Tim Reid
Reid in 2012
Born	Timothy Lee Reid Sr. (1944-12-19)December 19, 1944 (age 81) Norfolk, Virginia, U.S.
Alma mater	Norfolk State University (BBA)
Occupations	Actor comedian director
Years active	1968–present
Known for	WKRP in Cincinnati Simon & Simon Sister, Sister That '70s Show
Spouses	Rita Sykes ​ ​ (m. 1966; div. 1980)​ Daphne Maxwell ​ (m. 1982)​
Children	2

Timothy Lee Reid Sr. (born December 19, 1944) is an American actor, comedian and film director best known for his roles inprime time Americantelevision programs, such asVenus Flytrap onWKRP in Cincinnati (1978–82), Marcel "Downtown" Brown onSimon & Simon (1983–87), Ray Campbell onSister, Sister (1994–99) and William Barnett onThat '70s Show (2004–06).^[1][2]

Reid also starred in a CBS series,Frank's Place, as a professor who inherits a Louisiana restaurant. Reid is the founder and president of Legacy Media Institute, a non-profit organization "dedicated to bringing together leading professionals in the film and television industry, outstanding actors, and young men and women who wish to pursue a career in the entertainment media".^[3]

Reid was born inNorfolk,Virginia, and raised in the Crestwood area ofChesapeake, formerlyNorfolk County, Virginia. He is the son of William Lee and Augustine (née Wilkins) Reid. He had experienced segregation growing up in Norfolk, the majority of businesses around him being black-owned.^[4][1] He earned hisBachelor of Business Administration degree atNorfolk State College in 1968. Reid also became a member ofAlpha Phi Alpha fraternity. After graduation, he was hired byDupont Corporation, where he worked for three years.^[5]

Reid's entertainment career also began in 1968. He and insurance salesmanTom Dreesen met at aJunior Chamber of Commerce meeting near Chicago.^[6] They were "put together to promote an anti-drug program in the local schools" and, prompted by a comment from a child, decided to form a comedy team.^[6] The team, later billed as "Tim and Tom", was the first interracialcomedy duo. Years later, Reid and Dreesen wrote a book about those years calledTim & Tom: An American Comedy in Black and White (2008), co-written with sports writer Ron Rapoport.^[7][8]

Reid started out on the short-livedThe Richard Pryor Show in 1977. Reid starred as DJ "Venus Flytrap" on the hitCBS sitcomWKRP in Cincinnati from 1978-1982, in what is perhaps his best known TV role. He reprised his role in a 1992 episode of the sequel seriesThe New WKRP in Cincinnati.

Reid starred as Lieutenant Marcel Proust "Downtown" Brown on the CBS detective seriesSimon & Simon from 1983-1987. In 1988, Reid won an award from Viewers for Quality Television Awards as "Best Actor in a Quality Comedy Series" in CBS comedyFrank's Place (1987-1988). In 1988, the same role earned him anImage Award for "Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series",^[9] but the series was short-lived as was his subsequent CBS seriesSnoops (1989-1990).

Reid played the adult Mike Hanlon in the 1990 television mini-series adaptation ofStephen King's epic horror novelIt. He made an appearance as Sgt. Ray Bennett of the Seacouver Police Department in three first-season episodes ofHighlander: The Series from 1992-1993. Reid had a starring role in the seriesSister, Sister as Ray Campbell for the entire six-season run from 1994–1999. On April 13, 2009, he appeared opposite formerSister, Sister co-starTamera Mowry on the short-livedABC Family seriesRoommates as Mr. Daniels. Reid had a recurring role onThat '70s Show as William Barnett from 2004 to 2006.^[10]

Reid has directed various television programs, as well the 1996 filmOnce Upon a Time...When We Were Colored, based ona similarly titled memoir byClifton L. Taulbert. Reid directed and adapted a children's TV show calledBobobobs that aired in the late 1980s. He is the creator ofStop the Madness, an after-school special video in the fight against drugs, recorded on December 11, 1985.^[11]

Tim and Daphne Maxwell Reid built New Millennium Studios in 1997. Located inPetersburg, Virginia, the 57.4-acre site with its 14,850-square-foot sound studio was both the only Black-owned film studio in the United States since the 1930s, and also one of the largest independent film studios outside of Hollywood.

New Millennium Studios was used in dozens of movie and television productions, including scenes from the 2001 filmHearts in Atlantis of theStephen Kingbook of the same name; parts of 2000'sThe Contender and elements ofSteven Spielberg's 2012 filmLincoln were all shot there. The Reids also produced feature films of their own.

Due to "a lack of incentives in the state" to bring film production to Virginia, the Reids sold the property in March 2015 for $1.475 million to Four Square Property Management LLC, a company formed by Four Square Industrial Constructors, based in Chester, Virginia.^[12]

In 1966, Reid married Rita Ann Sykes; they divorced on May 9, 1980. They have two children together: Timothy II (born 1968) and Tori Reid (born 1971). On December 4, 1982, he married actressDaphne Maxwell Reid.

In July 2011, Reid was named to the board of directors of theAmerican Civil War Center atTredegar Iron Works.^[13] On May 10, 2014, Reid received a Virginia Commonwealth University honorary doctorate for his many outstanding and distinguished contributions after he delivered a commencement speech.

During the 1980s and 1990s, Reid served on the advisory board of theNational Student Film Institute. A native Virginian, Reid resides in Glenshellah,Portsmouth, Virginia.^[14][15]

• Tim Reid Productions
• Tim Reid atIMDb
• 'WKRP' vet Reid, standup Dreesen's previous life
• An excerpt fromTim & Tom: An American Comedy in Black and White by Tim Reid and Tom Dreesen with Ron Rapoport
• Alpha Phi Alpha News.
• Tim Reid atThe Interviews: An Oral History of Television

• 1944 births
• Living people
• 20th-century American comedians
• 20th-century African-American male actors
• 20th-century American male actors
• 21st-century American comedians
• 21st-century African-American male actors
• 21st-century American male actors
• People from Hampton Roads
• African-American film directors
• African-American male comedians
• African-American comedians
• American male comedians
• American male television actors
• Film directors from Virginia
• Male actors from Norfolk, Virginia
• Norfolk State University alumni
• Comedians from Virginia

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• The Interviews name ID same as Wikidata