Oscar-winning actor Regina King's fame was cemented in history on Thursday, when she placed her hand and footprints on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in the forecourt of the TCL Chinese Theatre.
King did a little dance as she stood barefoot in the wet cement, and etched "No place like home" under her name, the opening line of the theme song for 227, the TV series from the late 1980s in which she first gained attention.
"This means so much," King said during the ceremony. "A lot of people are going to see this and they're going to think it comes from The Wizard of Oz but it comes from my beginning."
In 2019, King won an Academy Award and a Golden Globe for her performance in If Beale Street Could Talk, a film adaptation of a James Baldwin novel.
She made her feature film directorial debut last year with the drama One Night in Miami, which imagines a meeting between activist Malcolm X, boxer Muhammad Ali, NFL player Jim Brown and singer Sam Cooke in February 1964.
"It is a sight to see the force of your connection and your care and creativity and desire for community is a marvel, and it's been a pleasure to be in your orbit," fellow filmmaker Ava DuVernay told King at the ceremony on Thursday. "Your talent knows no bounds."
King next stars in Netflix's new Western film The Harder They Fall, inspired by real-life African-American cowboys.
"There's not a time limit, there's not a stale date on achieving your dreams," King said as encouragement to anyone looking to follow in her footsteps.
"If you love what you do, you should never stop working at it."
