# Cleo King
**Cleo King** (born Harriet Cleo King; 1962) is an American character actress whose screen career began with *The Cosby Show* in 1988 and is best known for the recurring roles of Helene Parks on *Boston Public*, Aunt Lou on *Deadwood*, and Rosetta "Nana" McMillan, the grandmother on the CBS sitcom *Mike & Molly*[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0454598/bio/) • [2](https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/cleo-king) • [3](https://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/cleo-king/bio/3030058119/).
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Full name | Harriet Cleo King[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0454598/bio/) |
| Born | 1962, St. Louis, Missouri, USA[4](https://www.fandango.com/people/cleo-king-355250) |
| Education | Speech and Dramatic Arts, University of Missouri at Columbia[3](https://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/cleo-king/bio/3030058119/) |
| Screen debut | *The Cosby Show*, 1988[3](https://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/cleo-king/bio/3030058119/) |
| Signature television roles | Helene Parks on *Boston Public* (2001 to 2002); Aunt Lou on *Deadwood* (2006); Rosetta "Nana" McMillan on *Mike & Molly* (from 2010)[2](https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/cleo-king) |
| Known film roles | Penny the Impound Officer in *Dude, Where's My Car?* (2000); Officer Garden in *The Hangover* (2009); Barbara Kreuster in *The Life of David Gale* (2003)[4](https://www.fandango.com/people/cleo-king-355250) • [3](https://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/cleo-king/bio/3030058119/) |
| Recognition | NAACP Image award winner for the one-woman show *Turning Points*, directed by Bill Duke[5](https://www.broadway.com/buzz/stars/cleo-king/profile/) |
## Early life and education
King grew up in St. Louis and attended Sumner High School, where she credits her eleventh-grade social studies teacher, Travis Brown, with starting her on the acting path. Brown required students to read a current event aloud each week and once brought in a guest speaker from the television series *[The White Shadow](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-white-shadow-tv-series)*, a man who had attended the same middle school and high school; King has described that visit as the moment she concluded that she could do the same[6](https://www.stlamerican.com/entertainment/living-it/cleos-class-act/).
She enrolled at the [University of Missouri](https://www.edgepedia.org/university-of-missouri) at Columbia without having auditioned for a play before and pursued a degree in Speech and Dramatic Arts, despite being too timid to audition during her freshman year. Her first audition won her a role in the play *To Be Young, Gifted and Black*, which she starred in during her sophomore year[3](https://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/cleo-king/bio/3030058119/).
## Early career and The Cosby Show
After graduating, King moved to New York City, a place she had never visited, with one trunk and roughly $300 left of the $500 she borrowed from her older sister, the rest having gone to bus fare and food[6](https://www.stlamerican.com/entertainment/living-it/cleos-class-act/).
Her break came through an audition for *The Cosby Show* that a friend urged her to attend. It was a dance audition led by [Debbie Allen](https://www.edgepedia.org/debbie-allen); Allen selected King and a few other women, brought out [Bill Cosby](https://www.edgepedia.org/bill-cosby), and the group was hired. King has said she spent much of her first paycheck on the long-distance phone bill that followed[6](https://www.stlamerican.com/entertainment/living-it/cleos-class-act/). [TV Guide](https://www.edgepedia.org/tv-guide) records 1988 as her screen acting debut on the series[3](https://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/cleo-king/bio/3030058119/). Before becoming a professional actor, she also won $20,500 over two days as a contestant on the game show *Hollywood Squares*[3](https://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/cleo-king/bio/3030058119/).
## Television roles
Character work became her specialty through the 1990s and 2000s, with guest and recurring parts on a long list of series including *ER*, *Friends*, *The West Wing*, *Ally McBeal*, *Six Feet Under*, *The Bernie Mac Show*, *Gilmore Girls*, *NCIS*, *CSI: Crime Scene Investigation*, *Monk*, and *Lost*[7](https://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/cleo-king/credits/3030755363/). Among the recurring parts the Television Academy highlights: Helene Parks on the Fox drama *Boston Public* from 2001 to 2002, a series created by [David E. Kelley](https://www.edgepedia.org/david-e-kelley), in which she delivered the widely remembered line "Smell This Shoe!"; a co-starring role in Kelley's short-lived CBS drama *The Brotherhood of Poland, New Hampshire* in 2003; Aunt Lou, the cook for [Gerald McRaney](https://www.edgepedia.org/gerald-mcraney)'s George Hearst, in the third and final season of HBO's *Deadwood* in 2006; and Neeta, nanny to [Jax Teller](https://www.edgepedia.org/jax-teller)'s son, in FX's *Sons of Anarchy* in 2009[2](https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/cleo-king) • [1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0454598/bio/).
