Early life
Patrick was born in Great Falls, Montana to an English Jewish father and Thai mother. While Tera was quite young, her mother moved back to Thailand to live permanently, and her father moved with her to San Francisco, California and raised her there himself.
Early career
Patrick was discovered in San Francisco by a talent scout for the Eileen Ford Modeling Agency, and at the age of 13 she was signed to a contract to be a model. She moved to New York City shortly thereafter and her career as a runway and catalog model began. At 18, she left the world of modeling and enrolled at Boise State University where she received her associate's (two year) degree in nursing and a BS in Microbiology. She then transferred to University of California, Santa Barbara, where for financial reasons she began modeling again.
Pornography career
In the late 1990s, Patrick transitioned to appearing in nude and soft-core features. In 2000, she made the transition to hard-core porn in Andrew Blake's Aroused. Since that time, she has become one of the most popular and recognized porn stars in the world, having graced the pages of Playboy and Penthouse, where she was a "Pet of the Month" and was selected as "Pet of the Year" runner-up, as well as having appeared in more than seventy adult features. Tera is noted for her sultry voice and her aroused and enthusiastic portrayals of sex. Because of this, she has won several awards from the adult-movie business organizations. Today, she hosts the popular webcast The Tera Patrick Show and she is active in the adult film community, raising money for both the Free Speech Coalition and A.I.M Healthcare.
Guest appearances
Tera has been a frequent and favorite guest of Howard Stern on his TV and radio programs. She was featured on the cover of the July 2006 edition of the more mainstream FHM, revealing candid details in an interview inside. Patrick, who had been named one of FHM's 100 sexiest women, was the first porn star to grace the cover.
Legal battles
In December of 2002, she severed ties with Digital Playground, and brought suit against them, contending she was not paid for her appearance in several Digital Playground productions. Digital Playground's countersuit contended that it owns exclusive rights to the name "Tera Patrick," and that she is signed up to produce adult entertainment only for them until January 2008. Despite her ongoing lawsuits with Digital Playground, Patrick signed a two-year exclusive contract with Vivid Video in December 2003.
Magazine
In 2003, Tera became the masthead publisher of Genesis magazine, a popular men's magazine which subtitles itself, "The Home of Porn's Hottest Stars." Since she has signed the contract with Genesis, Patrick has graced the cover of seven issues of the publication.
Marriage
On January 9, 2004, Patrick married Evan Seinfeld, a singer/bassist for the hardcore heavy metal band Biohazard and an actor best known for his appearance in the series Oz. They married privately in a small ceremony. Even though Patrick is a porn star, the two were in a monogamous relationship for the past 3 years. Just recently, November, 2006, Patrick starred in a Vivid/Teravision production titled "Tera Patrick's Fashion Underground" where she performed with Jean Val Jean and Tommy Gunn. In the same film her husband, under the name Spyder Jonez, performed with Lanny Barby. This would be the first time in 3 years that the two have performed on screen with other stars. The two have made five movies for Vivid and ten for Teravision (with Seinfeld appearing under the name "Spyder Jonez").
In 2005 Tera and Evan launched a talent agency representing models and actors/actresses. According to a quote on the agency's website, Tera's goal, "is to help girls (and guys) in the business to be treated with respect, and realize their true potential..." She also owns a production company called "Teravision," which along with Vivid Video released its first feature, "Desperate," starring Tera and Evan. In April 2006 it was announced that she would host the Exxxotica Miami convention.[6]
