Don Reed - Oakland

Don Reed ³

Donald "Don" G. Reed [b. November 23, 1959] actor, writer, director, comedian, has had a long and varied career in Hollywood. He also wrote, directed, and starred in the stage production "East 14th: True Tales of a Reluctant Player"¹ about his teenage years in Oakland in the 1970s, living with his mother and stepfather in a Jehovah’s Witnesses household, and living with his father, who he came to realize was a pimp. A one-man show, Reed lovingly describes and acts out all of the wonderful characters that were part of his life. Don followed that show up with his 80's tome - "The Kipling Hotel" which covers Don's collegiate days - when strapped for scholastic funds, he tried being a stripper but it didn't work out. So, he ended up serving scrambled eggs and pancakes to the elderly alongside, drug addicted co-workers and Hollywood dreamers. The 3rd show in his trilogy is called "Can You Dig It?" and starts in the 60's covering everything from James Brown to the Black Panthers, JFK MLK the KKK, Twilight Zone, Fat Albert and... his early family before his father took off to become a pimp. The very same pimp who pushed him away from the streets and toward UCLA. Don performs these solo show mostly at the Marsh San Francisco and Berkeley, Yoshi's Oakland and San Francisco and Laney College.

Reed has worked as a comedian, Caesars, Tropicana, Golden Nugget, The Fox Theatre, Great American Music Hall SF and over 400 colleges, including performing before taping of comedy shows. He performed before The Tonight Show with the Jay Leno Show, doing stand up and 'warming up' the audience for over 1000 tapings before a live studio audience.¹

He plays ^"... one of the lead roles in the Amazon Prime comedy series :Bartlett: co-financed and recurring role starring composer/creator of Broadway smash “HAMILTON” – Lin Manuel Miranda."³ In 2021 he co-produced Robert Townsend's one man show "Living the Shuffle". He has done voice-overs for "Spiderman, Johnny Quest, SNL and ... the voice of the cat on CBS’s “2 Broke Girls.”"³

Don Reed attended Fremont High School.

Don Reed attended Chabot College.

Don Reed attended UCLA - University of California at Los Angeles.