Tim Reid
A profile on the Virginia-born actor and 2014 Boomer & Shaker Award winner.
YOU KNOW HIM FROM STARRING ROLES IN: WKRP in Cincinnati (as the legendary Venus Flytrap); Simon and Simon; Frank’s Place; Sister, Sister; That ’70s Show; Treme (recurring role).
AND NOW: Since opening his film studio, New Millennium, in Petersburg in 1997, Norfolk-born Tim Reid, 69, has helped shine Hollywood’s spotlight on Central Virginia. In October 2014, his second annual International Film Festival in Petersburg offered an impressive array of film and documentary screenings along with spoken word, visual arts and musical performances. “The festival,” Reid says, “was a great hit with the community and a great success for all who were able to attend. It was a wonderful branding opportunity for the institute and gave our supporters a first-hand look at the purpose of our mission.”
CREATING THE NEXT GENERATION: Reid’s nonprofit Legacy Media Institute brings together film and TV industry professionals with young men and women who want to pursue a career in the entertainment media. Reid says he hopes “to instill in emerging filmmakers the power of images, so that they understand and embrace the responsibility inherent in creating content.”
CONGRATULATIONS AND THANKS FOR BEING A MENTOR: In May 2014, Reid received an honorary doctor of letters degree from Virginia Commonwealth University. “It is,” Reid notes, “always an honor to be recognized for one’s career achievements, but the icing on the cake was the laughter and response of the very attentive graduating class.”
YOU MAY NOT HAVE KNOWN: In the late 1960s and early ’70s, Reid was half of a popular comedy team, along with Tom Dreesen. They wrote a book in 2008 about their adventures as the country’s first interracial comedy team: Tim and Tom: An American Comedy in Black and White. In Spring 2015, Reid will launch what he calls “a humorous, biographical one-man show.”
HIS PARTNER IN LIFE: In 1982, he married Daphne Maxwell Reid, actress and co-owner of New Millennium Studios, host of WCVE’s Virginia Currents and a 2012 Boomers & Shakers predecessor award winner.
