Albert Reed

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Albert Reed
Born Albert Reed
March 6, 1985 (1985-03-06) (age 23)
South Miami, Florida, United States
Occupation Model
Years active 2004 – present
Official website
Reed on Abercrombie & Fitch's 2004 back-to-school catalog.
Reed on Abercrombie & Fitch's 2004 back-to-school catalog.

Albert Reed (born March 6, 1985) is an American model featured in numerous high-end clothing ads and commercials. Raised in the surf culture of Vero Beach, Florida, Reed's modeling career accelerated at the age of 19 after appearing on the cover of Abercrombie & Fitch's 2004 back-to-school catalog. In August 2007, Reed was selected to appear in the fifth season of the U.S. television series Dancing with the Stars.

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

Albert Reed was born in South Miami, Florida (specifically South Miami Hospital) to Barbara Foster and John Reed. He also has a younger sister named Shaye Reed.[1][2] At the age of thirteen, Reed moved with his family about 150 miles (240 km) north of their middle class Miami neighborhood to Vero Beach, which Reed refers to as "a little surfer town located on the east coast of central Florida."[3] The family's proximity to the beach allowed Reed to surf just about every day.[1] He quickly integrated himself into the local surf culture and adopted a live-to-surf casual lifestyle.[1]

In 2000, Reed began attending Vero Beach High School.[4] While he was in the 10th grade, Reed's parents, who Reed describes as hippies, divorced.[3] This largely left Reed to figure things out on his own.[3]

Reed's free spirit and a need to take care of himself clashed with the structures of high school.[3] Although he hated the classroom environment and had a strong desire to be elsewhere, he was well liked:

"In school, I was that popular outside kid, who stayed close to my few surfer buddies, but was always on good terms with everyone. I just kept my mouth shut and listened. I spoke what was on my mind when it needed to be said. People respected me for that. For sports, I played everything that I could get my hands on as a kid. But high school was different. I became so indulged in surfing that it was the only activity I wanted to do. The ocean was my playground. If the surf weren’t good, we would be spear fishing or wakeboarding."[3]

At 16, Reed began bussing tables at The Riverfront, a four star restaurant in Vero Beach.[3] During a trip down to Miami, Reed's modeling potential was discovered accidentally while accompanying a friend to her modeling agency, Karin Models[1].[5] Although his friend was not signed,[6] Karin Models immediately signed Reed, who then began modeling part-time while he finished high school.[5]

[edit] Career

[edit] Modeling

At 18, Reed graduated from high school and moved to Miami to pursue modeling and public relations work in clubs.[1][4] He received a steady string of modeling jobs, which lead to opportunities to model in Greece, Scotland, and then Italy,[1][3] where Reed lived for about six months.[5] While in Italy, Reed was featured as the sole male model in the Spring/Summer 2004 catalog for Italian sportswear company SLAM.[5] Although his European experience was positive, the ongoing Iraq War left Europeans "a bit sour" towards Reed and other Americans working in Europe, and Reed returned to the United States.[3]

A 2004 meeting with internationally-acclaimed photographer Bruce Weber lead to Reed's big break, a photo shoot and website video appearance for Abercrombie & Fitch.[5] Reed appeared on a billboard in Times Square with a LIVE TO SURF tattoo and subsequently on the cover of Abercrombie & Fitch's 2004 back-to-school catalog.[5][7] More than 10 million homes throughout the United States received a copy of that catalog, and that cover subsequently has appeared as an ad in Rolling Stone, GQ, Teen Vogue, and the premiere issue of VITALS.[5][8] Reed credits the 2004 Abercrombie & Fitch cover for giving him the needed credentials to make it as a professional model.[3]

In September 2004, Reed signed with IMG, a global talent agency and production company in New York City.[8] In December of that same year, Cosmopolitan magazine named Reed as their December 2004 Cosmo's Guy Without His Shirt.[9][10]

In January 2005, signed with The John Crosby Management Company, Innovative Artists Talent and Literary Agency in New York and Bleu Model Management in Los Angeles.[3][10] In this same month, Ocean Drive magazine highlighted the 19-year-old Reed as "one the 24 freshest faces on the Miami modeling scene," a fact important enough to be featured in Bleu Model Management's listing in Hoover's In-Depth Company Records.[3][10][11] He is also with Public Image Worldwide, and Elite Model Management in Toronto.

In March 2005, the Italian sportswear company SLAM announced Reed as cover model for their 2005 Spring/Summer Sportswear Catalog.[12] Reed had previously had appeared as the SLAM 2004 Spring/Summer cover model and the 2004 Fall/Winter cover model.[12]

In April 2005, MostBeautifulMan.com selected Reed as their choice for "April 2005 Most Beautiful Man."[13] Past recipients of Most Beautiful Man selection include Brad Pitt (May 2004) and Ashton Kutcher (Feb. 2004).[13]

In July 2005, former Vice President Al Gore's cable channel, Current TV, filmed Reed during a shooting with celebrity photographer Tony Duran.[14] Current TV additionally interviewed Reed and turned the footage into a segment for their channel.[14] The pod segment was shown on Current TV in early August.[15]

Reed currently is the national face of Van Heusen apparel company.[16]

[edit] Television

On August 29, 2007, ABC television studios announced that Reed would be paired with Anna Trebunskaya as a contestant in the fifth season of the television series, Dancing with the Stars beginning on Monday, September 24, 2007 (8:00-9:30 p.m., ET).[17]

