Tera Patrick's height (5'9"), exotic look (her mother is Thai and her father was an American Army doctor of English and Dutch descent) and spectacular body would seem more suited to a high-fashion model--which is exactly what she was, having spent five years as a model with the world-famous Ford Agency. She was born in Montana, and her family moved to San Francisco shortly thereafter. Her mother soon left the family to go back to Thailand, and she was raised in San Francisco by her father. While strolling around that city's famed Fisherman's Wharf one day she was spotted by a talent scout for Morning Sun, an international division of the prestigious Ford Modeling Agency, and at the tender age of 13 was signed to a contract. At 18 she quit modeling and returned to school, getting a degree in microbiology. Although she found employment as a nurse, her curiosity about nude modeling (something she had always wondered about) got the best of her, and she was soon appearing in men's magazines. By 1999 she felt ready to dive into porn. After appearing in a few specialty B&D tapes she went full-time into mainstream porn, and began her meteoric rise to the top. Her smoldering looks, mind-boggling (and all-natural) body and enthusiastic performances made her an instant favorite with fans tired of the typical bored, silicone-inflated porn queens. She married actor Evan Seinfeld (Oz (1997)) and was preparing to leave the adult-film business, but instead--in an unprecedented move--successfully broke out of her agreement with Digital Playground and started her own production company, Teravision Inc., and signed a contract with Vivid Video in which the only boy/girl work she will do is with her husband (they have since divorced), although she will work with other women. That news may have come as a major disappointment to her legions of fans, but a little Tera Patrick is still far better than no Tera Patrick at all.