Patrick was born in Great Falls, Montana to an English 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 himself.

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 to be a model. 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 at Boise State University where she received her associate's (two year) degree in nursing and a BS in Microbiology. She then transferred to University of California, Santa Barbara, where for financial reasons she began modeling again.

In the late 1990s, Patrick transitioned to appearing in nude and soft-core features. In 2000, 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" runner-up, 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.

In an interview with the Adult Film Database in February of 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.

Tera has been a frequent and favorite guest of Howard Stern on his TV and radio programs. She was featured on the cover of the July 2006 edition of the more mainstream FHM, revealing candid details in an interview inside. Patrick, who had been named one of FHM's 100 sexiest women, was the first porn star to grace the cover. Tera also appeared, as herself, in episode 63 of the cartoon series Aqua Teen Hunger Force, which first aired November 19, 2006.

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 2008. Despite her ongoing lawsuits with Digital Playground, Patrick signed a two-year exclusive contract with Vivid Video in December 2003.

In April 2007, Patrick and her production company Teravision filed a lawsuit against Jenna Jameson and Playboy Enterprises (the new owners of Club Jenna) for failing to properly account for and pay royalties on monies earned by Patrick's website clubtera.com.

In 2003, Tera became the masthead publisher of Genesis magazine, a popular men's magazine which subtitles itself, "The Home of Porn's Hottest Stars." Since she has signed the contract with Genesis, Patrick has graced the cover of seven issues of the publication.

On January 9, 2004, Patrick married Evan Seinfeld, a singer/bassist for the metalcore band Biohazard and an actor best known for his appearance in the series Oz. They married privately in a small ceremony. Even though Patrick is a porn star, the two were in a monogamous relationship for the past 3 years. Just recently, November, 2006, Patrick starred in a Vivid/Teravision production titled "Tera Patrick's Fashion Underground" where she performed with Jean Val Jean and Tommy Gunn. In the same film her husband, under the name Spyder Jonez, performed with Lanny Barby. This would be the first time in 3 years that the two have performed on screen with other stars. The two have made five movies for Vivid and ten for Teravision (with Seinfeld appearing under the name "Spyder Jonez").