Years before becoming a Netflix star, Joey King was a child actress starring in both television and film projects. She got her start with a guest role in Disney’s The Suite Life of Zack & Cody, followed by brief appearances in hit shows such as Entourage, Medium, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, and Ghost Whisperer.
Around the same time, King also ventured into films, and this is how she came to meet actress/singer Selena Gomez.
Early on in King’s career, the two starred as the titular characters in the family comedy Ramona and Beezus.
Despite their age difference, Gomez has said that she enjoyed working with her younger co-star. Since then, however, the two actresses have yet to work together again.
That said, King recently revealed what it was really like working with Gomez.
Landing The Role Of Ramona Was ‘Huge’ For Joey King
For King, getting cast as Ramona wasn’t only a big deal because it was a lead role. It also meant a lot because this is a character that came from a book that the actress was very familiar with.
“It is a huge role! She has a huge imagination and a big personality,” King told Seventeen in a 2010 interview. “I was very excited to find out that I was going to be Ramona because she's been around for over 50 years.”
The actress also confessed that she’s like her onscreen character, playing pranks on her own siblings.
“I'm more of a Ramona,” King revealed. “I freeze my sisters' bras. I don't put water on them because that's just mean - I'll do that on April Fools! I just put them in the freezer and spread them apart. And when they open the freezer, they're like, ‘Oh my gosh!’”
Here’s What Joey King Said About Working With Selena Gomez
While portraying a character like Ramona was incredibly exciting for King, the actress also said that she had a blast doing scenes with her famous co-star.
As it turns out, King even got to read lines with Gomez while auditioning for her part. “I had to read some of the scenes with her from the movie before I got the role. And she was the best!” the actress gushed while speaking with Rolling Stone.
“Doing that screen test with her was a dream come true, and afterward, when I found out I got it, I was just so excited to be able to work with her and just be around her. She was the most infectious, sweet person ever.”
While promoting the film, King also revealed that she and Gomez used to do all sorts of fun stuff together.
“We were inseparable - we went bowling together, to movies, to dinner, to Starbucks,” the actress said. “We even took our moms out to lunch together on Mother's Day! I think Selena actually wants siblings and she always tells me that I'm her sibling now. And she's my third sister.”
King also said that Gomez was exactly the kind of person that she wanted to be when she got older. “Selena's extremely humble and I want to be just like her when I'm a teenager,” she explained. Meanwhile, Gomez once referred to King as “my favorite person in the entire world.”
Joey King Has A Lot Of Praise For Selena Gomez, After All These Years
The two women may not have gotten the chance to work together again just yet but that doesn’t mean that they’re not keeping tabs on each other whenever possible.
In fact, King, who admits that she hasn’t seen her former co-star “in a really long time,” told ET that she especially admires Gomez’s openness when it comes to her mental health struggles.
“She just shows everyone every day that no matter what your Instagram follower count says, no matter how much you may or may not edit your pictures, no matter how many photo shoots you do, no matter what your life is like, it's OK to not be OK, the actress explained.
“I really love that she puts it out there for everyone to see. It's very vulnerable for her. She's a big inspiration to people, whether she realizes it or not.” King also said that Gomez’s decision to speak out on the subject is “so beautiful and inspiring.”
At the same time, King can’t help but be in awe of everything that Gomez has been up to so far. “From the time we worked together until now, I've always really looked up to her,” the actress remarked. “I'm really proud of everything she's done.”
At the moment, it doesn’t seem like the two actresses will be collaborating soon.
Still, both Gomez and King are into producing nowadays (Gomez recently produced Netflix’s 13 Reasons Why while King is producing and starring in the upcoming Netflix film, Uglies), which means they're both busy but also heading down similar paths.
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