Regina King Dons a Powder Pink Suit to Get Her Handprints Immortalized
It is not an exaggeration to say that Regina King is one of entertainment’s best living American talents. The actress and director has won a slew of awards, including an Oscar, a Golden Globe, four Emmys, several NAACP Image Awards, and is probably the only actress who could tackle the role of Angela Abar/Sister Night in The Watchmen. While show business continues to rightfully heap awards on her (she’s tantalizingly close to an EGOT), King will inspire future generations of thespians with her cement footprint block at the historic TCL Chinese Theater in Hollywood.
King was honored with her own block at the entrance to the famed venue. She wore a powdery pink pantsuit, and looked delighted as her hands and feet were immortalized in stone, along with the quote “There’s no place like home.” She told Access Hollywood that, prior to to the ceremony, she’s been “playing it cool,” but as the big day arrived, she “started getting those butterflies and thought, ‘It’s really happening!’ I’m going to forever be in a place where all the greats have made their marks. It’s surreal.”
The quote, King said, doesn’t reference The Wizard of Oz, she said. “It comes from my beginning in 227 where the theme started off ‘no place like home.’ Because this is home.” 227 was King’s first major television role, which premiered in 1985 and ran for five seasons; she played Brenda Jenkins.
Ava DuVernay was in attendance at the ceremony, along with King’s sister, actress Reina King, and their mother, Gloria King. The ceremony coincides with the LA premiere of The Harder They Fall, King’s new Netflix film; director Jeymes Samuel also attended in support of King.
Since the theater’s opening in 1927, stars have press their hands, footprints, and other assorted ephemera into a block of wet cement, along with their signature. Anyone who’s visited the attraction has undoubtedly stepped into the shoeprints of Judy Garland, Mary Pickford, Tom Hanks, the Harry Potter cast, and more.