What may distinguish Reed from the other contestants is that he does not dance.[16] During his interview to be on the show, Reed stated,

"I can't. I got rhythm. I'm able to pull out a few dance moves in a bar or wherever. I'm not unable to dance at all, but I'm definitely not a ballroom dancer by any means."[16]

The Chicago Sun-Times lists Reed's odds of winning at 8-1, behind 9-5 odds favorite Scary Spice and three others.[18]

Reed's grandmother, Anne Foster, 81, of Glen Cove, New York, sees herself as his No. 1 fan.[2] Unlike the other likely 15 million viewers of that show, Foster indicated that she will not be watching a supermodel but the sweet surfing enthusiast who stays grounded enough to still enjoy grandma's company at Thanksgiving and Christmas.[2] Her husband, Reed's grandfather Harry Foster, died in November 2006 and Reed is dedicating his Dancing with the Stars performance to his grandfather, a great ballroom dancer, and his grandmother.[16][19]

On October 2 Reed was voted off Dancing with the Stars making him the second celebrity eliminated from the show.

[edit] Film

His first film was the role of Gabe in the surfing movie Shelter.

[edit] Present

Reed owns a mountain hideaway in Colorado, but makes his home in Southern California, where he tries getting a week of surfing in every month to keep balanced.[16] When not modeling, Reed writes poetry and songs for his band, NERD.[6]

Albert is also a celebrity spokesman for America's Second Harvest - The Nation's Food Bank Network, the largest domestic hunger-relief charity in the United States.

[edit] Selected modeling works

  • Abercrombie & Fitch Back to school catalog, full cover front and back plus two page ad. (September 2004) Pages 86 and 87.
  • Arrow clothing newspaper advertisement, 1/8th page. (December 2006) USA Today. Page 3A.

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d e Albert Reed Official Website. (2007) Albert Reed biography. Accessed August 31, 2007
  2. ^ a b c Steward, Dwayne. (August 30, 2007) Newsday Model Albert Reed will be dancing with the stars.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Dupriz, Raphael. (January 24, 2005) CelebrityMaleModels.com. An American Free Spirit, Albert Reed. Page 2, Page 3, Page 4
  4. ^ a b Vero Beach Press Journal (August 13, 2005) Good for you. Section: Today on the Treasure Coast; Page E8.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Chicago Fashion Magazine. (September 2004) "Abercrombie & Fitch Cover Model Albert Reed Discovered By Fate When Accompanying Friend to Agency." (reprint from PR Newswire (September 7, 2004))
  6. ^ a b Garcia, Yanira. (January 2005) Chicago Fashion Magazine. "From Surfboards to Billboards.
  7. ^ Barrera, Sandra. (September 8, 2004) Los Angeles Daily News The buzz. What, no Ms. Pac-man? (sub heading Male model of the moment.) Section U, Page 5.
  8. ^ a b Chicago Fashion Press. (September 2004) Albert Reed Signs With Top Modeling Agency IMG. (reprint from PR Newswire (September 23, 2004))
  9. ^ Cosmopolitan.com (December 2004) Albert Reed: Cosmo's Guy Without His Shirt. Page 76.
  10. ^ a b c Chicago Fashion Magazine. (February 2005) Abercrombie & Fitch Cover Model Albert Reed Signs with John Crosby Management Next Stop for Reed: Hollywood. (reprint from PR Newswire (February 2, 2005))
  11. ^ Hoover's In-Depth Company Records (June 22, 2005) Bleu Model Management, Inc.
  12. ^ a b Chicago Fashion Magazine. (March 2005) "SLAM Announces Albert Reed as Cover Model for 2005 Spring/Summer Sportswear Catalog.
  13. ^ a b PR Newswire (April 7, 2005) Abercrombie & Fitch Cover Model Albert Reed Named "April 2005 Most Beautiful Man" (For details, see Reed's MostBeautifulMan.com biography)
  14. ^ a b PR Newswire (July 12, 2005) Tony Duran - Celebrated for Images of the Likes of J-Lo, Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman - Focuses Lens on Rising Star Albert Reed.
  15. ^ Berkowitz, Lana. (August 3, 2005) Houston Chronicle Dead air, little humor on Gore's Current TV. Section: Star; Page 1
  16. ^ a b c d e DeYoung, Bill. (August 31, 2007) Vero Beach Press Journal Bill DeYoung:'Dancing' star Albert Reed:'I can't dance.' Section: Lifestyle.
  17. ^ Zap2it.com. (August 29, 2007) Seymour, Spice Girl Come'Dancing'. ABC separates competitors by gender at start.
  18. ^ Elfman, Doug. (August 30, 2007) Chicago Sun-Times Little bit corny, little bit Scary. Section: Features; Page 38.
  19. ^ Rizzo, Monica; Dagostino, Mark; Keith, Amy. (September 10, 2007) People Weekly A boxer, a billionaire, an Osmond, a Spice Girl and Mr. Las Vegas get set to turn up the heat on the new season of Dancing with the Stars. Volume 68; Issue 11; Page 72.

[edit] External links

Persondata
NAME Reed, Albert
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION American model
DATE OF BIRTH March 6, 1985
PLACE OF BIRTH South Miami, Florida
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH