Dancehall Queen Audrey Reid

Dancehall Queen Audrey Reid - photo credit: Jamaica-observer

Born in the East Kingston ghetto area of Franklin Town, her parent moved when she was ten to the almost equally rough district of Vineyard Town.

While attending Vauxhall Comprehensive High, Reid left high school when she became pregnant with her oldest daughter in the tenth grade - an almost archetypal tale of Jamaican female teenager.

Determined to turn adversity to advantage, Reid almost immediately became a member of the Jamaican School of Drama’s evening course, landing a part in the National Pantomime. The renowned Jamaican actor, Ed Bim Lewis, then gave her a role in Obeah Wedding.

She came to prominence after she starred in the 1997 independent Jamaican film "Dancehall Queen" as Marcia. She plays the role of a street vendor struggling to raise two daughters. The movie is directed by Rick Elgood and Don Letts.

In the movie, Audrey Reid as Marcia, the struggling street vendor, decided to enter a dancing competition to raise money to take care of her daughters. She takes on the persona of the Mystery Lady and ends up winning the competition thus giving her the title "Dancehall Queen.

She has also starred in other movies Bups as Vennette, Third World Cop (1999),  Almost Heaven (2005) and Jamaican plays, Obeah Wedding, Higglers, Some Like It Hot, Boy Blue, Irie Neighbour, Con Man, Scandal, Strength Of A Woman, It's A Dancehall Ting, and Wicked Bitches.

Dancehall Queen Audrey Reid is not only an actor, but she is also a producer and the mother of three children.