If you've watched the teen romance The Kissing Booth, you probably fell in love with Joey
King, who plays Elle Evans.
She returns in the 2020 sequel, The Kissing Booth 2, ready to tackle the ups and downs
of her senior year of high school, not to mention a long-distance relationship.
And if you think you've seen her before, you're probably right.
Here's why she looks so familiar.
King started acting when she was just 4 years old.
By age 10, she landed her first starring role in 2010's Ramona and Beezus, which is based
on Beverly Cleary's classic series of books.
In the movie adaptation, King plays the adventurous but accident-prone Ramona, who has a big heart
and even bigger imagination, while former Disney Channel starlet Selena Gomez plays
her older sister Beatrice, nicknamed Beezus.
The G-rated feel-good film follows the inexhaustible Ramona as she gets into mischief while trying
to help save the family home after her father loses his job.
Her antics usually get her in trouble at school, and often annoy - or, worse, embarrass - Beezus.
"Beezus, where's the bank gonna take our house?"
"It's just an expression, genius.
They don't take it anywhere."
In the years since Ramona and Beezus was released, King has gone from precocious child actor
to rising star, but she still cherishes her time working alongside Gomez.
King told Entertainment Tonight,
"I've always really looked up to her.
I'm really proud of everything she's done.
She's a big inspiration to people, whether she realizes it or not."
If you're a Taylor Swift fan, you may remember King from the music video for Swift's Grammy-winning
single "Mean."
Interspersed between Swift performing the song are snippets of stories about kids who
don't fit in and are made fun of.
Yes, that's King playing a tween wearing a dress that's a little different from her peers,
who won't let her sit at the lunch table with them.
King's character ends up eating lunch in a bathroom stall, but then later she's happily
sitting in the auditorium where Swift is performing.
King has also appeared in Disney Channel star Sabrina Carpenter's Legally Blonde-inspired
video for the hit dance song "Sue Me," in which the actress prances around helping Carpenter
get over an ex, and in the dystopian video for "Tongue Tied" by Marshmello, Yungblud,
and Blackbear.
King got her start in acting by appearing in TV ads, her first being for Life cereal.
As an adorably wide-eyed kindergartener, King clumsily pours herself a bowl of the tasty
treat while in class as a voice asks,
"How can a cereal so simple taste so good?"
Since then, King has appeared in more than 100 commercials.
She was featured prominently in not one but two Eggo waffle commercials, first as a kid
"expert" for Eggo Bake Shop Swirlz and then as a young grocery shopper looking for Bake
Shop Twists at an actual bakery section of a grocery store because they're just that
good.
One of King's more memorable ads was for Juicy Juice, in which she has a lemonade-style stand
where she's selling glasses of fruit juice.
But after a father and daughter each order a serving, she pulls out a giant bucket filled
with "high fructose corn syrup" and pours it into the cup, followed by a large beaker
filled with "red dye #40" before sweetly entreating them to enjoy.
Other commercials King appeared in as a child were for AT&T and Kay Jewelers.
But even though her acting career has picked up, she hasn't stopped doing small-screen
promotions.
In 2019, a pixie-cut King was featured as a celebrity ambassador along with the likes
of Lizzo, Ezra Miller, and more in Urban Decay's star-studded "Urban Decay" advertising campaign.
King may have had top billing in The Kissing Booth and Ramona and Beezus, but she's had
roles in more than two dozen other high-profile films.
Her very first movie role was as the deceased daughter of Adam Sandler's character in 2007's
Reign Over Me.
In 2012, King played the young Talia al Ghul in The Dark Knight Rises, and the following
year she portrayed the daughter of Channing Tatum's character in White House Down.
By 2015, at age 16, King had moved up to leading lady in the Canadian indie film Borealis,
followed by the horror films Wish Upon and Slender Man.
Even though King began acting at a young age, she doesn't like being called a "child actor."
She told Refinery29,
"I'm very proud of the accomplishments I made when I was a young child, and I'm proud of
the person I became from that.
But I think that when describing me, I'm an actor.
That's who I am.
I was an actor before; I'm an actor now.
Being called an actor and being respected as an actor is something that I wish I felt
more sometimes."
King has also had notable roles in Crazy, Stupid, Love; The Conjuring; Oz the Great
and Powerful, and Independence Day: Resurgence, among others, and has performed voice roles
in the animated films Horton Hears a Who, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, and The Boxcar
Children.
King made a splash on television when she was just 10 years old, when promoting Ramona
and Beezus led her to the Tonight Show stage.
Host Jay Leno gifted her with a pet pig, which she named JayJay.
"Put him right next to your heart, I can't imagine why Dad didn't want this."
King appeared in two episodes of the Disney Channel's The Suite Life of Zack & Cody, then
made one-off appearances on such critically acclaimed shows as Entourage, CSI, and Medium
before landing a recurring role on the Emmy-winning series Fargo as the daughter of police officer
Gus Grimly.
Between The Kissing Booth and its sequel, King received rave reviews for her starring
turn in the true crime series The Act, which follows an ailing teenager who discovers her
mother suffers from Munchausen syndrome by proxy, which leads to her death.
King received Emmy and Golden Globe award nominations for her performance.
Joey King has been drawing praise for her work her whole life, and more and more people
have been learning about her talents since making the leap into leading roles.
The Kissing Booth 2 is just one more jewel in this King's crown.
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