Biography of Tera Patrick

Tera Patrick was born in July 25 1976 as Linda Ann Hopkins Shapiro,. Her mother was from Thailand and her father was a British Jew, and she grew up in Montana in the United States. 'Tera Patrick' is the last in a line of stage names, that includes Tara Patrick, Tera Hopkins and Brooke Thomas.

When Tera's parents separated, she and her father moved to California, where Tera was spotted by an Eileen Ford Modelling Agency talent scout, aged thirteen. She signed a contract and moved to New York City, where she embarked on a modelling career that included Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar pictorials, catalogue and runway modelling and international travel.

She left modelling when she started university, but soon returned to the profession when financial difficulties struck. Tera made the move into nude modelling in her early-twenties, and soon began making softcore fetish movies under the name 'Brooke Thomas'. Her first hardcore film was Andrew Blake's 'Aroused', and her first heterosexual scene was shortly afterwards in 'Fire & Ice'.
Tera's rise to fame was quick, and she was awarded the Hot D'Or award for 'Best New Starlet' in 2000, six months after she entered the business. The following year, she won the AVN award for 'Best New Starlet', Genesis magazine's 'Best New Cummer' and XRCO's 'Best New Starlet'.

Tera's 2002 success as a presenter on Playboy TV's 'Playboy Nightcalls 411' saw her shoot to stardom; and the same year, she became the first porn star to grace the covers of Penthouse and Playboy simultaneously. She was nominated for ‘Penthouse Pet of the Year’, made 'Hustler Honey' and starred in three Playboy productions.

She ran into legal difficulties with her studio, Digital Playground, in 2002 and sued the company for allegedly refusing to pay her. Digital Playground claim exclusive rights to her name and work until 2008, but Tera signed with Vivid in December 2003 and continues to make movies.

Tera is renowned for her business acumen, and it was in 2003 that she began to seriously demonstrate this. She took over as publisher of Genesis magazine, providing exclusive pictorials and writing a monthly sex column; and took the decision to limit the number of movies she makes, keeping demand above supply and ensuring quality performances. Her contract with Vivid is respectful of this decision, and it certainly seems to have paid off!

Tera has spent the last few years developing more mainstream projects, including setting up a talent agency and production company ('Teravision'), developing five exclusive websites, writing an autobiography with her rockstar husband, lending her name to a PC game and taking part in talks to make a reality tv show. Tera has recently returned to her 'straight' modelling roots, appearing in ads for Avirex clothing; and appears in the mainstream movie, 'Blades of Glory', with Will Ferrell. She also raises money for the Free Speech Coalition and AIM Healthcare.

To date, Tera has made more than seventy movies, appeared in all the major men's magazines and graces the covers of some of the best-selling adult movies ever made. She was the first porn star to grace the cover of the mainstream FHM, and was voted 57th out of the world's 100 sexiest women by the same publication. The commitment of her fan base is demonstrated by her winning the FOXE Fan Favourite award three times in 2004, 2005 and 2006.

Tera has said that she will only continue making movies for another two years, although there are a number of unreleased movies that will be brought out over the next five to ten years.