Childhood & Early Life
Georgia May King was born on November 18, 1986, in Edinburgh, Scotland, to Australian-born English stage actor Jonathan Stephen Geoffrey King, better known as “Jonathan Hyde,” and Scottish opera singer Isobel Buchanan.
Her father is a respected member of the ‘Royal Shakespeare Company’ and has worked in some of the biggest Hollywood films ever made, including ‘Titanic,’ ‘The Mummy,’ ‘Jumanji,’ and ‘The Tailor of Panama.’ His mother, Isobel, is a renowned soprano from the ‘Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama,’ who started her career with ‘The Australian Opera’ in the 1970s, as the youngest principal artist in the history of the company.
King is the younger of their two daughters. She was raised in Exeter, the capital city of Devon county, England. She grew up in the Exeter countryside “in literally the middle of nowhere” and attended the ‘Exeter School,’ a high-profile independent private school in Devon.
Her father, Jonathan, discouraged the sisters from watching a lot of TV. Thus, young Georgia became a voracious reader, particularly of Jane Austen novels. As a youngster, she admittedly “pretended to be super-cool and not be bothered by things and play off any kind of heartache.”
King believes she was definitely influenced by the artistry of her parents, but the biggest lessons she got from them were those of kindness, humility, and hard work, and how to “never get too big for your boots.” She has fond memories of accompanying her father to the sets of big films such as 'Richie Rich' and 'Jumanji.'
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Career
Although she wanted to become a director, Georgia got a break as an actor at the tender age of 18, when she was cast in the role of ‘Rosamond Oliver’ in the 2006 ‘BBC One’ adaptation of Charlotte Brontë’s classic novel ‘Jane Eyre.’ She was just recently out of school back then and worked at a cheese shop.
She nearly lost her debut role in the ‘Golden Globe’-nominated miniseries, as a week before she was to begin shooting her scenes, King was affected by stomach cramps. Halfway through the course of filming, she suffered a ruptured appendix. When her agent told the producers that she was unlikely to recover from her appendicitis operation for at least 10 days, she was replaced, and her scenes were re-shot with a different actor. However, due to an unexpectedly quick recovery, she soon reclaimed the role and completed filming for the character herself.
In 2007, she appeared in the telefilm ‘The History of Mr. Polly’ and then appeared in the project ‘The Shadow in the North.’ Following this, she was seen as a despotic head-girl in ‘Wild Child’ (2008) and as a cruel, conniving ‘Sophie’ in the slasher film ‘Tormented’ (2009). She also appeared in the ‘Academy Award’-winning film ‘The Duchess’ (2008), opposite Ralph Fiennes and Keira Knightley.
In 2009, she received great reviews for her performance as the manipulative ‘Victoria’ in the drama ‘Tanner Hall,’ alongside Hollywood A-listers Brie Larson and Rooney Mara. Then, in 2010, she appeared as ‘Princess Elena’ in an episode of the third season of the ‘BBC One’ fantasy–drama series ‘Merlin,’ titled ‘The Changeling.’ He was also seen as ‘Frances Drake’ in ‘Agatha Christie's Poirot.’ From October to November that year, she performed in ‘One Night in November’ at the ‘Belgrade Theatre,’ Coventry.
In 2012, she appeared in the comedy–horror flick ‘Cockneys vs Zombies,’ playing a bank-heist hostage trying to flee a zombie-infested London. Following this, she appeared in a breakthrough role, as ‘Goldie Clemmons’ in the ‘NBC’ comedy series ‘The New Normal,’ alongside former reality-TV star Nene Leakes.
King has guest-starred in several TV series over the past decade, besides appearing in supporting and leading roles in numerous films. Some of her major projects are ‘St. Trinian's 2: The Legend of Fritton's Gold’ (2009), ‘Burke and Hare’ (2010), ‘Chalet Girl’ (2011), the Anne Hathaway-starrer ‘One Day’ (2011), ‘Eliminate: Archie Cookson’ (2011), ‘Austenland’ (2013), and ‘Kill Your Friends’ (2015). She has appeared in over 40 projects as an actor.
She has also written, produced, and directed two short films, ‘I Think, Therefore’ and ‘Your Hands,’ in 2012 and 2015, respectively. In 2016, King earned her most memorable role on TV, in ‘HBO’s ‘Vice Principals.’ Her upcoming projects are ‘The Lost Husband’ and the science-fiction series ‘Devs.’
