Joey King

Joey Lynn King is an American actor whose career moved quickly from child performer to streaming-era lead, dramatic awards contender, and action-comedy presence. Born in Los Angeles on July 30, 1999, she began working professionally as a child, first appearing in commercials and small television parts before building a screen résumé across family films, studio genre pictures, animation, and prestige limited-series drama. Her sisters, including actor Hunter King, also worked in entertainment, and King’s early years were shaped by the practical experience of auditioning and working on sets while still young.

King’s first major film showcase came with Ramona and Beezus, the 2010 adaptation of Beverly Cleary’s books, in which she played the imaginative Ramona Quimby opposite Selena Gomez. The role established her as a capable young lead rather than just a supporting child actor. During the following years she appeared in a wide range of commercial films, including Battle: Los Angeles, Crazy, Stupid, Love., The Dark Knight Rises, The Conjuring, White House Down, Oz the Great and Powerful, and Independence Day: Resurgence. These parts varied in size, but they kept her visible across comedy, superhero, horror, fantasy, and action productions, helping her avoid being confined to a single child-star niche.

Her broadest popular breakthrough came with Netflix’s The Kissing Booth in 2018. As Elle Evans, King became the emotional center of a teen-romance franchise that drew large streaming audiences and led to two sequels. The films were often discussed as audience-driven rather than critic-driven successes, but they gave King the profile of a bankable young star and connected her to a global teen and young-adult fan base. She later expanded that relationship with Netflix through The In Between and the 2024 romantic comedy A Family Affair, while also taking lead roles in Hulu’s The Princess and Netflix’s Uglies.