King attended Harrogate Ladies College, and as a punk chose a career in the music business, as a disc jockey in a Leeds nightclub.
She then managed, sang and played keyboards in the Alternative Pop group Fidei and later To Be Continued as lead singer.
Soon afterwards, she joined the cast of the ITV soap opera Emmerdale as Kim Tate, a role she played for ten years before leaving the show in 1999.
In 2005, she appeared as Andrea Mason QC, a barrister for Justin Burton in six episodes of the Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks.
In 2006, King participated in the fourth series of the BBC reality show Strictly Come Dancing; she finished in sixth place overall.
In 2007, she was a contestant in the BBC Two reality-television show Safari School filmed in the South African bush where she finished in third place overall.
King entered the Celebrity Big Brother house on 18 August 2014 to compete in the fourteenth series, but left the show on Day 16 due to illness.
In December 2014, she joined the cast of the soap opera Coronation Street as character Erica Holroyd, a role she portrayed until 2017.
On 24 September 2018, it was announced that King would reprise her role as Emmerdale character Kim Tate, after nearly 20 years away, for a special week of episodes from 8 October 2018.
[5][6] In 1994, King married actor Peter Amory, who played her on-screen stepson Chris Tate in Emmerdale.