Adrienne King (born July 21, 1960) is an American actress and artist. King began acting at six months old, appearing in a commercial for

Ivory Ivory is a hard, white material from the tusks (traditionally from elephants) and teeth of animals, that consists mainly of dentine, one of the physical structures of teeth and tusks. The chemical structure of the teeth and tusks of mammals is ...

, which led to her appearing in several commercials working as a child actor. She made her film debut in the television film '' Inherit the Wind'' (1965)—followed by uncredited roles in '' Between the Lines'' (1977), ''

Saturday Night Fever ''Saturday Night Fever'' is a 1977 American dance drama film directed by John Badham and produced by Robert Stigwood. It stars John Travolta as Tony Manero, a young Italian-American man from the Brooklyn borough of New York. Manero spends his ...

'' (1977), and ''

Hair Hair is a protein filament that grows from follicles found in the dermis. Hair is one of the defining characteristics of mammals. The human body, apart from areas of glabrous skin, is covered in follicles which produce thick terminal and f ...

'' (1979). In 1980, King began portraying

Alice Hardy Alice Hardy is a fictional character in the ''Friday the 13th'' franchise. Alice first appears in '' Friday the 13th'' (1980) as an artist working as a camp counselor. She is portrayed by Adrienne King—who reprises the role in the sequel ...

in the ''Friday the 13th'' franchise appearing in ''

Friday the 13th Friday the 13th is considered an unlucky day in Western superstition. It occurs when the 13th day of the month in the Gregorian calendar falls on a Friday, which happens at least once every year but can occur up to three times in the same year. ...

'' (1980), its direct sequel ''

Friday the 13th Part 2 ''Friday the 13th Part 2'' is a 1981 American slasher film produced and directed by Steve Miner in his directorial debut, and written by Ron Kurz. It is the sequel to 1980's '' Friday the 13th'', and the second installment in the franchise. Adrie ...

'' (1981), and the

fan film A fan film is a film or video inspired by a film, television program, comic book, book, or video game created by fans rather than by the source's copyright holders or creators. Fan filmmakers have traditionally been amateurs, but some of the more ...

''Jason Rising'' (2021). In 2023,

showrunner A showrunner (or colloquially a helmer) is the top-level executive producer of a television series production who has creative and management authority through combining the responsibilities of employer and, in comedy or dramas, typically also th ...

Bryan Fuller Bryan Fuller (born July 27, 1969) is an American television writer and producer who has created a number of television series, including ''Dead Like Me'', ''Wonderfalls'', ''Pushing Daisies'', '' Hannibal'', and '' American Gods.'' Fuller worked a ...

confirmed King would have an undisclosed recurring role in his upcoming ''Friday the 13th''

Peacock Peafowl is a common name for three bird species in the genera ''Pavo (genus), Pavo'' and ''Afropavo'' within the tribe Pavonini of the family Phasianidae, the pheasants and their allies. Male peafowl are referred to as peacocks, and female pea ...

prequel series ''Crystal Lake''. After starring in the original ''Friday the 13th'', King became the target of a stalker and retired from acting for three decades—beginning her career as a

voice actress Voice acting is the art of performing voice-overs to present a character or provide information to an audience. Performers are called voice actors/actresses, voice artists, dubbing artists, voice talent, voice-over artists, or voice-over talent ...

and developing her skills as an artist. In 2010, she returned to acting in the low-budget

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apoca ...

''Psychic Experiment''. King followed this with roles in ''

The Butterfly Room ''The Butterfly Room'' is a 2012 American-Italian thriller-horror film directed by Jonathan Zarantonello. It is based on Zarantonello's novel ''Alice dalle 4 alle 5'' (''Alice from 4 to 5''). The film won the Denis-de-Rougemont Youth Award at the ...

'' (2012), '' Tales of Poe'' (2014), and ''Killer Therapy'' (2019). King is the

narrator Narration is the use of a written or spoken commentary to convey a story to an audience. Narration is conveyed by a narrator: a specific person, or unspecified literary voice, developed by the creator of the story to deliver information to the a ...

of the

audiobook An audiobook (or a talking book) is a recording of a book or other work being read out loud. A reading of the complete text is described as "unabridged", while readings of shorter versions are abridgements. Spoken audio has been available in sc ...

Grady Hendrix Grady Hendrix is an American author, journalist, public speaker, and screenwriter known for his best-selling 2014 novel '' Horrorstör''. Hendrix lives in Manhattan and was one of the founders of the New York Asian Film Festival. Life and career ...

's novel ''The Final Girl Support Group'' (2021).

