Hallmark Star Hunter King’s Amazing Transformation

It isn’t always an easy path for child actors when making that all-important transition to teenage parts, and then, ultimately, adult roles. Among the many former child stars who’ve tried and failed, there have also been success stories. That’s been the case for Hunter King, who began acting as a youngster before being cast in a long-running role on a popular daytime soap in which fans literally watched her grow up on-screen.

In addition to her daytime success, King — sister of “Kissing Booth” star Joey King — has also been a series regular in a primetime sitcom on network television, appeared in various movies and, more recently, become a fixture on the Hallmark Channel. Having headlined several Hallmark projects, King is quickly becoming one of the network’s hottest young talents, an upward trajectory that has led to a starring role in what may well be Hallmark’s highest-profile project to date. Hunter King has already gone through a spectacular transformation, and she has seemingly only just begun. Here’s a look at her journey so far.

Hunter King has certainly paid her dues as an actor, beginning her professional career when she was just six years old. Interestingly, while King and her two sisters have all become professional actors, neither of her parents had any experience in the entertainment industry. As King explained in an interview with About.com, her older sister, Kelli, had already been bitten by the acting bug, also at age six. Her parents, however, never expected Hunter to follow suit, given her innate shyness as a youngster — until she accompanied her sister and mother to an agent’s office, where she spontaneously blurted out that she wanted to start acting as well. After that, King’s mother began taking her to auditions, filling in as her daughter’s acting coach. “I took some acting lessons for a few weeks here and there, but mostly I just did plays in this little theater in Agoura Hills [California] when I was growing up,” King recalled. “Just going over lines with my mom really helped me a lot.”

With that theater experience under her belt, it wasn’t long before she was auditioning for roles in film and television as well, using the name Haley King at the time. In 2001, she landed her first-ever screen role, in the sci-fi TV series “Roswell.” That led to further television guest-starring parts, in addition to a small role in a very high-profile project for the big screen.

At the age of eight, Hunter King made her big-screen debut in “A.I. Artificial Intelligence,” the 2001 feature from director Steven Spielberg. While the role was small — she only appears in one scene — King’s talent was impossible to ignore. That performance opened the door to further roles, including guest spots on such TV series as “Hidden Hills,” “Line of Fire,” “Without a Trace,” “Dexter,” “ER,” and “Hannah Montana.”

As her roster of professional credits continued to grow, so too did the Hollywood opportunities. In 2012, she was cast in the soapy teen drama “Hollywood Heights.” This marked a big progression, the first time she was a series regular on television. While King considers that show to be her big break, it also presented her with a whole new set of challenges to overcome.

“I had never done anything like that before. It was, like, my first soap kind of role,” King told Soap Opera Digest, explaining how working on the Nick at Night series proved invaluable in preparing her for the relentless pace of filming a soap opera. “I was just very intimidated by the amount of material that we had to learn. I just remember being so nervous. I was like, ‘There’s no way I was going to memorize these lines.'”

While starring on “Hollywood Heights,” Hunter King worked with producer Jill Farren-Phelps. When Farren-Phelps moved on to “The Young and the Restless,” she thought of King for the recently vacated role of Summer Newman, granddaughter of iconic “Y&R” character Victor Newman, played by soap legend Eric Braeden. “Jill called and said, ‘Do you want to come work on ‘Y&R’ and play Summer?’ I was like, ‘Yeah.’ She said, ‘Okay. You start in two days,'” King told About.com. King was hired, no audition required, replacing exiting actor Lindsay Bushman, who’d previously played Summer.

The opportunity to be part of such a legendary soap was not one King took lightly. “It’s such an amazing show that’s been on the air for so long that I was so nervous coming into this show where everyone’s like a family and I’m the newbie and I don’t want to disappoint anybody or make a bad impression,” she told Soap Opera Digest. “I was just nervous of really impressing the cast and not letting anybody down.” Looking back on the very first scene she filmed for the soap, King recalled having to cry while apologizing to Chelsea (Melissa Claire Egan) for killing her baby. “Great first impressions,” she joked in a retrospective interview about her portrayal, for which she won a Daytime Emmy Award in 2014.

King joined “Y&R” in 2012 and remained on the show until exiting in 2021, but it wasn’t always smooth sailing.

Less than 18 months after joining “The Young and the Restless,” Hunter King made headlines with some shocking accusations about co-star Michael Muhney. RadarOnline reported that King had alleged that Muhney — who played Adam Newman — had groped her on the set, and threatened to take action if the network didn’t. “Hunter went to the top brass at CBS and Sony and accused Michael of grabbing her breasts on two separate occasions,” a source told the outlet. “Hunter demanded Michael be fired or else she would file a police report against him.”

Meanwhile, Muhney had reportedly clashed with “Y&R” star Eric Braeden, as well as the soap’s writers. In fact, reported RadarOnline, Braeden had wanted Muhney to be axed for years prior to the alleged incident, with a source claiming that the two actors “were constantly at each other’s throats, and had to be separated several times because it almost got physical.” TMZ reported that producers sided with King and fired Muhney. TMZ subsequently reported that Muhney had previously been axed from “Veronica Mars” due to what was described as an out-of-control ego.

King has never publicly commented on those reports; Muhney later claimed that the alleged incident never happened, and that his firing stemmed from creative differences with producers.

Hunter King’s profile rose during her stint on “The Young and the Restless,” and in 2015 she landed a starring role in a feature film. Granted, that film — “A Girl Like Her” — was a low-budget indie, not a studio production, but it certainly tackled a provocative topic. King portrayed a teenager named Avery, who had been relentlessly bullying her former friend, Jessica (Lexi Ainsworth), for years.

“She’s different from anything I’ve ever played. She’s a bully to the extreme,” King explained in an interview with ClicheMag. “So, playing this character was very difficult and challenge to me.” Another challenge was the film’s dialogue, which was largely improvised by the actors, who were given a rough outline for each scene and then expected to create their characters’ words. This was a very different experience for King, and pushed her well outside her comfort zone as an actor. “I couldn’t just transform into Avery and follow lines that I had already written for me,” she said. “Instead, I really, truly had to embody this person and truly become her for all my scenes.”

Another big difference between her “Y&R” experience and “A Girl Like Her” was that Summer Newman was a character she could easily shed at the end of each workday, while Avery stuck with her — whether she wanted that or not. “I felt like an awful person,” she said of playing a bully. “It was really hard for me.”

The same year that “A Girl Like Her” was released, Hunter King was cast in a recurring role in CBS comedy “Life in Pieces.” After appearing in eight episodes during the first season as teenager Clementine, King was promoted to a series regular in the second season. King remained on “The Young and the Restless,” but was seen on the soap less frequently as she did double duty on both shows.

For the next few years, King juggled both “Y&R” and “Life in Pieces” until the latter ended its run in 2019. During the series’ final season, King got to share the screen with her real-life sister, actor Joey King, playing her character’s romantic rival. As the sisters told Entertainment Weekly, acting together fulfilled a long-held dream for both of them. “I’ve always wanted to work with Joey. We’ve always talked about how we want to work together …” Hunter said, with Joey adding, “I was so excited because, it’s true, Hunter and I have always, always wanted to work together — we’ve talked about it countless times …”

When the series wrapped, Hunter took to Instagram to share her thoughts about what she’d experienced during her four seasons with “Life in Pieces.” “Thank you for bringing me into the ‘Life In Pieces’ family and for making it such a fun four years,” she wrote. “I have so much love and respect for everyone who was involved in this show.”

While playing Summer Newman on “The Young and the Restless,” Hunter King met Nico Svoboda, who was working as a camera operator. In August 2018, King revealed via Instagram that she and Svoboda had gotten engaged. “Thank you for making yesterday the best day of my entire life! I can’t wait to marry you and spend our future going on endless adventures together,” King wrote in a since-deleted Instagram post that was reported by People. King added even more in a statement she gave to the magazine. “The love of my life asked me to marry him and I’ve never been more excited for the future then I am right now,” she said. “He’s the man of my dreams and I’m the luckiest girl in the entire world to be marrying my best friend!”

Speaking with Soaps in Depth in February 2020, King divulged that she and her fiancé were considering a destination wedding. “So we decided that if we’re going to spend the money on the wedding, why not make a vacation out of it?” she explained.

Sadly, the relationship didn’t stand the test of time. In August 2020, just two years later, Us Weekly reported that the couple had broken up and ended the engagement. “They called off their engagement a few months ago,” a source told the outlet. “It was an amicable split. They obviously still follow each other on social media and care about one another.”

Hunter King had played Summer Newman on-and-off for a decade when she finally decided to leave “The Young and the Restless” in 2021, presumably to pursue new opportunities. That came into focus the following year, when Deadline reported that King had entered into a multi-picture deal with the Hallmark Channel. That deal, the outlet noted, followed several successful King-starring movies for Hallmark, starting with “Hidden Gems,” followed by “Nikki & Nora: Sister Sleuths,” and “A Royal Corgi Christmas.”

“Hunter King brings such a spark to each role she brings to life and has been a wonderful addition to the Hallmark family,” Lisa Hamilton Daly, executive vice president of Hallmark Media, said in a statement. “I feel so incredibly grateful and lucky to be part of the Hallmark family!” King said in an accompanying statement. “Growing up, I would drive past Hallmark’s headquarters nearly every day and dream about getting the chance to be in one of their movies some day.” Sharing her lifelong fandom of Hallmark and its projects, King gushed about having the opportunity to continue working on the channel’s heartwarming made-for-TV movies. “I get to be in Hallmark movies for a living!” she added. “Are you kidding me? Is this real life?”

King subsequently starred in more Hallmark Channel movies, including “The Professional Bridesmaid,” “The Santa Summit,” and “Two Scoops of Italy.”

Soap fans were saddened by Hunter King’s exit from “The Young and the Restless,” but, as is often the case in the soap world, the door was left open for a potential return. In a January 2023 interview with Soaps.com, King was asked whether she’d consider reprising the role of Summer, which was recast with actor Allison Lanier after her exit. “People do come and go and paths seem to cross in the soap world,” King said, revealing she was open to the possibility, but at the moment was focused on her multi-picture deal with Hallmark Channel. “So never say never,” she added, “but right now, I am just so incredibly happy and honored to be with Hallmark.”

However, she also advised “Y&R” fans anxiously awaiting her return to Genoa City not to hold their collective breath. Sharing her gratitude for the years that she spent on the soap, she kiboshed a potential return anytime in the immediate future. “So for now, that chapter is closed and who knows what’s going to happen,” she said. “We’ll see.”