Reid began her career at the age of six years in 1982 on the game show Child's Play. As a child she had roles in a number of commercials for McDonald's, Crayola, and Jell-O. She grew up in New York City suburbs, and attended the Professional Children's School along with such celebrities as Christina Ricci, Ben Taylor, Jerry O'Connell, Sarah Michelle Gellar, and Macaulay Culkin. Although her break-through role was in American Pie in 1999, followers of the 1998 cult film The Big Lebowski already knew her as Bunnie Lebowski. Reid spent the late 1990s appearing more often on the cover of tabloid magazines than on screen. Her extroverted social life soon gave her a reputation as a party girl; in fact, U.S. magazine In Touch Weekly, recently voted Reid "top party animal". She spoofed that image with her role on the N.B.C. comedy-drama Scrubs as Danni Sullivan, main character J.D.'s promiscuous sweet-heart.