Life and career

1960–1979: Early life and roles

King was born July 21, 1960 in Oyster Bay,

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...

, New York. She is a first-generation American; her mother was English and from Liverpool, and her father was of Hungarian Jewish and Czech descent. King's mother put her into acting at 6-months old in commercials alongside her brother and sister, something she describes as her not having much control over. In 1965 around age five, she appeared in the television film '' Inherit the Wind'' in a supporting role. Beginning in ninth grade, she began auditioning for films in New York City: "As long as I kept my grades up, everyone was cool with it," she recalled. She soon began training under Bill Esper, a student of acting instructor

Sanford Meisner Sanford Meisner (August 31, 1905 – February 2, 1997) was an American actor and acting teacher who developed an approach to acting instruction that is now known as the Meisner technique. While Meisner was exposed to method acting at the Group ...

. She began to obtain parts in

soap opera A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored ...

Off-off-Broadway Off-off-Broadway theaters are smaller New York City theaters than Broadway and off-Broadway theaters, and usually have fewer than 100 seats. The off-off-Broadway movement began in 1958 as part of a response to perceived commercialism of the prof ...

productions, and in several television commercials most notably

Burger King advertising Since it was founded in 1954, international fast food chain Burger King has employed many advertising programs. During the 1970s, its advertisements included a memorable jingle, the inspiration for its current mascot the Burger King and several ...

. Additionally, she worked as an extra, as well as performing as an uncredited dancer in the films ''

'' (1977) and ''

'' (1979). She also had a small supporting role in the comedy film '' Between the Lines'' (1977). During this time, she studied art at New York's

Fashion Institute of Technology The Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) is a public college in New York City. It is part of the State University of New York (SUNY) and focuses on art, business, design, mass communication, and technology connected to the fashion industry. It ...

1980–2008: ''Friday the 13th'' and after

In 1979, while King was appearing in a commercial for

Burger King Burger King (BK) is an American-based multinational chain store, chain of hamburger fast food restaurants. Headquartered in Miami-Dade County, Florida, the company was founded in 1953 as Insta-Burger King, a Jacksonville, Florida–based res ...

, she was referred to producer Sean S. Cunningham through a mutual friend for a role in his directorial debut, the horror film ''

''. Cunningham felt King embodied the qualities of the film's lead heroine,

, and he cast her in the film. ''Friday the 13th'' grossed nearly $60 million worldwide.Box Office Information for ''Friday the 13th''.
The Numbers. Retrieved November 15, 2013. The following year, she reprised her role as Alice Hardy in the sequel ''

'', in which the character meets her demise. After the success of ''Friday the 13th'', King was pursued by a male

stalker Stalking is unwanted and/or repeated surveillance by an individual or group toward another person. Stalking behaviors are interrelated to harassment and intimidation and may include following the victim in person or monitoring them. The term ...

who managed to learn areas she frequented, where she exercised, and ate lunch. The man took Polaroid photographs of King that he would slip under the door of her apartment in New York City, and at one point, broke into her apartment and defaced her artwork. On one occasion, the man confronted her in her apartment and held a gun to her head. The assailant was apprehended and spent some time imprisoned, but the incident traumatized King, prompting her to leave the public eye. Her last on-camera screen appearance at that time was a commercial for

Downy Downy, also known as Lenor in Europe, Russia and Japan, is a brand of fabric softener produced by Procter & Gamble that was introduced in 1960. Lenor is a brand name of fabric softener and dryer sheets, also produced by P&G, sold in Europe, Russi ...

which she filmed in 1983. Subsequently, King was hired as a stunt performer and background actor for the

Ivan Reitman Ivan Reitman (; October 27, 1946February 12, 2022) was a Czechoslovak-born Canadian filmmaker. He was best known for his comedy work, especially in the 1980s and 1990s. He was the owner of The Montecito Picture Company, founded in 1998. Film ...

film ''

Ghostbusters ''Ghostbusters'' is a 1984 American Supernatural fiction, supernatural comedy film directed and produced by Ivan Reitman, and written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis. It stars Bill Murray, Aykroyd, and Ramis as Peter Venkman, Ray Stantz, and ...

'' (1984), having been acquainted with the stunt coordinator Cliff Cudney. She subsequently relocated to London where she enrolled at the

Royal Academy of Dramatic Art The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA; ) is a drama school in London, England, that provides vocational conservatoire training for theatre, film, television, and radio. It is based in the Bloomsbury area of Central London, close to the Sen ...

