Grace Quek, known professionally as Annabel Chong, is a Singaporean former pornographic actress who became famous after starring in an adult film that was promoted as the World's Biggest Gang Bang. The film was commercially successful and started a trend of "record-breaking" gang bang pornography. Four years later, Quek was the subject of the documentary Sex: The Annabel Chong Story, in which she was interviewed about her pornography career. She retired from the adult industry completely in 2003 to work in software engineering.
Debbie Does Dallas is a 1978 American pornographic film produced and directed by Jim Clark, and starring Bambi Woods. The plot focuses on a team of cheerleaders attempting to earn enough money to send the title character to Dallas, Texas to try out for the famous "Texas Cowgirls" cheerleading squad. The fictional name "Texas Cowgirls" was seen as an allusion to the real-life Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders. Woods had previously tried out for the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders in real life, but was cut during auditions.
Marie Louise Hartman, known professionally as Nina Hartley, is an American pornographic film actress and sex educator. By 2017 she had appeared in more than one thousand adult films. She has been described by Las Vegas Weekly as an "outspoken feminist" and "advocate for sexual freedom", and by CNBC as "a legend in the adult world".
Sharon Mitchell is an American sexologist and former pornographic film actress and director. In 1998, she founded the Adult Industry Medical Health Care Foundation (AIM), which tested over 1,000 adult film performers per month before a 2011 data breach led to a lawsuit and the clinic's closure.
Michele Watley, better known by her stage name Midori, is an American singer, dancer, model, actress and former pornographic actress. She was inducted into the AVN Hall of Fame in 2009 and the Urban X Hall of Fame in 2023. She was the first African-American woman to win an AVN award, when she was named "Best Supporting Actress" in 2001. Watley was also named one of the top 10 "hottest black porn stars" of all time by Complex and The Independent named her "the queen of the black hardcore market".
Eric Edwards is an American pornographic actor, photographer, and director. Everett started in mainstream theater and transitioned into porn, starting in the late 1960s. Everett had a long career in the adult entertainment industry – over 40 years, making him the only actor in the world to appear in porn films in every decade through the 2000s since the porn industry started in the 1960s. Everett starred in and directed many films and photo shoots, including co-starring in the iconic film Debbie Does Dallas. He is a member of both the AVN and XRCO Halls of Fame. Bill Margold called Everett "one of the legends of the business" and "the Babe Ruth of porn."
Robert Charles Kerman, also known as R. Bolla, was an American actor who had a pornographic acting career during what is considered to be the "golden age" period of the porn film industry during the mid-1970s to the early/mid-1980s. As R. Bolla, he appeared in well over 100 pornographic films, most famously Debbie Does Dallas (1978). He was one of few adult performers to have an appreciable mainstream acting career, with a leading role as Professor Harold Monroe in the controversial horror film Cannibal Holocaust (1980).
Raffaëla Anderson is a French former adult film performer. During her porn career, she was often credited as Raphaëlla.
James Marvin Souter, Jr., known professionally as Jim South, was an American recruiter and agent in the pornography industry.
The term "Golden Age of Porn", or "porno chic", refers to a 15-year period (1969–1984) in commercial American pornography, in which sexually explicit films experienced positive attention from mainstream cinemas, movie critics, and the general public. This American period, which subsequently spread internationally, and that began before the legalization of pornography in Denmark on July 1, 1969, started on June 12, 1969, with the theatrical release of the film Blue Movie directed by Andy Warhol, and, somewhat later, with the release of the 1970 film Mona produced by Bill Osco. These films were the first adult erotic films depicting explicit sex to receive wide theatrical release in the United States. Both influenced the making of films such as 1972's Deep Throat starring Linda Lovelace and directed by Gerard Damiano, Behind the Green Door starring Marilyn Chambers and directed by the Mitchell brothers, 1973's The Devil in Miss Jones also by Damiano, and 1976's The Opening of Misty Beethoven by Radley Metzger, the "crown jewel" of the Golden Age, according to award-winning author Toni Bentley. According to Andy Warhol, his Blue Movie film was a major influence in the making of Last Tango in Paris, an internationally controversial erotic drama film, starring Marlon Brando, and released in 1972, three years after Blue Movie was shown in theaters.
