REGINA KING

When you think of a long-time television and movie star that is seriously underrated, who do you think of? I think of Regina Kin. In "Jerry Maguire,"Tom Cruise and Rene Zellweger received much credit for their parts as the sports agent and the single mother assistant. Cuba Gooding Jr. received a supporting actor Oscar for his role as the under-appreciated football star. But what did Regina King get (credit wise) as the player's strong-willed wife who wanted her husband to be shown the money? Not enough in my opinion. But Regina thinks more positively than I do.

"Jerry Maguire made producers more comfortable on banking on me," says in a friendly voice.

And that's all that counts because just a few years later, she's being shown the money. Regina lucked up and played the role of Angela Bassett's sister in the blockbuster hit "How Stella Got Her Groove Back". Then she gave a stellar performance as Will Smith's betrayed wife in the "Enemy Of The State". She followed up with "Mighty Joe Young", playing a successful veterinarian, and many other roles have been placed on her plate.

So does this make Regina King an overnight success? Chile please.

"I've been acting all my life," she says. "I came out of the womb with drama." The L.A. native took ballet and dance lessons as a little girl and enrolled in acting classes at 12. By 14, she had an acting job as 'Brenda', Marla Gibb's daughter on the sitcom "227" for five years. During that time, she also went to a regular high school in L.A., made the track team, and won small parts in John Singleton's three movies ("Boyz In The Hood", "Poetic Justice" and "Higher Learning".

Regina married record executive Ian Alexander a few years ago. They have a four-year-old boy, Ian Jr. Regina and Ian Sr. are considering child number two.