fellow model turned actress Rebecca Romijn. She made her acting debut in 1999 in the Daniel Waters comedy Happy Campers, where she played a character named Pixel. That same year she appeared in the music video for Filter’s song “Take a Picture.” Her first major film role came in Pearl Harbor (2001), and her first leading role in an action movie was in Bulletproof Monk (2003), co-starring Chow Yun-fat and Seann William Scott.
Jaime King Career
Early Career (1998–2004)
Following her debut, King appeared briefly in the Johnny Depp film Blow as the adult Kristina Jung, and she was featured in Incubus’s music video for “Wish You Were Here.” Her role as nurse Betty Bayer in the World War II epic Pearl Harbor (2001) marked her first appearance in a large Hollywood production. The roles King took part in during 2001 garnered her the “New Stylemaker” title at the Young Hollywood Awards.
In 2002, she appeared in the teen comedy Slackers as Angela Patton, alongside roles in Four Faces of God and Lone Star State of Mind. In 2003, she starred alongside Chow Yun-fat in Bulletproof Monk, an adaptation of a comic book that became her first leading action film role. In 2004, she appeared in the comedy White Chicks, playing Heather Vandergeld opposite Brittany Daniel as her sister Megan Vandergeld, a parody of socialites Paris and Nicky Hilton. White Chicks received five Razzie nominations but won Outstanding Directing for a Box Office Movie and Outstanding Writing for a Box Office Movie at the BET Comedy Awards.
Breakthrough (2005–2009)
In 2005, King landed dual roles as twins Goldie and Wendy in the film adaptation of Frank Miller’s graphic novel Sin City, directed by Robert Rodriguez. She portrayed the twin prostitutes in charge of the girls of Old Town in the segment The Hard Goodbye, opposite Mickey Rourke. The film was screened at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival and won the Technical Grand Prize for the film’s “visual shaping.” That same year, she appeared in Cheaper by the Dozen 2 as Anne Murtaugh, in the Al Pacino drama Two for the Money as Alexandria, and she had a guest appearance on the teen drama The O.C.
From 2009 to 2012, King starred in the animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars, playing the bounty hunter Aurra Sing across multiple episodes and voicing additional characters. In 2009, she also starred in the Star Wars-themed comedy Fanboys, directed by Kyle Newman, and played Sarah Palmer in the horror remake My Bloody Valentine 3D.
Notable Works and Milestones
King’s signature work remains the role of Lemon Breeland in the CW comedy-drama Hart of Dixie (2011–2015), where she played the main antagonist opposite Rachel Bilson. Her performance in Sin City and its 2014 sequel Sin City: A Dame to Kill For remains one of her most recognized screen appearances, and she later earned notice for starring as Rose in the Netflix zombie drama Black Summer (2019–2021).
Jaime King Award Nominations
Throughout her career, Jaime King has received several award nominations across film and television. Her role in White Chicks (2004) earned the film five nominations at the Razzie Awards, including categories for Worst Actress and Worst Picture. Bulletproof Monk was nominated for Choice Movie in a Drama/Action Adventure at the Teen Choice Awards, and Happy Campers brought her a nomination for Best Actress at the DVD Exclusive Awards.
Jaime King Awards Won
While specific personal award wins are limited, Jaime King has been part of winning projects across her career. White Chicks won Outstanding Directing for a Box Office Movie and Outstanding Writing for a Box Office Movie at the BET Comedy Awards. She earned the “New Stylemaker” title at the Young Hollywood Awards in 2001, and she has shared recognition with her Hart of Dixie cast as the series built a strong following on The CW. In 2004, she joined Halle Berry, Julianne Moore and Eva Mendes as a spokesmodel for Revlon’s high-profile ad campaign.
Jaime King Family
Jaime Barbara King was born to Nancy King, a former beauty queen, and Robert King. She grew up with an older sister Sandi, an older brother Barry and a younger brother Robert, often called Robbie. King is also a mother of two sons, born in 2013 and 2015, and singer Taylor Swift serves as godmother to her younger son.
Personal Life
King met director Kyle Newman while working on the set of his film Fanboys in 2006, and they married at Greystone Mansion in November 2007. She filed for divorce in May 2020 after 14 years of marriage, and the divorce was finalized in September 2023. In July 2025, it was announced that King had become engaged to investment banker Austin Sosa, and they later married in a private ceremony, though Sosa filed for divorce in January 2026. Earlier in her life, King dated fashion photographer Davide Sorrenti, who died from a kidney ailment in 1997, and she dated singer Kid Rock in 2000.