VERO BEACH — Albert Reed was 13 in 1998 when he moved from south Miami to Vero Beach, a life-altering change that helped mold him into the artist he is today.
The nationally known Abercrombie & Fitch, Loreal and Versace model who once appeared half naked in Cosmopolitan magazine, independent film creator, and “Dancing With the Stars” alum, went from attending a Miami school near his blue-collar neighborhood that used metal detectors for the safety of its students to Vero Beach where he was surrounded by laid-back, suburban kids.
Reed, now 27, got into trouble at the Miami school and had a too many confrontations with teachers and law enforcement officials.
Although he studied and played sports, Reed’s life was a mess.
“I partied a lot,” he admits. “There were always girls.”
While Miami was hard on him, Vero Beach was welcoming.
“Where I grew up in Miami, it was just getting worse and worse,” says Reed, now living and working in New York City after time in Los Angeles. “Coming to Indian River County as a young teen was a life changer.”
Things were rough after he arrived.
Reed got into trouble after too much pot smoking and heavy partying.
At night, he learned there was indeed a wild lifestyle in Vero Beach so it didn’t matter where his mom tried to hide him.
With his drop-dead good looks, the girls chased him from one end of the football field to the other end of the beach.
“My mom kicked me out of the house for a while because I was partying too hard,” he says. “So I got a job, began to surf and totally calmed down.”
He worked in a few restaurants to survive and found the business to be a way to meeting people.
No matter what else he did, he loved surfing.
“It is a part of me and will always be,” he says.
Throughout his time at Vero Beach High School, his life was a mix of surf wax, surf boards, and chasing swells along the Central Florida coast.
Although he had a girlfriend, he was more interested in studying hurricanes and learning about adverse weather conditions and its effect on the waves.
In fact, surfing became the time he felt peace and a connection.
“I’m not a religious person but surfing was my church,” he says. “I will forever surf.”
Reed also enjoyed fishing, tennis and basically just being a teen. It helped him settle and become happier than he had ever known.
With a sister a dozen years older, he had lived in his own little world for many years.
Until Vero Beach made it larger.
“Vero was filled with wonderful people,” he says.
Reed says he never paid attention to who his friends were. Whether it was someone he met in school, surfing or in his restaurant work at places like the old Black Pearl restaurant. The friends could be rich or poor. He figured you either “have money or you don’t.” And people are people.
“Where I come from, it doesn’t make much of a difference,” he says. “I get along with everyone. I figure if you are a positive person then let’s be friends. If you’re negative, good luck to ya, and have a nice day.”
The Black Pearl was then the place to go and her learned how to deal with all types of human beings.
He was serving a large spectrum of customers from the wealthiest John’s Island regulars to local Joe’s on their wedding anniversaries.
“This experience at The Black Pearl gave birth to my social abilities,” he believes. “Which in return is what I count on most in my industry….that and my integrity.”
Reed ‘s “hippie” gourmet chef parents divorced.
His dad, Al Reed, landed in construction. His mom, Barbara Foster, got into Vero Beach real estate sales.
Reed’s sea blue eyes, dark hair, great build, and All-American good looks also serve him well.
He was discovered by accident.
While still in high school, he did a favor for a friend when he escorted her to a Miami modeling agency.
“When Albert Reed walked into our Miami agency with a girlfriend who was interested in modeling, we quickly looked past his friend and signed him on the spot,” says Khalid Salaam of Karin models. “We knew he was someone who would eventually attract top clients and maybe have a great future in television and movies.”
In 2003, he graduated from high school with big dreams. He never quit classes to model but as soon as he finished school he moved to Miami Beach.
For about four months, he modeled and did public relations work for the burgeoning club industry, the days when Opium Garden and Rumi dictated South Beach nights.
But he didn’t like the lifestyle which he thought was “unhealthy.”
Instead of partying, he wrote lyrics, sang, read philosophy, painted, and surfed.
When companies called him to model on fashion runways from London to Lisbon and from Paris to Prague, Reed was pleased, traveling to Europe for about six months and getting quick jobs in Scotland, Greece and Italy.
In Italy, he modeled for SLAM, the Italian sportswear company. He also followed casting calls and kept fit.
In between, he visited the U.S. doing modeling jobs as they beckoned. Eventually, he returned to New York City and Los Angeles for work.
“I wanted to live stress free with love, good surf, and the ability to fulfill my dreams,” says Reed.
Reed’s big break came in 2004 when Karin introduced him to fashion photographer Bruce Weber, who quickly found the model a photo shoot for Abercrombie & Fitch, the edgy company which also hired him to star in a football video for its website.
“After seeing it, they asked me to star on the cover of their 2004 back-to-school catalog,” says Reed. “I couldn’t believe all the great things that started happening to me.”
The Abercrombie & Fitch catalog was sent to 10 million homes around the U.S., making his well-chiseled cheeks and surfer-perfect body a must-see by American females of all ages.
Obviously, his looks created quite a stir in Middle America as well as in New York City where his pecks were plastered all over billboards.
People wanted to know who is this guy with the “Live to Surf” tattoo pictured on the Times Square billboard?
In Manhattan, he signed with IMG talent agency. Later that year, Cosmopolitan named him its December 2004 “guy without his shirt.”
He signed with other top talent and artistic agencies in New York and Los Angeles, gracing covers, runways and later becoming the face of Van Heusen shirts and apparel.
That life was not enough.
“I am a free spirit who longs for the beach,” says Reed, who usually returns home to Vero Beach for the holidays. “I study religious philosophy, I am influenced by music, and I want to paint, write and produce documentaries.”
As he learned, everything in the fashion, arts and show biz world is a means to an end.
In 2007, ABC-TV paired him with professional dancer Anna Trebunskaya in the fifth season of its hit show, “Dancing With the Stars.”
Reed likes to joke that he is not a hoofer even though his late grandfather was a ballroom dancer.
He gave it the old college try to increase his profile and networking opportunities.
“I was the least famous ‘Dancing With the Stars’ contestant,” he says with a laugh about being voted off after two weeks.
The same year he accepted a small part in the art film, “Shelter,” written and directed by Jonah Markowitz, and shot in 21 days.
Its plot about art, surfing and close friendships stayed with Reed who soon formed a company called Just Another House Party, where he directs art collaborations in film and photography.
He recently returned from a collaborative project in Berlin for the company MADE, working with people who create content for the art world.
“Albert does projects and independent films with his company where he directs, produces and acts in them,” says his Vero Beach-bred friend Naomi Stroh, who lives in Los Angeles. “He is an artist with a vision and has made enough money modeling to be able to create the smart films and work in the other artistic mediums that he likes.”
Dividing his time between New York and California, with as much European travel as he can find, Reed has expanded his horizons.
In addition to his normal days of castings and agent meetings, he often jets off to surf for a few days.
“My favorite surfing spots are Barbados which is the definition of perfection, Bali or California when the season is right and the swells are pushing off large winter storms,” he says.
He spent much of last summer France, Spain and Italy. He loves Europe and is impressed with how Europeans enjoy a slower the pace of life.
Happily single for now, he wants to have a family in about 10 years and travel with them on a 60-foot sailing vessel.
“My dream is to sail around the world raising a family like a bunch of pirates,” says Reed. “I don’t want to stay in one place too long…Moving about is something I could never stop doing.”
