Photography by M. Sharkey
This year, King took many steps closer to establishing herself as the kind of multihyphenate talent she knows she can be. Aside from acting in her first full-length feature, Hello Forever, a film about four women facing hardship in the Philippines, she landed her first major campaign with American Apparel, which partnered with GLAAD for their "Legalize Gay!" and "Gay O.K." T-shirt line. "It ended up being way bigger than I ever thought it would be," she says, noting that she was the company's first transgender model. "Now I'm just really wanting the world to see my first talent." That would be clothing design, on which she's focusing on in the coming year. "I don't want to push myself and say I'm showing a 'collection' and get so nervous about it. I think I'll say I'm showing a 'presentation,' " she adds with a laugh.
Photographed at Sun Studios in New York City on September 21, 2012
