Tera Patrick grew up in Great Falls Montana, the daughter of a Thai mother and English father. When she was young, her mom bounced back to Thailand.
Tera started modeling at the age of 13, moving to NYC shortly there after. She left the world of modeling, receiving an associates degree in nursing, and BS in microbiology. The fact that she is a registered Nurse has continued to inform her acting abilities.
Tera has been able to appear in numerous mainstream outlets. This has included a guest appearance on Aqua Teen Hunger Force, numerous appearances on Howard Stern’s TV and radio show, and a spread on the cover of FHM. A character in the popular video game Backyard Wrestling was also fashioned in her likeness.
In April 2007, Patrick and her production company Teravision filed a lawsuit against Jenna Jameson and Playboy Enterprises for failing to properly account for and pay royalties on monies earned by Patrick's former website clubtera. The lawsuit was finally settled with Tera as the winner.
Tera Patrick moved to New York City and her career as a runway and catalog model began. At 18, she left the world of modeling and enrolled at Boise State University. She later transferred to University of California at Santa Barbara, where for financial needs reasons she began fashion modeling again.
She has appeared in Playboy and Penthouse, where she was the "Pet of the Month" for February 2000 and was selected as "Pet of the Year" runner-up.
In 2003, Patrick became the masthead publisher of Genesis.
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.
In an interview with the Adult Film Database in February 2007, Patrick stated she will only continue to work in front of the camera for two more years, but plans on releasing her starring adult titles over the next decade. The March 2007 DVD release, 'inTERActive' set the record as the fastest selling Hustler release ever.
In 2008, Patrick began hosting the Playboy TV erotic instructional show, School Of Sex.
