- 2 days ago
Some stars start in the adult industry but manage to break through into Hollywood, TV, music, and other mainstream careers. In this list, we highlight 10 adult film actors and actresses who made a successful jump from the adult world to mainstream fame.
From acting in blockbuster movies to becoming TV personalities, authors, and influencers, these stars prove that career reinvention is possible.
π Whether you know them from their early work or their later public careers, these are the stories of bold reinvention and success.
From acting in blockbuster movies to becoming TV personalities, authors, and influencers, these stars prove that career reinvention is possible.
π Whether you know them from their early work or their later public careers, these are the stories of bold reinvention and success.
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Short filmTranscript
00:00Now Tracy Lourdes is successfully making the transition to mainstream movies.
00:04Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we'll be discussing 10 performers from the adult film world
00:08whose public profile grew beyond the parameters of that industry.
00:12And now is, what would you call it, making a legitimate career?
00:18Well, I don't know if what I did was illegitimate.
00:20No, that's right, it wasn't.
00:21In any event...
00:22More mainstream.
00:24Sasha Gray.
00:25There's been a shift in narrative that's occurred over the years
00:28with regards to the legacy and public profiles of adult film performers.
00:32Not sort of, that's why I've always tried to keep busy doing my own thing
00:36and be self-sustaining.
00:41Sasha Gray may not belong to the golden age era of adult industry trailblazers
00:45from the 1970s and 80s, but her success story is similarly interesting.
00:48Gray earned critical praise for her lead role in The Girlfriend Experience
00:52from director Steven Soderbergh after first making her mark in adult films.
00:56Dan talked the entire time.
00:58Gray's schedule has only gotten busier since then, since she's now expanded her profile
01:02into music and writing while also continuing to take on mainstream acting roles as they become available.
01:07While going out and looking for roles, the thing that keeps me really going and driven
01:14and motivated is when I'm not working, because that's when you want it the most and that's
01:20when you're hungry.
01:21Ginger Lynn.
01:21If the halcyon era of adult films was the 70s, then Ginger Lynn served as a face for a new decade.
01:27I am so grateful to have been around at the time when we would get a script and it would
01:33be 120 pages and on page 9 it would go, sex scene.
01:37So we made real movies with sex dispersed within it, and they were fabulous.
01:44She was one of the most popular and in-demand stars of her day, a video queen who also demonstrated
01:48solid acting skills.
01:50I hope you girls realize that there's only one, um, position available.
01:55Good.
01:56May the best one win.
02:03Remember, working as a team.
02:05This allowed Lynn to transfer her natural charisma and charm into a variety of genres, from comedy
02:10to horror to drama.
02:12She was the star of the Vice Academy franchise of direct-to-video cop comedies, yet also could
02:17be seen taking smaller roles in films like Bachelor Party and Young Guns 2.
02:21Ginger Lynn kept working at her craft, and professionals as varied as Rob Zombie and Metallica took notice,
02:26with the latter casting her in their music video for Turn the Page.
02:29Here I go, Turn the Page.
02:36James Dean.
02:37An increased public profile doesn't necessarily mean that an adult film performer will be
02:41totally divorced from controversy.
02:43I am actually a big believer in, um, in romantic love, and I am totally a hopeless romantic.
02:49Seen here on Daily Beast TV, he's arguably the most popular male star in the $13 billion American
02:56adult film industry.
02:58James Dean earned acclaim for his good looks and acting chops, skills that Dean utilized
03:02to his full potential in mainstream fare like The Canyons.
03:06This latter film was directed by Paul Schrader and co-starred none other than Lindsay Lohan.
03:10Dean's performance was noted by both critics and fans. 2015 proved to be a challenging year
03:32for the actor, however, since troubling allegations of sexual misconduct were levied at Dean from
03:37a multitude of sources. He lost a number of his endorsements and high-profile adult industry
03:41positions as a result of this scandal.
03:43The latest allegations could hurt Dean's mainstream appeal, but Stoya's friend Caden, for one,
03:49is not sorry.
03:50I'm proud of her. I'm proud of the people who are standing up to support sex workers, to support women,
03:56to absolutely put their foot down and say there's no gray area.
04:00Sunny Leone.
