The poker player known as Tila Tequila was born Thien Thanh Thi Nguyen on October 24th, 1981. She initially gained attention by posing for Playboy and later exploded onto the scene through her sexy MySpace page (over one million friends). She has since leveraged her popularity into a singing, modeling and acting career. Recently, Tila Tequila has also become involved with online poker and online casinos.
While Tila was born in Singapore, her family had originally migrated there from Vietnam following the Vietnam War. When she was only one year old, the family moved again - this time to a Buddhist community in the Houston suburb of Alief. The Nguyen family would leave the community when Tila was eight, moving elsewhere in the Houston area.
Getting in Trouble and Getting Discovered
Tila started getting into trouble during her teen years, and she once spent six months in a boarding school due to her poor behavior. She turned to drug use in high school and later joined a street gang. By the age of 16, she had fled to Queens, New York to escape her past.
She later returned to Houston and was discovered by a scout for Playboy while shopping at a local mall. She did a test shoot for the magazine, and Tila Tequila would later be featured as Playboy’s Cyber Girl of the Week for April 22nd, 2002. Shortly thereafter, she was featured as Cyber Girl of the Month, becoming the first Asian to do so.
Hollywood, Here She Comes
With her career prospects starting to look up, Tila moved to California and posed a few more times for Playboy. In 2001, she started a website called “Tila’s Hot Spot,” which featured adult pictures, quotes and a blog. The website has since been changed to offer social networking.
At the age of 20, she put together a rock band called Beyond Betty Jean, and Tila functioned as both singer and songwriter. The group eventually disbanded, and Tila later joined the group known as Jealousy.
In 2003, she appeared as a contestant on the VH1 show Surviving Nugent. On the program, participants were required to complete unusual and sometimes embarrassing challenges to the satisfaction of rock legend Ted Nugent. Tila would later host Pants-Off Dance-Off on Fuse TV, where contestants were asked to strip off their clothing to various music videos.
Never one to take a break from self-promotion, Tila launched a new website in 2005 dedicated to selling her line of clothing for men and women. The following year, she launched “Tila Zone,” a website featuring content such as clipart and widgets for use on various social networking sites.
In a 2006 interview with Stuff magazine (in which she appeared on the cover), Tila Tequila admitted that her stage name had originated during her teen years. While experimenting with tequila, she had an extreme allergic reaction and the nickname stuck.
By this time, men (and many women) across the country were completely enthralled by the beauty of Tila Tequila. Stuff magazine selected her as one of the 100 Sexiest Women Online, while Maxim UK placed her on their cover in 2006 and named her to their Hot 100 List.
Hitting the Big Time
In 2006, during an appearance on MTV’s Total Request Live, acclaimed musician will.i.am announced that he had signed Tila Tequila to his record label. Her first single, “I Love U,” went to #1 on the iTunes music store. This also greatly boosted the popularity of her MySpace page, and she soon had the most page views of any artist in MySpace history.
In 2007, Tila seemed to be everywhere. She appeared on an episode of the NBC game show Identity, as well as playing a Hooters Girl in the Adam Sandler hit I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry. The Soup Awards also honored her with their Entertainer of the Year 2007 award.
Her biggest success to date also debuted in 2007. A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila aired on MTV, with sixteen straight men and sixteen lesbians vying for the affections of the bi-sexual Tequila. The show generated a great amount of controversy among Christian groups, and Tila’s popularity received a massive boost. In 2008, the show was back for a second season, and Tequila has become a popular topic in both Asian and American gossip columns.
Becoming a Poker Hottie
Continuing to ride the wave of popularity, Tila Tequila has also launched two online gambling sites, TilaCasino.com and TilaPoker.com. On the poker site, players can earn Tequila Shots (the equivalent of poker points) by playing in ring games and raked tournaments. Playtech serves as the host network of her online casino, immediately making her a force to be reckoned with in the online gambling community.
