Tera Patrick
Tera Patrick (born Linda Ann Hopkins Shapiro on July 25 1976) is an American pornographic 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).
Biography
Patrick was born in Great Falls, Montana to a British Jewish father and Thai mother. While Tera was quite young, her mother moved back 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 talent scout for the Eileen Ford Modeling Agency, and at the age of 13 she was signed to a contract. She moved to New York City shortly thereafter and her career as a runway and catalog model began. At 18, she left the world of modeling and enrolled in college, where she received her associate's (two year) 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 Playboy and Penthouse, where she was a "Pet of the Month" and was selected as "Pet of the Year", as well as having appeared in more than seventy adult features. Tera is noted for her sultry voice and her aroused and enthusiastic portrayals of sex. Because of this, she has won several awards from the adult-movie business organizations. 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.
Tera has been a frequent and favorite guest of Howard Stern on his TV and radio programs.
Tera is a philanthropist and have donated her money to some organizations. [citation needed]
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, a 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 movies, Tera performs with several women, but the only man with whom she has sex on film is her husband Matt Berner.
In 2005 Tera and Evan launched the a talent agency representing models and actors/actresses. According to a quote on the agency's website, Tera's goal, "is to help girls (and guys) in the business to be treated with respect, and realize their true potential..." She also owns a production company called "Teravision," which along with Vivid Video realeased it's first feature, "Desperate," starring Tera and Evan.
One of her most acclaimed films is Forbidden Tales.[citation needed]