| Occupation: Actor, writer Born: 14th December, 1965, Detroit, MI Theodore Raimi, also known as Ted Raimi, is a native of Detroit, Michigan. He had a choice between a successful fashion or furniture career because his mother owned a chain of lingerie shops and his father had his own home furnishings stores. He made a career decision not to follow the family business but choose acting instead. "I could have been the 'Bra King of Michigan'", he muses. "But I couldn't find a matching girdle." Ted is the youngest among the three brothers of the Raimi family (whose original Dutch name was Rajenveritz). The eldest is Ivan Raimi who is a doctor and a writer. Ted's second eldest brother is the famous Sam Raimi, who is a producer, director, actor, and screenwriter. Sam is also one of the partners in Renaissance Productions. Ted started entertaining in high school as a deejay. He also spent time entertaining a succession of fawning aunts and uncles at home with his impressions. From there he went on to study theater in three different universities! He first studied at Michigan State University, then went to the University of New York and finally to the University of Detroit. Ted's unique acting ability landed him in a variety of roles playing both good guys and villains in television and in movies. He has played everything from a paranoid lunatic to a CIA analyst. He has gone from the role of a sweet, shy communications officer with a rather dry sense of humor on board a futuristic submarine, to an innocent looking but vicious, brutal person who enjoys skinning people. His acting skill has been shown in his ability to adapt to all of these roles. He enjoys playing villains or out of the ordinary roles because of the challenge. He started his career by appearing in a series of industrial films in the Motor City. He arrived in Los Angeles in 1988 to lodge with Sam. Ted's major film role was in brother Sam's "Evil Dead 2" as Henrietta, a possessed she-demon living in a cellar. Due to the heavy make-up and body suit, Ted was practically unrecognisable. In 1989 he landed in his first role in a feature film called "Shocker", directed by Wes Craven of "A nightmare On Elm Street" fame. Then in 1990, Ted worked once again in one of Sam's films, "Darkman". "It was Sam's idea that my character be a little gay," said Ted on his role as one of Durant's (Larry Drake) henchmen. A year later he had his first starring role in "Lunatics: A Love Story" in 1991. Ted has received more fame from his role in the Tom Clancy thriller "Patriot Games" acting alongside Harrison Ford. He played a satellite analyst in the CIA, a role he later reprised in "Clear and Present Danger." His other motion picture credits include "Hard Target", "Candyman", "Born Yesterday",and "Army of Darkness" (a.k.a. Evil Dead III.), in which he played a total of four roles. His last known movie in which he was starring was the horror thriller movie "Skinner" made in 1995. In this film he plays an innocent looking man named Dennis Skinner that stalks people at night to skin them. He then wears their skin (talk about good leather!.) He gets attracted to the woman (Ricki Lake) whom he rents his room from without her knowing who he really is. Ted has also had a number of appearances on television. He has had guest starring role on series such as "Baywatch", "Twin Peaks", "Alf", "Alien Nation", "American Gothic" and "Xena: Warrior Princess." However, the series that made his name suddenly acclaimed was SeaQuest DSV (later SeaQuest 2032.) In this series, a science fiction show that ran from 1993 to 1995 about a futuristic submarine, Ted played a shy, but smart and capable communications officer named Lt. (jg) Timothy O'Neill. With this show, fans had the opportunity to see his ability to learn to speak several different languages including Spanish, French, German, Mandarin, Vietnamese and Japanese. Ted felt that his background as a ham-radio operator and a former high school deejay, and his interest in practicing dialects made him suitable for this role. Ted also has an interest in science. He says "I'm a huge science nut, although I wouldn't know how to fix a circuit or wire anything." This role has led him to be invited to a few conventions to represent his character and has gathered him a small but growing following of fans. Ted also became close friends with the cast of SeaQuest when they acted together. He is described by cast members as being brilliant. They say he has a great sense of humor and is fun to be with. Ted is known to be a standup comedian because of his sense of humor and cheerfulness. He is known to be funny and sociable with people he meets. He is willing to talk with almost anyone. He is a very down to earth person and a caring young man. He is quite humble when it comes to his fans. Ted writes screenplays along with his acting. Ted co-wrote the script for an episode of SeaQuest which aired in the second season entitled "Lostland." He has also written scripts for the hit series "Xena: Warrior Princess." Ted especially likes to write screenplays for horror movies. This is a hobby of his. Ted has an affinity for science fiction books. His favourite authors are Orson Scott Card (especially his Ender novels), Ray Bradbury, Richard Matheson and Isaac Asimov. He also enjoys playing piano and trumpet (which he has played since he was a kid.) He also likes to invent board games for his friends and his castmates from SeaQuest. He is a huge Detroit Tigers fan, even though he said he "hates sports." In an interview he said "I did not excel in sports at all." He had wanted to get into acting since he was in high school as a way to get more friends and "to explore all these fantasy elements (like science fiction) in a real way." He now resides in Los Angeles. |
| Ted Raimi |