Nurse Betty

Background:

“I’m fortunate that I came from modeling because I made enough money so that I can choose the roles I want to do. I’m not in it for the fame, obviously.” Jaime King

American actress and supermodel Jaime King first gathered popularity as a model before carrying out a steady acting career since 2001. One of Hollywood’s most sought-after young actresses, King gained fame as 17-year-old smart and bubbly nurse Betty Bayer in Michael Bay’s World War II romantic epic Pearl Harbor (2001), in which she won a Young Hollywood award. She received further recognition playing roles in films like the drama Blow (2001, with Johnny Depp), the comedy Slackers (2002, opposite Jason Schwartzman), the comedy-crime Lone Star State of Mind (2002, alongside Joshua Jackson), Bulletproof Monk (2003, with international star Chow Yun-Fat and Seann William Scott) and the Wayans brothers’ White Chicks (2004). Her more recent and upcoming credits include the Indie film Pretty Persuasion (2005), director Robert Rodriguez and writer-artist Frank Miller’s Sin City (2005) and its 2006 sequel Sin City 2, Two for the Money (2005, with Al Pacino), The Alibi (2006) and Girls Club (2006). King is also reported to be under negotiations to play a role in David Arquette’s The Tripper (2007).

A successful model, King, 5’ 9” and possessing a playful personality as well as a down-to-earth appeal, has appeared in all the major magazines, including Vogue, Cosmopolitan, Elle, Allure, Mademoiselle, Seventeen, Glamour, and Harper’s Bazaar, and strutted down runaways for such famed designers as Gucci, Marithe & Francois Girbaud, Christian Dio and Chanel, among others. She also has been the spokesperson for big companies like Bebe, Benetton, Guess, Kenneth Cole, Macy’s, Mondi, and Nordstrom.

One of the world’s top supermodels, King was listed as the 28th of Maxim magazine’s “Hot 100” (2005) and the 16th of the magazine’s “50 Sexiest Women” (1999), the 20th of Stuff magazine’s “102 Sexiest Women in the World” (2002) and the 30th of Loaded’s “Hot 100 Babes” (2002). As for her private life, the blue-eyed beauty, who owns several tattoos like a diamond on one wrist, a spade on the other, two fairies on her lower back, her last name between her shoulders and a symbol on her abdomen, has dated several men, including Sean Lennon, actor Jake Gyllenhaal (reportedly dated in 2001), musician/actor Kid Rock (together from early 2000-2001), Matt Damhave (together in 2002) and model and personal trainer Alex Burns. A former heroin addict and alcoholic, Jaime also was linked to the son of photographer Francesca Sorrenti and brother of photographer Mario Sorrenti, the promising photographer Davide Sorrenti, who died in 1997 of a heroin overdose.


Britney Spears Fan

Childhood and Family:

Daughter to a former beauty queen, Jamie King was born on April 23, 1979, in Omaha, Nebraska. Her parents named the future star after Jaime Sommers, the character in the 70s TV show “The Bionic Woman” (1976). A native of Omaha, Jaime attended Omaha High School. Wanting to widen her horizons, Jaime asked her parents to enroll her in an etiquette class at Omaha’s Nancy Bounds Studios when she was 12. Two years later, at the school’s final presentation, she was discovered by Company Management owner Michael Flutie, who invited her to New York to start modeling.

When not working, the blonde-haired beauty enjoys writing and photography. She also listens to Tori Amos, Fiona Apple, The Wu-Tang clan, and confesses to being a huge admirer of Britney Spears.


Girls Club

Career:

Jaime King was spotted by New York model agent Michael Flutie at age 14 while attending a modeling school in her hometown of Omaha. Soon after being discovered at the school’s graduation fashion show, she jetted to New York to begin a modeling career. In a short time, King graced the covers of numerous fashion magazines and was shot by the industry’s top photographers. She had already worked for such major magazines as Mademoiselle, Vogue, Allure, and Seventeen by the time she was fifteen. Already a top model at the age of 16, the teen beauty further confirmed her rising status by appearing in Glamour, Harper’s Bazaar, Cosmopolitan, and The New York Time magazine in the following years.

