Theodore (Ted) Raimi, a native of Detroit, is the youngest of the three Raimi brothers and one sister, who is actually the first born of the family. (And nope, she isn't in the entertainment business, but we've heard she's very entertaining.) The eldest brother is Ivan Raimi, a doctor, whose writing credits include Army of Darkness and Darkman and who had co-creator credit for the recent TV series Spy Game. The middle brother is the famous Sam Raimi; producer, director, actor, screenwriter, and co-founder of Renaissance Pictures.

Young Ted 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 got the acting bug as a child when he would appear as an extra in Sam's early Super-8 and feature films (including Sam's first hit The Evil Dead). A deejay in high school, Ted also spent time entertaining a succession of fawning aunts and uncles at home with his impressions. Ted briefly attended Michigan State University, then went to the University of New York and finally to the University of Detroit.

Ted's unique acting ability has 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 a role as a sweet, shy communications officer with a rather dry sense of humor on board a futuristic submarine, to an innocent-looking but viciously brutal killer who enjoys skinning people. His acting skill has been shown in his ability to adapt to these and other 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 attempt to break into the Hollywood film scene...and lodge with Sam. He landed in his first role outside of his brother's movies in a feature film called Shocker in 1989. He then had a role in Darkman as a bad goon under Durant. A year later he had his first starring role in Lunatics: A Love Story, directed by long-time family friend, Josh Becker.

The first film he appeared in that received much commercial success was the Tom Clancy thriller Patriot Games starring Harrison Ford in which Ted played a satellite analyst in the CIA, a minor role he later reprised in Clear and Present Danger. His other motion picture credits include Hard Target, Candyman, Born Yesterday, Forced Exposure, Stuart Saves His Family and For Love Of The Game. Many of these roles are of the 'blink-and-you'll-miss-him' variety, but Ted-spotting is considered an art form among many fans. The ultimate Ted-spotting flick is Army of Darkness (a.k.a. Evil Dead III) in which Ted takes on at least four minor roles.

Ted's second starring role was in the horror thriller Skinner made in 1995. He plays the title character, Dennis Skinner, a disturbingly nice serial killer. It also featured Ricki Lake as Carrie, his landlady whom he falls in love with, and Traci Lords as Heidi.

Ted has also had a number of television appearances. He has had guest starring roles on series such as Baywatch, Twin Peaks, and Alf. He had a small but very memorable scene in Alien Nation as a chatty alien in the episode "Chains of Love". He also had a major guest-starring role in one American Gothic episode.

Ted is probably best know for his recurring roles on seaQuest DSV (later seaQuest 2032) as Lt. Tim O'Neill, and Xena: Warrior Princess as Joxer The Mighty.

In seaQuest, a science fiction show about a futuristic submarine, which ran from 1993 to 1995, Ted played the shy, but intelligent, multi-lingual communications officer, Lieutenant (junior grade) Timothy O'Neill. Fans had the opportunity to hear him 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." Ted was one of only three actors to survive through all three seasons of the series.

In Xena: Warrior Princess, which is currently airing in syndication, Ted plays Joxer The Mighty, a warrior wannabe who has a heart of gold and tags along after Xena and Gabrielle whenever possible. Joxer is one of many recurring characters on the show and has also crossed over to Hercules: The Legendary Journeys on occassion. When the charater first appeared on the show, he (and Ted) was the focal point of a rather large negative outcry from fans for Xena. It is a testament to Ted's amazing acting skills and the way he has developed the character that Joxer has gone from a much-reviled and hated character to a well-loved--or at the very least, TOLERATED--part of the dynamics of X:WP.

The role of Joxer has led to several convention appearances over the last several years. Many people who have had the opportunity to see Ted in person describe him as extremely charming and pleasant to his fans, especially children. He's considered to be a bit of a stand-up comedian because of his sense of humor and cheerfulness. He is willing to talk with almost anyone and comes off as quite the 'boy-next-door'.

Ted writes screenplays along with his acting. Ted co-wrote the script for a second-season episode of seaQuest titled "Lostland." Ted especially likes to write screenplays for horror movies, although in 1998 he wrote a pilot for a live action/animated series called 'Normal Joe', based on the short film of the same name that he starred in. Ted 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. Ted is a huge Detroit Tigers and Detroit Red Wings fan, even though he said he "hates sports." In an interview he said "I did not excel in sports at all."

Ted has said that he had wanted to get into acting as a way "to explore all these fantasy elements (like science fiction) in a real way."