About

Tara Reid is the actress best known for her roles in “The Big Lebowski” and in the first two episodes of the “American Pie” trilogy, but she is also notorious for her antics off-screen, earning her the reputation of being “America’s party girl”.

Reid was born in Wyckoff, New Jersey on November 8, 1975 to Donna and Tom Reid. Both her parents were teachers and day care center owners. As a child, Tara got the first taste of her future career when she was cast for a number of commercials and the game show “Child’s Play”. She attended the Professional Children’s School as a child, although she also attended the Dwight D. Eisenhower Middle School, and then went on to Ramapo High School and the Barnstable Academy . While at the Professional Children’s School, she was classmates with future celebrities like Christina Ricci, Ben Taylor, Jerry O’Connell, Sarah Michelle Gellar and Macaulay Culkin.

Her first movie role was in 1987’s “A Return To Salem’s Lot”, though she first got noticed by the public at large for her role as Bunny in the 1998 Coen Brothers film “The Big Lebowski”. It was the blockbuster “American Pie” a year later though, that would prove to be her breakthrough film.

Like other hot young stars of her generation, she cemented her appeal to her core audience by taking roles in other teen films like the slasher flick “Urban Legend” and “Cruel Intentions”. Some small films followed, plus an ensemble movie with Richard Gere (“Dr. T and the Women”), which flopped at the box office.

So while 2000 was a quiet year for he in terms of her career, it was milestone in her personal life, because that was the year she met MTV host Carson Daly during Spring Break, and the two became a couple, and even getting engaged. They broke up a year later though, which led to Tara’s bout with anorexia.

Well, at least 2001 was a good year for her in terms of her career. She had a role in “Just Visiting”, and played the cute Melody in “Josie and The Pussycats” opposite Rachel Leigh Cook and Rosario Dawson. She also got to reprise her role as Vicki in “American Pie 2”, and started shooting for “National Lampoon’s Van Wilder”, which would open the following year and be her last memorable film.

She got to star opposite Ashton Kutcher in “My Boss’ Daughter” in 2004 though, and was in the video game adaptation “Alone In The Dark” in 2005. She also joined the cast of the TV sitcom “Scrubs”, from 2003-2005, playing the promiscuous girlfriend of the lead character, J.D.

For the past few years, she is more famous for her appearances in the tabloids, showbiz-oriented news shows and the internet, where her many party animal escapades have kept her in the public consciousness more than any of her recent film roles. She has also had a long string of short-lived boyfriends, a lot of whom are sports celebrities, adding to her tabloid-worthiness.

Her most famous faux pas was “Nipplegate”, where her left breast popped out of her dress as she arrived at P. Diddy’s birthday party in 2004. The photographs of that wardrobe malfunction saturated the intenet that year, as did the video of her drunken numerical errors while hosting the countdown on New Year’s Eve in 2006.