, studying voice and dance. Upon finishing her studies, she returned to the United States, settling in Los Angeles where she met her husband, Richard Hassanein, the founder of United Film Distribution. Reluctant to appear onscreen, King reemerged doing

voice acting Voice acting is the art of performing voice-overs to present a character or provide information to an audience. Performers are called voice actors/actresses, voice artists, dubbing artists, voice talent, voice-over artists, or voice-over talent ...

and

ADR ADR or adr may refer to: Computing * Asynchronous DRAM refresh, an approach for persistent memory found in some Intel Xeon processors * The adr microformat, part of the hCard microformat * Architectural decision record * Action–domain–respond ...

work, first for

Mel Gibson Mel Columcille Gerard Gibson (born January 3, 1956) is an American actor, film director, and producer. He is best known for his action hero roles, particularly his breakout role as Max Rockatansky in the first three films of the post-apocaly ...

's ''

The Man Without a Face ''The Man Without a Face'' is a 1993 American drama film starring and directed by Mel Gibson, in his directorial debut. The film is based on Isabelle Holland's 1972 novel of the same name. Gibson's direction received positive reviews from most c ...

'', and the

Lasse Hallström Lars Sven "Lasse" Hallström (; born 2 June 1946) is a Swedish film director. He first became known for directing almost all the music videos by the pop group ABBA, and subsequently became a feature film director. He was nominated for an Acade ...

-directed drama '' What's Eating Gilbert Grape?'' (both 1993). She continued to provide voice work for numerous Hollywood productions throughout the 1990's, including ''

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

'' (1993), ''

The Pelican Brief ''The Pelican Brief'' is a legal-suspense thriller by John Grisham, published in 1992 by Doubleday. It is his third novel after '' A Time to Kill'' and '' The Firm''. Two paperback editions were published, both by Dell Publishing in 1993. A n ...

'' (1993), ''

Wolf The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly u ...

'' (1994),

Cameron Crowe Cameron Bruce Crowe (born July 13, 1957) is an American journalist, author, writer, producer, director, actor, lyricist, and playwright. Before moving into the film industry, Crowe was a contributing editor at ''Rolling Stone'' magazine, for wh ...

's ''

Jerry Maguire ''Jerry Maguire'' is a 1996 American romantic comedy-drama sports film written, produced, and directed by Cameron Crowe; it stars Tom Cruise, Cuba Gooding Jr., Renée Zellweger, and Regina King. Produced in part by James L. Brooks, it was inspi ...

'' (1996), and

James Cameron James Francis Cameron (born August 16, 1954) is a Canadian filmmaker. A major figure in the post-New Hollywood era, he is considered one of the industry's most innovative filmmakers, regularly pushing the boundaries of cinematic capability w ...

's ''

Titanic RMS ''Titanic'' was a British passenger liner, operated by the White Star Line, which sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on 15 April 1912 after striking an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, United ...

'' (1997). She would later state: "Voiceover work saved me. There's no question it came all around full circle, and I'm a better, more compassionate and stronger actor and artist."

2009–present: film and other projects

In 2009, she signed on to the science-fiction/horror film ''Psychic Experiment'', marking her first onscreen film appearance in 27 years. In 2012, she starred in the Welsh Christmas horror film ''Silent Night, Bloody Night: The Homecoming'', an unofficial sequel to the American horror film ''

Silent Night, Bloody Night ''Silent Night, Bloody Night'' is a 1972 American slasher film directed by Theodore Gershuny and co-produced by Lloyd Kaufman. The film stars Patrick O'Neal and cult actress Mary Woronov in leading roles, with John Carradine in a supporting per ...

'' (1974) and ''

''. King is set to portray Jackie Winters, an investigative reporter, in the upcoming horror film ''William Froste'' and Theresa in the short film ''Admonition''. As of 2010, King also worked as a

winemaker A winemaker or vintner is a person engaged in winemaking. They are generally employed by wineries or wine companies, where their work includes: *Cooperating with viticulturists *Monitoring the maturity of grapes to ensure their quality and to deter ...

and wine company coordinator in southern

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

. She has sold her own line of ''Friday the 13th''-themed wines through the company, called Crystal Lake Wines, as well as paintings. In 2021, King reprised her role as Alice Hardy in the medium-length horror film ''Jason Rising''.

Filmography

Notes

References

Sources

* * *

External links

*
Adrienne King
on Myspace {{DEFAULTSORT:King, Adrienne 1960 births American child actresses American female dancers American film actresses American voice actresses American winemakers American people of Czech descent American people of English descent American people of Hungarian-Jewish descent Dancers from New York (state) Living people Actresses from New York (state) Actresses from Oregon People from Long Island Alumni of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art 21st-century American women