Audrina Cathleen Patridge was born on May 9, 1985 in Downey, CA, the eldest of four children. She moved to Hollywood to pursue acting, yet settled for a job at Quixote Studios as a receptionist. She lived at a posh villa-style complex in the Hollywood Hills, the exact location of Conrad’s and Montag’s apartment. A producer spotted Patridge sunbathing by the pool and asked if she would join the cast of a “reality” show about twenty-somethings in Los Angeles, to which she accepted. Cameras rolled as “The Hills” followed the trio – along with Conrad’s fellow Teen Vogue intern Whitney Port – as they lived, loved, and partied in the city’s hottest nightspots like Les Deux, Hyde, and Area. Patridge, who also worked for Epic Records’ promotional department, remained close friends with Conrad and Montag during their highly publicized falling out due to a sex tape rumor that reportedly starred Conrad and was allegedly started by Montag and her fame-obsessed boyfriend, Spencer Pratt.
Scandal found Patridge in 2007 when she found herself in the middle of a nude photo scandal. She had taken topless pictures at a friend’s house to go with her application to Playboy magazine (who rejected her), prior to appearing on the show. “I took these photos years ago, when I was just out of high school and beginning to model,” Patridge responded after the photos resurfaced. “I was young and very trusting of others, and I didn’t know to protect myself. It is a lesson learned, for myself, and hopefully for the young girls who look up to me.” The scandal, much like so many others that involved the “Hills” cast, did not hurt Patridge’s career. Playboy may have passed, but Rolling Stone asked Patridge to pose on the cover along with Conrad, Montag, and Port in April 2008.
Tensions were high during the third and fourth season of “The Hills” when Patridge moved into a house with Conrad and her longtime friend Lauren “Lo” Bosworth. Patridge and Bosworth did not get along and it put a strain on the raven-haired star’s friendship with Conrad. A photo shoot Patridge did with OK! magazine angered Conrad, who said she had no right inviting the magazine into her house. “I said, ‘We’re not taking pictures of your house,’” Patridge said about Conrad’s reaction. “Now she thinks I’m sneaky and shady for doing this photo shoot, yet she and her team knew about it. She won’t let it go.”
The two friends confronted the issue during a dramatic episode in season three where they eventually promised to work things out. It was not so. Patridge moved out of the house in the fall of 2008, just as rumors swirled that Conrad had a secret liaison with Justin Bobby, an actor and model who was also Patridge’s ex-boyfriend. Bobby had appeared numerous times on “The Hills” as a standoffish and arrogant boyfriend whom Conrad was not fond of for her friend, Audrina. Fans were blindsided by the news that Conrad went behind her friend’s back, and the two exchanged catty comments via their MySpace blogs. The strained relationship brought Patridge closer to Montag, who was famously known as Conrad’s nemesis. “I am not ditching Lauren for Heidi,” Patridge said. “It is none of my business what is going on with them and I stay out of it!”
Even with all the “Hills” drama that played on and off screen, Patridge spent much of 2008 moving her acting career into high gear. She was cast in “Into The Blue 2: The Reef,” MGM Home Entertainment’s sequel to the Jessica Alba/Paul Walker flick “Into The Blue” (2005). Patridge played Kelsey, opposite Chris Carmack in the high seas adventure movie. She also had a lead role as Maggie in “Sorority Row,” a remake of the horror classic “The House on Sorority Row” (1983), as one of a group of co-eds terrorized by a masked serial killer. “Sorority Row” marked Patridge’s first big screen project, and also starred Carrie Fisher and Rumer Willis.