Jaime King’s got one helluva story. In 1993, modeling scouts discovered the flaxen-haired teenager in Nancy Blount’s modeling school in Omaha, Nebraska, and whisked her onto the runways of New York, Milan, and Paris. The New York Times Magazine christened King the new “it” model in 1996. But after dealing with some personal turmoil, King pretty much turned her back on modeling and went on to acting. Now, a mature 27, she’s stepping up her Hollywood cache with roles in dozens of edgy movies like Sin City and the upcoming indie flick The Tripper. She’s also making a rare return to modeling as one of the faces of Rocawear’s fall campaign.

One might assume a model/actress with such a storied past might be reclusive or aloof. However, King huddled with Complex in the hushed luxury of the Beverly Hills Four Seasons Hotel and dished dirt on sex scenes, surfing, and snowmobiling in Aspen, as she downed five cups of almost black coffee and daintily nibbled on the white part of a hard-boiled egg, before heading off to one of her daily workouts.

What’s been your favorite acting role so far?
Playing Goldie/Wendy in Sin City. Because I just love [director] Robert Rodriguez so much, and [writer] Frank Miller. Quentin Tarantino was involved. And I love working with the Weinsteins and that whole group of people—people that have such a clear vision of what they want. When I met Robert about it, I didn’t even know why I was meeting. I just heard he was a fan of mine and that he wanted to meet me. And I walked in the room and it was him and Frank Miller and he handed me a comic book. And I had never heard of it before. He just asked me to read with him out of this comic book. And so we started reading, and it was really fun, and then he pulled out his laptop and showed me a scene that he did with Josh Hartnett and Marley Shelton, which was the first scene in the movie. And I was like, Oh my god. I’d never seen anything like it before. It was also fun because I got to be in the same movie with people that I love. Like Jessica Alba. And Rosario Dawson—we kinda grew up together in New York. We were joking around that we were finally doing a movie together, but we weren’t actually in the same scene. We were in the same scene, but not in the same room acting. The only person that I was in the scenes with was Mickey Rourke.

What’s he like? He seems like a weirdo.
He’s awesome—honestly one of the best actors that I’ve ever worked with. Because he’s so into his character and so present with you. And when I had to do those sex scenes with him, I was like…you know it’s kinda…[makes uncomfortable face]. But he was so polite, and such a gentleman. We got into this conversation, and I was like, I haven’t really done this kind of scene before. He was like, “It’s okay, I have.” I totally forgot that he had done 9 1/2 Weeks. I was like, Oh yeah, this guy’s pretty seasoned at this! He treated me like the way his character treated Goldie. He loved Goldie.

Have you ever had a situation where you thought you were gonna get a role, but you didn’t get it?
I mean, that’s happened. There’s been consecutive times when I was up for a huge movie, like between me and another person, and I didn’t get it.

Can you tell us what it was?
I would rather not go into it. When I look back at the times where I really wanted a role, and I didn’t get it, I now see how it was a blessing in disguise. Like I wouldn’t have been able to handle it. Or would I want to do a movie that big, with that many sequels that’s like going to go down in history sort of thing? And maybe I wasn’t supposed to be working with those people. Maybe it just wasn’t time…. It’s apples and oranges in the end. It’s like your hair is blond, and the other girl’s hair is brown. Or it’s this girl is more dark skinned and you’re too light skinned. Sometimes it just comes down to the way you physically look.

So is it true that Jay-Z personally asked you to model for Rocawear? What’s the story?
Well, I got a phone call from my agent saying that Rocawear was doing a winter campaign and did I want to do it. And I was like, Yeah! I’d been focused on films for so long, and I just friggin’ love Jay-Z. I love him and Beyoncé. They’ve got the sweetest hearts. I love his music, and I love Beyoncé and her music and just their energy. So that was something that I wanted to represent and be a part of. The shoot was in Aspen, where we flew helicopters up to the location and we were on snowmobiles and stuff like that. I had to thank God, because it was such a blessing. I get to hang out with great, fun people that I really like and have a good time, and represent their clothing. It’s fun when you get to work with people and help them sell what they’re selling, especially if you appreciate their talents and abilities. But I had to come back to L.A. for a meeting, so I was only able to really be in Aspen for a day. So after we finished the shoot, I was flying back to L.A. and I get a phone call on the white courtesy phone in the Denver airport. I’m like getting ready to board the plane. And I’m like, Oh my God! ’Cause you get a phone call like that and you’re like, What’s the emergency? But it was someone calling to say, “Would you please come back? Jay-Z really wants you to come back and stay another day.” So I literally had to run down to the other end of the gate with three minutes to get on this flight in time to fly back to Aspen. And when I finally saw him, he was just like, “Thank you, thank you, thank you so much for coming back!”

