Regina King had one 'concern' about getting into directing (Exclusive)

Regina King is most commonly recognized for her acting. The longtime actress won two Emmy Awards for her turn on "American Crime Story," and she's also known for her roles in "Ray," "Miss Congeniality 2," "Seven Seconds" and "Southland."

But, what many don't realize about her career is that she's also built up an impressive resumé as a director. King has no less than 13 directing credits to her name on shows like "Scandal," "Being Mary Jane," "This Is Us" and "The Catch," and she's partnering with Gillette Venus on the Her Shot campaign to give other women -- up-and-comers in the industry -- a chance to put a spotlight on their own directing work.

Regina King recently caught up with AOL's Gibson Johns to talk about putting a spotlight on other female content creators, the worries she had when she first got into directing and how it ultimately felt to be calling the shots on some of television's hottest shows.

Check out our conversation below:

Your Her Shot campaign with Gillette Venus, where 10 female directors get to create video content for the brand, is really adding to a conversation that’s already happening in Hollywood around how there needs to be more women behind the camera. For you, does the problem lie in that there are women in Hollywood that aren’t getting the opportunity to do so, or is it something that starts earlier, where more girls need to be encouraged to see directing as an attainable career?

I think it’s both. First of all, the Her Shot campaign is so unique because it’s about content and not just about being a director or about commercials or movies or episodes. It’s about the discovery of all of these different creatives that are women and that are graphic designers and creating their own campaigns for a specific brand, in this case Gillette Venus. I think that’s what makes this so fantastic, is because it exposes more opportunities behind the camera. We hear "director" and "actor," but you don’t really hear much more beyond that. That’s what was so exciting for me when I was watching a lot of these women and the work that they had done before. It’s all about exposure and elevating their work.

This is actually focusing on women directing commercials, which is somewhat under discussed on a big scale when it comes to the importance of representation. Considering that only three percent of commercials are directed by women, this work is so important.

With this, it’s also beyond just commercials. It’s about digital content. We’re in this era where I’m still wrapping my mind around it at 47. For example, we have Issa Rae, who we all got to meet her with her web series. We need more of that. You brought up young women earlier, and we need to show them that there are so many other avenues to get yourself out there and get eyes on what you’ve created. To me, that’s what is so fascinating and exciting about bringing generations together. We can all combine forces. Also, a majority of the decision-making when it comes to consuming is by women, so why wouldn’t the content promoting [those products] be made by women?

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Another reason why this partnership is so cool is that, in some ways, as a prominent woman in Hollywood who has acted and directed, it's a way that you're able to pay it forward to give others a chance.

That’s probably the biggest attraction for me with this campaign. It’s when companies like this create a space, because it’s so hard to get an opportunity. With their brand, Gillette Venus has been talking to women when it comes to designing their products, so they’ve taken it a step further and said, "Let’s not just make sure women are part of the conversation when we’re designing products for them, let’s make them part of designing the content that is [associated with] that product, as well." That was really exciting to me that they would take it further. The more companies start to follow this, the more opportunity there will be and the more women we’ll see that are creative powerhouses that just need the shot.

You’ve done a fair amount of directing yourself over the years, mostly in television. How did those opportunities come about for you, personally? Were these directing positions ones that you asked for?

It’s something that I’ve always wanted to do. I think it was a natural space -- a natural hyphenate to put on my name -- because that’s what I’ve been around for so long. A lot of times, we’re learning or we’re in an environment where we’re picking up skills that we don’t realize we’re picking up. Then there’s this moment where you’re like, "I think I want to try that." People knew me as an actor, though, so I was afraid that people were going to think this was a vanity thing and not something where I really wanted to use the things that I picked up along the way or something where I wanted to seek opportunity to understand the things that I’ve witnessed from an objective space. I wanted to understand [directing] deeper. I remember mentioning it to Pamela Fryman, who is a very well-established television director, my desire to direct, but my concern that people wouldn’t take me seriously. She took me to lunch (and she did not have to take the time to do that, but she did) and she was like, "Why? Why are you worrying about that?" That happens so much as women, because we’re the caregivers and we’re always concerned about somebody else and we forget about ourselves.

What was the feeling you got as director the first couple of times you were able to do do so?

It’s empowering, but also terrifying in the beginning. I would guess that men probably feel the same thing when they’re starting something new, but I think that women ... we sometimes [doubt ourselves]. It goes back to being little girl in class, where you’ll know the answer to a question, but you won’t raise your hand because you don’t want the boys to think you’re trying to outshine them. When you first finally decide that you will raise your hand, it’s scary to do so, but once you do, you realize it’s not a big deal. That’s how it is when you first start out as a director, but as experiences come, you begin to see how much you learned in those moments that are new, as opposed to being intimidated by those moments that are new.

This interview has been edited and condensed.

For more about the campaign, visit @GilletteVenus' Instagram TV hub.