Big-Screen star Regina King (“Boyz n the Hood,” “Ray,” “Enemy of the State,” “Down to Earth,” “Daddy Day Care,” “Jerry Maguire,” and “This Christmas” has returned to the small screen (remember her in “227”), where she stars as LAPD Detective Lydia Adams on “Southland,” a cop drama airing Tuesday nights at 9 p.m. CST on TNT. Here, she talks not only about her work on the raw-edged, cops series but about her life and career as well.

Kam Williams: Hi, Regina, thanks for the time.

Regina King: Oh, thanks for making the time.

Regina King

KW: What interested you in Southland?

RK: Well, I was already a fan of (writer/producer) Ann Biderman’s work, and when I read the script, I really got excited about the prospect of playing a woman who was complex, not just a one-dimensional character defined by her children or her husband. What makes Lydia Adams interesting isn’t her children or her husband, but the fact that she’s successful and driven and has a full range of emotions, which is indicative of most women between the ages of 35 and 45. So, I thought it would be cool to represent the sort of women that I know….

KW: The series just moved from NBC to TNT. Laz also asks if that shift is going to affect the content or the show’s fairly graphic tone?

RK: No, I don’t think the show will necessarily be changing. But there might be fewer conversations back and forth between the network and the producers about toning it down, because TNT understood the nature of the show that they picked up.

KW: Watching the second season’s premiere episode, I was surprised how realistic the storyline was, revolving around the Latino versus black gang wars in L.A.

RK: All of our stories are based on real stories, actual events, which have made the news in the city.

KW: Children’s book author Irene Smalls asks, to what do you credit your enduring career from “227” to “Southland?”

RK: I have to give a lot of credit to my mom, who decided to send me to a regular public high school, where I ran track and went to football games. So, I got to do the normal things that kids do….

KW: You’ve played the leading lady opposite a lot of great actors. Which one was your favorite screen husband or lover?

RK: I can’t say. Each one had something that made them appealing. Chris Rock was awesome to talk to and funny at the same time. Eddie Murphy was surprisingly different, in a good way, from what I had anticipated. With Will Smith, it was very refreshing to be around someone who’s so excited about what he does. I’m sure that if he worked for the Sanitation Department, he’d be enthusiastic about how he throws out the trash. He fully commits to whatever he’s doing. And Jamie Foxx was like a walking TV, entertaining all the time….  

KW: The Boris Kodjoe question: What do you consider your biggest accomplishment?

RK: I’d say my son who is such a sweet person. He’s very polite. He opens doors for women. He removes his hat in restaurants, indoors in general, and whenever he’s introduced to a woman. So, I must be doing something right….

KW: What is your favorite dish to cook?

RK: That’s a good question, because I cook a lot! I had two couples over before Christmas for a dinner party where I made seafood lasagna, butternut squash soup and a walnut-pear-endive salad. And I made some caramel pecan ice cream for dessert….

KW: How do you want to be remembered?

RK: As a woman who tried her hardest and her best at everything she did.