While enjoying great success, however, King had to deal with a big problem. Young and free with money to spend, she was on the party circuit and drug use quickly became more of a lifestyle than recreation. In 1997, tragedy struck when her up and coming photographer-boyfriend Davide Sorrenti was found dead of reportedly overdosing on heroin. After this accident, King decided to clean up her life and began to recover from a heroin addiction. By 1998, she had returned to the business, co-hosting MTV’s fashion series “House of Style” with Rebecca Romijn-Stamos.

King has since become a Hollywood actress, while still serving as a model and spokeswoman for various companies. A natural on the catwalk, the model has walked down the catwalks of big league fashion shows for designer houses such as Christian Dior, Chanel, Gucci, and Marithe & Francois Girbaud. As for advertisements, she has modeled in a number of ads for such companies as Bebe, Benetton, Guess, Kenneth Cole, Macy’s, Mondi, and Nordstrom.

As an actress, King landed her first film role in 1999 when she was cast in the supporting role of counselor Pixel in the teen comedy Happy Campers. Written and directed by “Heathers” screenwriter Daniel Waters, the film was screened at the Sundance Film Festival in 2001. She was then seen as the daughter of Johnny Depp’s enterprising drug dealer George Jung in the drama Blow (2001), helmed by Ted Demme. Her big break arrived when renowned director Michael Bay cast King in the supporting role of Betty Bayer, a bright and lively 17-year-old nurse who creeps into the Navy for adventure, in the big budget movie Pearl Harbor (2001), starring Ben Affleck and Josh Hartnett. For her impressive body of work, King took home a 2001 Young Hollywood for New Style Maker.

2002 saw roles in the college comedy Slackers (2002), as the object of a nerdy young man’s (Jason Schwartzman)’s affections, Anthony Hartman’s Four Faces of God (2002), opposite Leon, Robert LaSardo and William Knight, and the comedy-crime Lone Star State of Mind (2002), costarring alongside teen heartthrob Joshua Jackson as a pair of small towners leaving their town. The following year, she was able to score a female lead opposite international star Chow Yun-Fat, and Seann William Scott in the comic book action film Bulletproof Monk (2003), playing the seductive Russian mob princess Bad Girl Jade. Next up for King, she starred opposite Shawn and Marlon Wayans in the Keenen Ivory Wayans-helmed White Chicks (2004) and was seen on the small screen as Anna Marie in the J.H. Wyman-created series ‘Harry Green and Eugene” (2004).

The actress was even busier in 2005 with six different projects under her belt. Following a feature role in the independent film Pretty Persuasion (2005, starring Evan Rachel Wood and David Wagner), she was one of the few characters to appear in color in director Robert Rodriguez and writer-artist Frank Miller’s visually arresting (and otherwise black-and-white) adaptation of Miller’s crime noir comic book series Sin City (2005), portraying the innocent murdered hooker Goldie and her unforgiving twin Wendy. She then found herself acting opposite Al Pacino, Matthew McConaughey and Rene Russo in the drama/thriller Two for the Money (2005) and appeared as Anne Murtaugh in Cheaper by the Dozen 2 (2005), which starred Steve Martin, Bonnie Hunt, Alyson Stoner and Forrest Landis. On television, King portrayed Tanya in the Fox series “Kitchen Confidential” (2005) and landed a guest role as Mary-Sue in an episode of “The O.C.” (2005).

The beautiful actress recently had a small role in the Noah Hawley-written The Alibi (2006), a comedy/romance starring Steve Coogan and Rebecca Romijn, and is scheduled to star with Lydia Leonard and Jason Durr in the thriller Girls Club (2006). She will also reprise her role of Goldie/Wendy for the sequel Sin City 2 (2006). King is currently in negotiations to play a role in 2007’s The Tripper, a horror movie directed by David Arquette.


Awards:

- Young Hollywood: New Style Maker – Female, 2001