**Mike & Molly.** In 2010 King was cast as a series regular as the grandmother Rosetta "Nana" McMillan on the CBS sitcom *Mike & Molly*, playing the grandmother of Officer Carl McMillan, portrayed by Reno Wilson. The casting drew attention because King is only 7 years older than Wilson[2](https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/cleo-king). She has called the role her favorite of her career[3](https://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/cleo-king/bio/3030058119/).
Later television work includes regular appearances in Netflix's 2017 adaptation of *A Series of Unfortunate Events* as Eleanora Poe, voicing Principal Opal Lowry in the Netflix animated series *Hoops* (2020), and a cameo as Paul Strickland's mother, Cynthia Strickland, in an episode of Fox's *9-1-1: Lone Star* that aired February 22, 2021[2](https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/cleo-king) • [5](https://www.broadway.com/buzz/stars/cleo-king/profile/).
## Film work
King has played authority figures in several studio comedies, including Penny the Impound Officer in *Dude, Where's My Car?* (2000) and Officer Garden in *The Hangover* (2009)[4](https://www.fandango.com/people/cleo-king-355250). Her other film credits include *Magnolia* (1999), *Pineapple Express* (2008), [Lars von Trier](https://www.edgepedia.org/lars-von-trier)'s *[Dogville](https://www.edgepedia.org/dogville)* (2003), in which she played Olivia, *Dreamgirls*, *Valentine's Day*, and *Transformers: Age of Extinction*[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0454598/bio/) • [7](https://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/cleo-king/credits/3030755363/) • [8](https://watch.plex.tv/en-GB/person/cleo-king). In *[The Life of David Gale](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-life-of-david-gale)* (2003) she played Barbara Kreuster, a role TV Guide counts among those she is best known for[3](https://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/cleo-king/bio/3030058119/).
More recently she appeared as Missy in *Ride the Eagle* (2021) and plays Gail in the Apple TV sports comedy *The Dink* (2026), in which she portrays one of the older women who draw a washed-up tennis pro into pickleball[9](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/cleo_king) • [10](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt33499146/characters/nm0454598/). She has said she booked the Gail role through a same-day audition arranged after a call from [Jake Johnson](https://www.edgepedia.org/jake-johnson), and that a month of pickleball lessons from [Brad Gilbert](https://www.edgepedia.org/brad-gilbert) and his wife Kimmy before filming turned her into a regular player[11](https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/dinks-on-tap-the/cleo-king-on-the-dink-movie-xZIFL4HgAv1/).
## Stage work and honors
King won an NAACP Image award for her work in the one-woman show *Turning Points*, directed by [Bill Duke](https://www.edgepedia.org/bill-duke)[5](https://www.broadway.com/buzz/stars/cleo-king/profile/). The Television Academy's database lists no prime-time Emmy nominations for her[2](https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/cleo-king).
## Philanthropy and personal life
King is involved with children's causes and is a supporter of the nonprofit Peas in Their Pods, which helps find missing children[3](https://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/cleo-king/bio/3030058119/). She has served as a national spokesperson for Raise A Child, which helps families adopt children, and for [Penny Lane](https://www.edgepedia.org/penny-lane), and in 2016 she spoke at the White House on adoption along with her family[5](https://www.broadway.com/buzz/stars/cleo-king/profile/). Broadway.com describes her as a St. Louis native who lives in Los Angeles with her family[5](https://www.broadway.com/buzz/stars/cleo-king/profile/). IMDb lists her height as 5 feet 2 and a half inches (1.59 m)[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0454598/bio/).
## References
1. [Cleo King Biography, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0454598/bio/)
2. [Cleo King, Television Academy](https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/cleo-king)
3. [Cleo King Biography, TV Guide](https://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/cleo-king/bio/3030058119/)
4. [Cleo King Overview, Fandango](https://www.fandango.com/people/cleo-king-355250)
5. [Cleo King Star File, Broadway.com Buzz](https://www.broadway.com/buzz/stars/cleo-king/profile/)
6. [Cleo's class act, The St. Louis American (October 18, 2012)](https://www.stlamerican.com/entertainment/living-it/cleos-class-act/)
7. [Cleo King List of Movies and TV Shows, TV Guide](https://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/cleo-king/credits/3030755363/)
8. [Cleo King Movies and TV Shows, Plex](https://watch.plex.tv/en-GB/person/cleo-king)
9. [Cleo King, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/cleo_king)
10. [The Dink (2026), Cleo King as Gail, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt33499146/characters/nm0454598/)
11. [Cleo King on The Dink Movie, Dinks On Tap podcast (September 9, 2026), Listen Notes](https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/dinks-on-tap-the/cleo-king-on-the-dink-movie-xZIFL4HgAv1/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Screen people and creators › Screen actors of the Anglosphere and Europe › American actors: 2000s onward › Surnames Jo to Kl*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 17, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 12, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license