William Margold was an American pornographic film actor and porn film director.
Lisa Ann Corpora, known professionally as Lisa Ann, is an American retired pornographic film actress and radio personality. She has also worked as a director and talent agent. She parodied former Governor of Alaska Sarah Palin in six adult films and a music video. She is a member of the AVN, XRCO, and Urban X Halls of Fame. Ann has been described as one of the most popular and successful pornographic actresses in the world.
A pornographic film actor or actress, pornographic performer, adult entertainer, or porn star is a person who performs sex acts on video that is usually characterized as a pornographic movie. Such videos tend to be made in a number of distinct pornographic subgenres and attempt to present a sexual fantasy; the actors selected for a particular role are primarily selected on their ability to create or fit that fantasy. Pornographic videos are characterized as either softcore, which does not contain depictions of sexual penetration or extreme fetishism, and hardcore, which can contain depictions of penetration or extreme fetishism, or both. The genres and sexual intensity of videos is mainly determined by demand. Depending on the genre of the film, the on-screen appearance, age, and physical features of the actors and their ability to create the sexual mood of the video is of critical importance. Most actors specialize in certain genres, such as straight, bisexual, gay, lesbian, bondage, strap-on, anal, double penetration, semen swallowing, teenage, orgy, age roleplay, fauxcest, interracial or MILFs and more.
Shelley Lubben was an American author, singer, motivational speaker, and pornographic actress. As a performer in the adult film industry, she was known professionally as Roxy. After she left the sex industry, Lubben became a born-again Christian and anti-pornography activist. From 2008 to 2016, she was the executive director of Pink Cross Foundation, which reached out to women and men in pornography and spoke in public forums about the hazardous working conditions that she experienced in the porn industry. In January 2016, Lubben closed Pink Cross Foundation.
Alexis Texas is an American pornographic actress. In 2020, Texas was characterized as one of "the most popular porn performers", based on her Instagram following of around 3.8 million followers. She was inducted into the AVN Hall of Fame in 2022.
Crissy Moran is a Christian public speaker who is a former American pornographic actress. She began working in adult entertainment in 1999, and between 2001 and 2006 had performed in over 50 adult films. In 2006, Moran became a devout Christian and quit working in the adult industry. After retirement, she began speaking about her experiences in porn and appearing in national media projects addressing what she considers "the harms of pornography," associating adult films with human sex trafficking and the exploitation of women and children.
Aroused is a 2013 feature-length documentary film directed by the photographer Deborah Anderson, in her directorial debut. It focuses on the lives and careers of 16 pornographic actresses. The film's structure includes interviews with the women both during makeup and during a subsequent photo shoot for Anderson's coffee table book of the same name as the documentary. Quotes are presented in title cards throughout the film on the topic from women including Erica Jong, Marlene Dietrich, and Gloria Leonard. The actresses interviewed describe their early upbringing, entry into sexual activity, and motivations for entering the adult film industry. A female talent agent within the industry, Fran Amidor, provides a counterpoint to the interviews. Several of the actresses recount facing stigma and discrimination due to their career choice. Katsuni reflects on the impact of entering the industry, and criticizes society's "judgment of morality".
Casey Calvert is an American pornographic actress and film director. She has won several awards in the pornographic film industry, and has written about it in mainstream media publications. Calvert entered the adult media industry with early work as an art model and fetish model at age 21. She chose her stage name after one of her college professors, Clay Calvert.
Cathy Barry is an English glamour model and pornographic actress. Along with her filmmaker husband Phil Barry, she also runs the adult film production and distribution company Pumpkin Media TV. Barry stars in her own DVD series, Cathy's Diaries.
Rachel Starr is an American pornographic actress. She was inducted into the AVN Hall of Fame in 2022.
