Tera Patrick (born Linda Ann Hopkins Shapiro on July 25, 1976) is an
American erotic actress. She has appeared under various names,
including Tera Patrick, Brooke Thomas, Sadie Jordan, and Tara Patrick
(coincidentally the real name of actress Carmen Electra).
Patrick was born in Great Falls, Montana to a Jewish father and Thai
mother, resulting in her exotic physical appearance. While Tera was
quite young, her mother moved to Thailand to live permanently, and her
father moved with her to San Francisco, California and raised her
there alone.
Patrick was discovered in San Francisco by a modeling agent at the age
of 13 and she moved to New York City shortly thereafter. Her career
began as a runway and catalog model. At 18, she left the world of
modeling and enrolled in college, where she received her degree in
nursing. She is a registered nurse in the State of California.
In the late 1990s, Patrick began modeling again, this time nude and in
soft-core features. In 1999, 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 both Playboy and Penthouse as well as having appeared in more
than seventy adult features. Tera is noted for her aroused and
enthusiastic portrayals of sex. Today, she hosts the popular webcast
The Tera Patrick Show and is active in the adult film community,
raising money for both the Free Speech Coalition and A.I.M Healthcare.
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 2007. Despite her ongoing
lawsuits with Digital Playground, Patrick signed a two-year exclusive
contract with Vivid Video on December 2003.
On January 9, 2004, Patrick married Evan Seinfeld, singer for rock act
Biohazard and actor in the series Oz. The two have made two movies for
Vivid (with Seinfeld appearing under the name "Spyder Jonez"). In
both, Patrick performs with several women, but the only man with whom
she has sex on film is her husband.
Patrick is making a movie which will be available in spring 2006. It
marks her first boy/girl scene in three years with another male
performer, other than her husband.
She has a degree in microbiology and reportedly speaks fluent
Hungarian