Sanford Reed will tell you: growing up in Palm Desert, he was an insecure kid. But performing in local community theater gave him the confidence to pursue a career in TV and film. At 25, he’s already appeared in a number of commercials: for Pop Tarts, Cox Communications and Amazon Prime. He’s had parts in several short films and appeared in an episode of the show “People Magazine Investigates.” He has an agent and recently shot a commercial for TikTok. He also recently auditioned for a show called Doom Patrol (part of the DC Universe) on HBO Max and for a Dynasty remake on Netflix.
His career in entertainment started when he was a fourth grader at Carter Elementary in Palm Desert. His mom encouraged him to take part in the stage version of The Hobbit, put on by Children’s Playtime Productions, a nonprofit in Palm Desert dedicated to education and community development through live theater. He performed with CPP through the end of high school. He says, “I was lucky enough to be in the wave of kids where it was fun, it was cool to be in theater. I had an awesome time. I love the community theater.”
Reed worked his way up from bit parts to lead roles at CPP, and played Peter in Peter Pan. One of his fondest memories is the day CPP founders Chuck Balgenorth and Richard DeHaven took him and his mom to Denny’s to break the news that he’d landed the lead role, for which he’d get to “fly” across the stage! “They really helped me understand blocking and the basic principles of what it means to be an actor in a full-length play,” he says. He eventually became a mentor to the younger kids in the program.
CPP performs some of its productions at the McCallum Theater – something Reed describes as “the best gift you can receive as an artist. It is a massive stage. The feeling you get with your castmates and with a full audience of kids, it’s just sensational. They work their butts off to get kids on that stage. They work so hard. That’s how I got into acting.”
Reed enjoyed his time in theater at Palm Desert Middle School (now PDCMS) and went on to perform in Our Town at Palm Desert High School. In his early teens he joined the cast of several productions at Palm Canyon Theater in Palm Springs. There he learned what it takes to produce a musical, and that’s where he met director and dance coach Se Layne. He says, “Se taught me how to dance. She is very serious about what she does. That type of intensity and focus is needed as an artist. So I got that from her.”
The summer before his senior year at PDHS, Reed spent a month at a theater course at USC. He brought his new techniques back to Palm Canyon Theater, where he poured himself into the role of teenage heartthrob Link Larkin in the musical Hairspray. He says, “I discovered an inner “Link Larkin” in myself. I discovered a newfound confidence. I’ll always have that confidence now for the rest of my life. Ever since then, and that role, I decided that this is my life. This is my vocation. I want to do this now, professionally. That was a turning point. It was no longer a hobby. It was a part of me, fully.”
After graduating PDHS in 2012, Reed got into the prestigious USC School of Cinematic Arts, where he double majored in film and theater. While in college, he spent one summer in New York studying at Michael Howard Studios, and another summer studying Shakespeare at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London.
After college graduation, Reed started auditioning in LA while working as a waiter and a video editor – and took classes at the Upright Citizens Brigade and the Groundlings. Last year, he moved to Atlanta, Georgia, which has become a hotbed of TV and film production.
His favorite story about his career thus far, is the time he got to meet a live grizzly bear – while auditioning for the part of a teenager so engrossed in his PlayStation, he doesn’t notice the predator at his kitchen door. “It was the coolest thing! Just to have that opportunity and get paid for it; I was so thankful. I didn’t get the part but I enjoyed the experience so much.”
His best advice for families thinking about getting their kids into the entertainment business? Take it slow, and make sure the child is having fun. He thinks kids shouldn’t be working for a paycheck – and recommends community theater programs like CPP, The Palm Canyon Theater, Desert Theatreworks in Indio, and the Green Room Theatre Company in Palm Desert.
Reed notes that family support is crucial. His parents did their best to foster his dream. His mom ferried him back and forth to rehearsals every Saturday and his dad, who works in construction, helped build the sets. Reed adds, “the best thing for a child is to have that support from mom and dad. That is the biggest blessing I could have ever asked for. The more active my parents were in supporting and loving me, the happier I was.”
