Tila Nguyen (born October 24, 1981), better known by her stage name Tila Tequila, is a Singapore-born singer, model, and television personality. She is known for her appearances in the men's magazines Stuff, Maxim, Penthouse, her role as host of the Fuse TV show featuring performance striptease, Pants-Off Dance-Off and her position as the most popular artist on MySpace (according to page views) circa April 2006. She was raised in Houston, Texas and now lives in West Hollywood, California. Her MTV reality show A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila aired for two seasons.

Nguyen was born in Singapore to French Vietnamese parents, where her family emigrated from Vietnam after the Vietnam War. She is the youngest of three children: she has one brother, Daniel (b. 1976), and a sister, Terri (b. 1979). When she was one year old, she and her family lived in a neighborhood in Houston until they were admitted to a gated community run by a strict Buddhist temple. The family left the community when Nguyen was eight.

While in middle school, Nguyen became a tomboy and was eventually sent to a boarding school for six months for her combative behavior before transferring to another school. While in high school, she used her sister's identification card to enter nightclubs, where she began taking drugs and joined a gang. In her memoir, she would later explain that she felt "confused" and "lost" from various personal family and environmental issues and remained a virgin until she reached 15 years of age, when she also began smoking and engaging in drug abuse. She received her first of a series of tattoos, a scorpion on her back, during this time. She also states that she recalled "punching walls until I passed out", and soon turned to writing poems in an attempt to release powerful emotions. In an interview with Import Tuner, Nguyen said she had been searching for a sense of identity: "I was really confused then, [because] at first I thought I was black, then I thought I was Hispanic and joined a cholo gang". Later, friends outside the gang briefly helped turn her life around. However, her past caught up with her, and she fled to Queens, New York at the age of 16. While still 16, she experienced a drive-by shooting in Houston. The following year, she became pregnant and suffered a miscarriage.

Nguyen's career began at the age of 18 when she was discovered at the Sharpstown Mall by a Playboy scout and was offered a chance to model nude for the magazine. She did a test shoot, then eventually moved to Southern California and was featured as Playboy’s Cyber Girl of the week on April 22, 2002, and soon thereafter she became the first Asian Cyber Girl of the Month. A few more pictorials for the magazine followed.

Nguyen gained further popularity through the import racing scene. She has been featured on the cover of Import Tuner magazine, at car shows such as Hot Import Nights, and in the video game Street Racing Syndicate. In 2003, she was a contestant on VH1's Surviving Nugent, a reality TV show where participants performed compromising tasks and stunts for rock star Ted Nugent. She was also the most frequent host on the first season of Fuse TV's dance show, Pants-Off Dance-Off, on which a group of contestants strip to music videos.

Nguyen was featured on the cover of the April 2006 issue of Stuff magazine; in the interview, she claimed that her nickname "Tila Tequila" came about when she experimented with alcohol at the age of thirteen. She appeared on the August 2006 Maxim UK cover, was named #88 in their Hot 100 List, and also appeared in the December 2007 issue. She was ranked #100 on the Maxim Hot 100 list in 2008.

Tequila made an appearance as one of the 12 strangers in the first game on the April 6, 2007 episode of NBC's game show Identity. On March 4, 2007 she made a cameo appearance on the show "War At Home." She also appeared as a Hooters Girl in the 2007 film I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry.

Tequila graduated from Alief Hastings High School in 2000. She has cited the violent adolescence she had in Texas as her reason for becoming a model and moving to California in 2001. In March 2003, she revealed that she has taken some college classes but does not have a degree, stating, "I knew out of high school I didn't want to go to college. I knew that whatever I did wouldn't have anything to do with college. The only reason I wanted to go was to further educate myself. Right now, I'm still interested in taking classes, but only to educate myself with subjects I like, like history or English. What I didn't want to do was go to college for an actual degree because there's nothing out there I like besides doing something that involves the entertainment industry."

Although not known to be politically active, in September 2004 Tequila said "Yeah, I admit I was never one to really get all political and go to rallies and vote. But you know what? If you really think about what the fuck is going on, I really think you all should vote. I will not say who I'm voting for but I most definitely will say that I fucken hate George W. Bush even though he's from Texas and so am I. What a shame!".

Throughout 2008, Tequila confirmed that she had maintained friendships with Courtenay Semel, Billy Corgan, and Meghan McCain.

On September 6, 2009, Tequila was allegedly choked and restrained by former boyfriend Shawne Merriman, who was later arrested. She was allegedly intoxicated at the time of the incident, though Tequila denies these claims, citing an allergy to alcohol, though her allergy has been disputed. San Diego district attorney Bonnie Dumanis decided not to charge Merriman after her office spent three days reviewing reports from the San Diego County Sheriff's Department. On November 17, 2009, Tequila filed a lawsuit against Merriman for $1.5 million.

On December 9, 2009, Tequila stated she was engaged to heiress Casey Johnson and was photographed with a diamond ring. On January 4, 2010, Johnson, who had long suffered from diabetes, was found dead. The exact cause of death is yet to be determined (pending coroner's toxicology report), however authorities reported "no evidence of foul play". Tequila has arranged plans to seek legal custody of Casey Johnson's adopted daughter, Ava.

On December 20, 2009, Tequila announced she was currently having a surrogate pregnancy for her brother.

And her relation to Poker: TilaPoker.com