From Birth To Stardom

Tara Reid was always on the verge. She was on Saved By the Bell - but, she was on the second class, just missing the Elizabeth Berkley and Tiffani Amber-Theissen days. She was in the hit horror film Urban Legends - but she got killed off and Rebecca Gayheart garnered the accolades. She was in the runaway success Cruel Intentions - as one of Ryan Phillippe's first victims. But, finally, in 1999 she grabbed the acclaim she deserves in a little film called American Pie.

Tara was born in Wyckoff, New Jersey on November 8, 1975. She jumped into the acting world quite early, at six, when she appeared on a children's game show called Child's Play. Her cute smile grabbed her a number of commercial roles, including Jell-O, McDonald's, and Crayola.

Tara didn't stop there, and decided to make acting a career goal. She attended the highly prestigious Professional Children's School in New York City. Her classmates included Sarah Michelle Gellar, Jerry O'Connell, Macualay Culkin, and Ben Taylor. A number of good, but not good enough, roles followed, most notably the Saved By the Bell, Urban Legends, and Cruel Intention roles. But, Tara also had a role in a film called Girl. The independent film went absolutely nowhere at the box office, but Tara's performance was incredible - as was her costar Dominique Swain.

But in the summer of 1999, Tara finally took off. A film that centered around high school and sex, that featured a number of unforgettable scenes struck a chord with teenagers everywhere. The film's box office success tossed it's players into the spotlight and created such a buzz that not a one of the actors from the film has a second to spare these days.

Tara's brother Tommy is also in the entertainment industry and has his own production company. Off the screen, Tara is rumored to be dating MTV VJ Carson Daly (who once dated Jennifer Love Hewitt).