Born November 8th, 1975 in New Jersey. Her parents, who run a pair of daycare centers, send their daughter to The Professional Children's School in New York City. Her fellow classmates included Jerry O'Connell and Macaulay Culkin. Tara took an interest in acting early on, she made her debut in a children's television game show, Child's Play, in 1982, and began appearing in television commercials for McDonald's and Jell-O, amongst others. Tara got her break in 1994 when she was cast on the longtime teen institution, Saved By the Bell. Although the show is not exactly known for creating successful alumni, Tara Reid has continued to prove the exception as she has slowly worked her way to the top. After spending a year on SBTB, she moved on to daytime television, with a recurring role on Days of Our Lives. In the summer of 1999, Tara's career finally took off with The Big Lebowski, where Tara was cast as Bunny, the much younger wife of The Big Lebowski. Tera next starred as Vicki in American Pie, the surprise gross-out hit of the year, along with Shannon Elizabeth, and Mena Suvari.

Now more of a recognizable star, 1999 was Tara's breakthrough year. She appeared in the made-for-TV movie What We Did That Night, and had a small role in the teen-oriented, sensuous film, Cruel Intentions. In the same ywar she was seen in Body Shots, and in the star-studded flop, Dr. T & the Women; not even Helen Hunt or Kate Hudson could save that disaster. 2001 was a big movie year for Tara, with roles in Just Visiting and Josie and the Pussycats (based on the Archie Comics), as a third of a female rock group consisting of Rachael Leigh Cook and Rosario Dawson. In the same year she also appeared in American Pie 2. After taming the savage party animal in the lowbrow comedy National Lampoon's Van Wilder, 2002 , Reid gave screen heartthrob Ashton Kutcher the runaround in the romantic comedy My Boss's Daughter, 2003. Tara was also engaged to MTV Host Carson Daly, who had a small cameo in Josie and The Pussycats up until 2001. They both found the stress of the media's false stories too much and were unhappy rowing over nothing, so the engagement was called off. Although the two found their break-up extremely hard to deal with, they both moved on and remain friends. Tara also has her own production company, named Hi Happy Films.