Tera Patrick

Scroll through any list created by adult film aficionados and chances are pornstar Tera Patrick is always in the top 10. This sultry starlet has a gorgeous face, supermodel legs and an on-camera sexuality so hot it'll nearly melt your screen.

Born in the summer of 1976 in the small fishing town of Great Falls, Montana Tera was the daughter of an American Army doctor and a stunning Thai mother. While Tera was only a few years old her family relocated from Great Falls to San Francisco. Shortly afterward her mother returned to Thailand. She moved around with her father from city to city growing up but spent the majority of her youth raised solely by her dad in the Bay Area.

At the age of 13 Tera was wandering around Fisherman's Wharf, a touristy part of San Francisco when she was first discovered. A Japanese photographer suggested she get into modeling and handed her his card. Tera loved the idea and immediately enrolled herself into the heavily advertised Barbizon School of Modeling. The photographer she met at the Wharf happened to work for the Morning Sun modeling agency, an international division of the world-famous Ford Modeling Agency. Tera secured an appointment and shortly after meeting with them she signed her first modeling contract.

For the next 5 years Tera traveled extensively between New York, Europe and Japan. In no time she went from rail thin international modeling hopeful to an exotic, curvy 18 year old. Her modeling work started to dry up, as she was too voluptuous for standard runway and print work. The 5'9" beauty loved her modeling career but wanted to attend college before the opportunity slipped away. She returned to the United States and enrolled in Iowa's Boise State University. Tera earned an AAS degree in nursing as well as a BS in Microbiology.

While Tera briefly worked in nursing homes and emergency rooms around Northern California her urge to get back into the world of modeling was too strong to resist. She quit her entry level job in the medical field and started doing bikini model work. In later interviews Tera told journalists she re-entered the modeling world to obtain additional funds for her education. She wanted to further her career by attending school in Southern California but the overwhelming amount of high-paying work in photography proved to be way too tempting. Swimsuit modeling soon turned into nude modeling after several photographers told Tera she could be a star. Convinced she had what it takes Tera attended an open audition for Playboy. That day over a thousand hopeful women showed up to compete for just a few openings. Tera was selected for both Playboy Magazine as well as Playboy TV. From 2000 to 2003 Tera was the host of Playboy TV's Night Calls 411. The sky was the limit for Tera and from then on Tera's never stopped growing her adult empire.

In the late .90s Tera took on roles in several nude and soft-core films including The Seduction of Maxine and Andrew Blake's Aroused. Around this time she was introduced to adult photography legend Suze Randall and her hardcore porn film career began. The first boy/girl scene Tera shot was Adam & Eve's Fire & Ice.

By her mid-to-late 20s Tera Patrick had graced the cover of nearly every adult magazine on earth, including Hustler, Swank, High Society, Cheri and Club Magazine. This was a time of firsts for Tera, as she was the first (and to this day the only) woman to ever secure the covers of both Playboy and Penthouse Magazine simultaneously. Tera was also the first pornstar to appear on the cover of the mainstream men's publication FHM. Shortly after her appearance the editors of FHM UK made Tera the magazine's official sexpert, a position she held for over 4 years.

Tera's adult career was at an all-time high. She'd shot over 100 hardcore films, launched a production company called "Teravision" and hosted the Exxxotica Miami convention in 2006. Her 2007 Hustler DVD titled InTERActive was the adult company's fastest selling release of all time. In 2008 Tera hosted Playboy TV's School of Sex. During her 9 years as a film star she's won countless awards, most notably including the 2001 AVN Award for "Best New Starlet" and in 2009 she was inducted into the AVN Hall of Fame. That same year Tera took home an XBIZ Award for "Crossover Star of the Year" an award previously won by Stormy Daniels in 2008 and later won by Sasha Grey in 2010.

In mainstream media Tera Patrick often appeared on The Howard Stern Show, both on terrestrial as well as satellite radio. She spoke openly about her 2004 marriage and later divorce to musician/pornstar Evan Seinfeld, who worked as an adult performer under the name "Spyder Jonez." Seinfeld is best-known for being a vocalist and bass guitar player for Biohazard, a heavy metal rock band. Tera worked several times with her husband as a performer as well as from a production standpoint. The couple made 5 films for adult studio Vivid and 10 under the Teravision umbrella. They also starred in the celebrity tv series E! True Hollywood Story . Rockstar Wives, VH1's Greatest Metal Songs, G4TV's A Day in the Life of Tera Patrick and WE's Secret Lives of Women. Tera and Evan announced their divorce on September 30, 2009. Tera told the media the two would still remain business partners.

In January 2010 Tera's book Sinner Takes All was released by Penguin's Gotham Books. It was co-written by Carrie Borzillo, author of Kurt Cobain: The Nirvana Years and Cherry Bomb. Tera's memoir features a foreward by comedian Margaret Cho. The book is both a haunting and candid tale of Tera's life, from abandonment by her mother at an early age to being committed to a New York mental institution while attempting to get out of one of her adult film contracts. The majority of her book focuses on her somewhat rocky relationship with Seinfeld.

Tera announced semi-retirement from adult several times during her career but typically re-entered again either only working with her husband or only doing girl/girl scenes. She currently works behind the scenes with her production company. In addition to producing films she does appearances all across the United States for concerts, adult conventions and award ceremonies. In 2011, comedian Andy Dick was ejected from the Adult Video News Awards for groping Tera and Chi Chi La Rue back stage. Tera is active with charities and awareness campaigns, from breast cancer awareness to the AIM Healthcare for adult performers.