Regina King, Reina King, And More Shine Bright At Netflix’s ‘Shirley’ Premiere In Los Angeles

Regina King has made her triumphant return to the spotlight in time for the premiere of Shirley. The Oscar winner was joined by the illustrious cast along with her co-producer and sister, Reina King, and Oscar-winning director, John Ridley, at the red carpet on Tuesday (Mar. 19).

King stars in the film as Shirley Chisholm—the political trailblazer who first made history in 1968 as the first Black woman elected to the US Congress and again in 1972 as the first Black candidate to bid for a major party’s nomination under her presidential run.

One month into shooting the film, the 53-year-old’s only child passed away via suicide. She explained to Harper’s Bazaar that when filming resumed, that period felt like a blur. However, King said that she remembers some moments very vividly. “I know Ian would have felt like if I didn’t finish something because of a choice that he needed to make, then I wasn’t honoring him,” she expressed. “We all landed at the finish line on Ian’s wings. He guided us there.”

Telling Chisholm’s story was one that King wanted to tell for over a decade. “We’d both had too many experiences where friends had never heard of Shirley Chisholm,” King explained. “We all know women who roll up their sleeves and are able to go toe-to-toe with men—Black women. We know they exist, but we don’t get to see them out in the storytelling space. Shirley understood the game of politics, even though people’s lives were not a game to her.”

Reina added, “She is just epic, a Goliath in so many regards, but Regina, to me, is a Goliath in her own right.”

Shirley also stars the late Lance Reddick, Lucas Hedges, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Christina Jackson, Michael Cherrie, Dorian Missick, Amirah Vann, W. Earl Brown, Brad James, Reina King, André Holland and Terrence Howard. It premieres on Netflix this Friday, Mar. 22.

Regina Kina