Nika King, far right, with the actresses who play her daughters on HBO's "Euphoria," Zendaya and ... [+]
To date, Nika King has mostly played comedy roles. She’s a standup comedian, after all, and making people laugh comes easily to her.
Just see the work she’s done as a writer, producer and actor on the web series Funny Married Stuff, which just got added to this year’s Emmy ballot, or the numerous guest appearances she’s made on sitcoms like 2 Broke Girls and Hannah Montana.
But King has always been eager to find dramatic roles, too, and she landed a juicy one on Euphoria, the new drama premiering tonight on HBO.
She plays Leslie, the mother of Rue, played by Zendaya, a student just out of rehab and struggling to stay clean.
King says she drew on things she saw growing up in Miami to shape her character and her reaction to her daughter’s drug addiction.
“I used moments and people from my childhood to give me a foundation for Leslie,” King says. “I grew up in impoverished areas of the city. I remember seeing addiction full-on as a kid and having it in my family. It fueled my character’s theme and overall objective of dealing with her daughter, seeing her going down a wrong path.”
King describes her character on the show, which is executive produced by Drake, as a no-nonsense single mother with a heart of gold. She thought a lot about Leslie’s backstory, imagining she had a history of addiction in the family, which drove her to instill a “just say no” ethos in her daughters that did not take.
King, who got her start in the industry by earning a theater degree from University of Florida, also read the book A Parent’s Guide to Teen Addiction, taking it on set with her.
“Surprisingly enough, I could not find a lot of stuff on this topic,” King says. “There’s a lot about adult addiction. But for teen addiction, there’s not a lot of books. I went on YouTube and watched some of the intervention programs. Some people were high out of their minds. Watching their behavior, I had a guttural emotional reaction to it, and I applied that to Leslie seeing Rue go through this horrible phase.”
King says her uncle passed away from causes related to a drug addiction just three months before she began shooting Euphoria, and she channeled some of her grief into the role, too.
“The emotions were still raw. I thought about him and the moments we had together before shooting,” she says.
That personal loss, which so many people can relate to, is one reason King believes shows like Euphoria play an important role in addressing real-life issues.
“It’s important for people to see the realness and rawness of teen addiction. It’s something you don’t get in rap songs or other pop culture. They’re not telling you the consequences, what happens in the aftermath when everyone’s gone, the party’s over, and you’re now stuck with this addiction you need to feed,” King says. “Euphoria touches on a lot of these uncomfortable but needed topics.”
Still, as critical as exploring these dramatic themes are, King will continue to do comedy as well.
“I’d say some of the skill set of being a comedian translates to TV as well, whether it’s a drama performance or a comedy,” King says. “For me, it feeds into my artistry.”