What’s your favorite Jay-Z line? Can you quote him? Are you at that level of Jay-Z fandom?
I could probably quote Jay-Z, actually. I used to know like all of his lyrics. One of the best things about doing that job is that he was rapping to me. And he was like, “See, these are the perks of the job.” I was like, God I can’t believe this.

Was Beyoncé on set, too?
Yeah.

So, what other kinds of music do you listen to?
It’s really funny because what I’ve been really listening to the most lately is Sammy Davis Jr. and Frank Sinatra. My friend is really into them, and he was like, “You’ve gotta listen to these guys.” They used to get up on stage and just play around with a drink or
a cigarette. They’d sing songs that were like fun, like love songs or, you know Sammy Davis would do all of these impressions. It seems like there aren’t really people out there that do that level of performance anymore. This is the kind of stuff I want to listen to because it’s uplifting. But I’ve gone through so many musical stages.

Yeah? What are all the stages?
Oh my gosh.

A person’s musical taste tells a lot about their identity or where they’re at in their maturity. It’s kind of a personal question.
It really is a personal question. Gosh, when I lived in New York, I was really into hip-hop. Like, you know, Mobb Deep and Wu-Tang and like anything that was kind of like hard-core hip-hop, you know. And now it’s almost too rough for me. I can appreciate it for what it is and I loved it for such a long time, but I think that it’s too hard. As I get older, I don’t necessarily identify with that so much. At that time I really identified with that.  One of the reasons I’m really into Sammy Davis Jr., Frank Sinatra, and Stevie Wonder now is that it doesn’t identify me as some thing. For so many years of my life, I would collect hundreds and hundreds of albums and CDs to define who I was. And now I wouldn’t necessarily want to be identified as some hardcore hip-hop graffiti chick, or indie punk rock girl, or anything like that. I just wanna be me and not feel like I have to identify with a group.

When you were a really young fashion model, you were known as something of a party girl. How do you cope with that kind of past and move forward as an adult?
I don’t.

What do you mean? You don’t think about it?
No. It’s like another lifetime.

You’re like a different person.
Yeah.

Does that have something to do with your name change? Like were you wanting to kind of depart from that identity of James and become this new person who you are now, Jaime?
No, just because Jaime’s my real name. And that’s the name that I like, so I just want to be called Jaime.

Oh, you were named after the Bionic Woman, right?
Yeah, Lindsay Wagner, who played Jaime Sommers.

Did you ever meet her?
No. But when I went on The Rosie O’Donnell Show, she gave me a Bionic Woman doll. It was so friggin’ cool.

So what do you do for fun?
I love to run, and I love to work out. And for a long time, when I first moved here from New York, I was surfing everyday. I had a house on the beach in Malibu with my friend for my first summer here. It was the ultimate California dream. Like, oh yeah, this is rad. I woke up early every morning and surfed, it was just so awesome. And, I actually knew that I got Bulletproof Monk when the director Paul Hunter told me that I wasn’t going to be surfing anymore. When you do movies, they don’t allow you to do those kinds of things because of insurance reasons. Like if you get hurt, they’re totally screwed.

Alright, so let’s talk about clothes for a second. I wonder for somebody like you if you’re coveting something, is it hard to get? Or can you call a designer and they just give it to you? Or do you just go out and buy it?
Most of the time, I’ve got great relationships with the designers, so they give it to me.

Oh, so you’re set.
Yeah, I’m pretty hooked up that way.

You just have the best life. You can go snowmobiling in Aspen. You get all the free stuff you want!
See, but that’s a lot of the reason to be grateful. Right now, I love Derek Lam. I think he’s awesome. And Peter Som. Max Azria who does BCBG. He has another line now, a couture collection which is friggin’ awesome. Like each piece is so different, and it’s like all these dresses that you would imagine wearing to the Oscars or something. You know, I love the
classics like Chanel, Louis Vuitton, and Marc Jacobs.

Do you have the Marc Jacobs “It” bag?
Which one is it?

It’s the fake Chanel Hobo bag. But by Marc.
Oh no, I don’t have that. I have the Chanel bag.

Oh, excuse me.
But I’ve been rocking Chanel, let me tell you, for a really long time. Since before it was cool.

Serena Kim
Photos by Takay