Remember Tara Reid, the breakout star of the 1999 teen comedy hit American Pie? With her fun-loving attitude, Reid was poised to become the next big thing in Hollywood after the massive success of American Pie and its sequels.
After a few forgettable films and appearances in various B-movies and TV shows, Reid was better known in the tabloids for her hard-partying ways than for her acting work.
Between her questionable fashion choices, bizarre public antics, and several botched plastic surgery procedures, the formerly squeaky-clean starlet had transformed into a hot mess.
So what happened to Tara Reid, and where has she been lately?
Background info
In Wyckoff, New Jersey, on November 8th, 1975, Tara Donna Reid was born to parents Thomas Reid Jr. and Donna (Bennett) Reid. Both of her parents were daycare center owners and local teachers. Sadly, her father passed away in 2016 and her mother in 2018.
Tara has three siblings, younger twins Colleen, who is an assistant to the director in various projects, and Patrick, who has worked as an actor, production assistant, and in the costume department, and another brother Tommy, who is a director, writer, and producer.
Reid attended the distinguished Professional Children’s School along with talents like Macaulay Culkin, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Jerry O’Connell, and Christina Ricci.
Acting Career
Tara technically got her start at only six years old when she was on the game show Child’s Play. She was also a commercial queen, being the face of products like Crayola, McDonald’s, Jell-O, and Milton Bradley for over 100 commercial ads.
Her first on screen role was in the 1987 comedy horror film A Return to Salem’s Lot where she played Amanda.
Her first recognizable role was in an episode of Saved by the Bell: The New Class in 1994, and a run on the soap opera as Ashely in Days of Our Lives in 1995.
The end of the 90s would see the start of the rise of Tara Reid, as she starred in quite a few cult classics.
The Big Lebowski
Her role as Bunny Lebowski in the Coen brothers film The Big Lebowski in 1998 kicked things off, which she followed up that year as Sasha Thomas in Urban Legend.
Keeping the momentum going, she had a small but profitable role in the hit Cruel Intentions in 1999. Her next role that year would cement Tara’s success.
American Pie
Tara’s portrayal of the innocent Victoria “Vicky” Lathum in the teen coming-of-age comedy American Pie would define her career.
The movie centers on the pact between five characters -one being Vicky’s boyfriend, Kevin – to lose their virginity before graduating high school.
Reid went on to appear in the more successful sequel, American Pie 2, but didn’t come back for the third movie, yet neither did a handful of other main characters from the first two films.
Tara and the rest of the gang would all come back together for one more serving in the final installment of the original franchise titled American Reunion.
What did she do after American Pie?
Immediately following the first helping of Pie, Tara starred in the cult classic Josie and the Pussycats as Melody Valentine in 2001, in one of Ryan Reynold’s early films, National Lampoon’s Van Wilder in 2002, and the Ashton Kutcher rom-com My Boss’s Daughter in 2003.
From 2003 until 2005 she had a reoccurring role for 11 episodes as Danni Sullivan on the hit series Scrubs.
In the following years, Tara mostly appeared in low-budget, low-rated films and shows outside of her appearances in American Pie sequels.
Sharknado
That is, until 2013 when she portrayed April Wexler in the Syfy channel’s comedic disaster movie Sharknado.
The film would breathe some much-needed life back into her career, and Reid would go on to star in the sequel films in 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, and the last installment in 2018.
What is Tara Reid doing now?
These days Tara is still acting, but doing it on her own terms. It seems she is embracing the more indie roles with the lower budgets in addition to whatever projects she likes through her production company, Instant Entertainment.
Reid has an impressive 16 projects in pre, post, currently in production, or completed but not released yet, and many among them have her as the producer or executive producer.
Not that Tara has stopped working since her rise to fame in the 90s, but she wants more control over how she is portrayed in the media than she was at the height of her career, and wants to create the roles she feels are best suited for her.
But we might have to wait to see, because as recently as October of 2022, Reid had posted some concerning and cryptic posts to her social media accounts – a la Britney Spears – that have fans a bit worried.
Whether it’s to bring the spotlight back to her for her many upcoming projects or another reason, she’s creating buzz around her name again.
Whatever Tara does, she doesn’t forget about the fans. She joined the convention circuit in 2017 and had half a dozen appearances in 2022 alone.
Fans can also find her on Cameo for a personalized video or video call to perk your day up.
Personal life
As far as love and relationships go, Tara’s romantic history is as crazy as the 90s were. She dated everyone’s favorite 90s heartthrob Devon Sawa, everyone’s favorite band’s lead singer they denied they loved, Fred Durst from Limp Bizkit, and was linked to her American Pie co-star Jason Biggs.
She’s been rumored to have dated famous names like Tom Brady, JC Chasez, Joe Francis, Eminem, Tommy Lee, and Travis Barker over the years.
In 2000 she met TRL host Carson Daly, and the two quickly moved in together and got engaged in under a year. They had a messy and devastating breakup for Reid that took her a bit to get over. She’s been engaged a reported four times since 2000.
Things seem to have settled for the starlet who has been dating Nathan Montpetit-Howar since the fall of 2019. As of August 2022, the pair was enjoying some much-needed travel and remodeling the home they share in Los Angeles.
With so many projects in the works, her own production company to work with, and a new narrative she wants to write, it seems Tara Reid is ready to start the next chapter in her life, her way. And we’ll be right there to root her on as she goes for her next slice of fame pie.
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