04:01It's never been unheard of for models who have posed for magazines like Playboy, Penthouse,
04:05or Hustler to then experiment with roles in the adult film industry.
04:08That's the image that I created, so I'm okay with it.
04:12Sunny Leone was one in a long line of prior Penthouse pets to go this route, although she
04:17was arguably one of the most successful transition stories.
04:20I'm on my own path. I'm on my own trajectory. And I love what I do. I can look at myself in
04:29the mirror and feel proud. I don't feel bad about my choices.
04:35Leone has starred in multiple mainstream movies for productions from India and Malaysia while
04:39also working on reality television shows and as an MTV correspondent. She's also a philanthropist
04:45who devotes her time to causes like animal rights and the American Cancer Society.
04:50I think for a lot of young women or even older women that are out there, I think it's a small
04:55choices you make in a day.
04:56Jenna Jameson. It seems as if every generation of adult superstars has their one brightest
05:01shining supernova.
05:02Jenna is the most successful adult film star of all time.
05:08Jenna Jameson was almost certainly that star for the 90s, a highly recognized industry queen
05:13with an almost universal level of notoriety.
05:16Jameson's charisma has always been off the charts with magnetism and this was reflected
05:20during her adult film career, which earned her legions of followers and fans.
05:24International fame came with a steep emotional price tag.
05:28I look back on my life and I feel like I'm about 60 years old.
05:34She's appeared in music videos and mainstream films, but never seemed to care much about
05:38distancing herself from the past. Instead, one could argue that Jenna Jameson's popularity
05:42helped normalize adult film acceptance, perhaps changing a few minds along the way.
05:46When I left home, I knew that I was going to be a star. I just put it out there and I knew
05:54I was going to make it happen.
05:55Tracy Lortz.
05:56Hers was the story that shocked and rocked an industry almost to its core.
06:00You had an ID that said you were 21. Did you look 21?
06:04Um, I, well, I didn't look old enough to get a job at Bob's Big Boy. The manager there didn't
06:10think so.
06:11But on adult film sets, they didn't care? They didn't look?
06:17You know, I'm not a mind reader. I can't tell you what they knew or what they didn't know.
06:23They didn't ask and I didn't tell.
06:25The revelation that Tracy Lortz lied about her age to enter adult films meant that every
06:29piece of media she made during this time had to disappear. Her only legal film, Tracy
06:33I Love You, remains the lasting legacy of Lortz's adult past. But she used this controversy to
06:38transition into a mainstream career that continues to this day.
06:41The transition hasn't been easy.
06:43It isn't easy. It's been so difficult. Are you kidding me? People don't want me to be
06:48intelligent. It would be easier to say Tracy Lortz is a bimbo. I mean, that is so typical.
06:54Tracy Lortz has acted in everything from comedy to exploitation to drama, taking on both television
07:00and the silver screen with the same sort of business-minded ambition that brought her
07:04to the adult industry as a teenager.
07:06I think that it's just really tough being a young actress in Hollywood anyway. So it's
07:11like, make it negative or make it positive. I've just done my best and worked really hard.
07:15Stormy Daniels
07:16We don't fault anyone for keeping their heads tucked into the proverbial sand when it comes
07:20to knowing the identities of famous adult stars.
07:22A lot has changed since the last time you were here. You were really not allowed to
07:25say anything. What has changed? Why are you now allowed to say things?
07:29I have left peeps to give.
07:31That said, just about everybody found out who Stormy Daniels was during the U.S.
07:35presidential campaign of Donald Trump.
07:37It's been a lot. It's been intense.
07:40Her court cases involved alleged hush money that was paid out to keep an affair between the
07:44two secret earned worldwide news headlines. Stormy Daniels' adult career also received
07:49a serious boost as a result, proving once again that old adage about how any publicity
07:53is good publicity.
07:54I mean, you're probably right now the most famous woman on planet Earth. How does that
07:59feel?
08:01Terrifying.
08:02Does it?
08:03Yeah, and surreal. It just doesn't make sense.
08:05Marilyn Chambers
08:06There's a lot to admire about the career of 70s adult film icon Marilyn Chambers.
08:11Now, was it tough for you to get out of that syndrome of the porno films and get into
08:16the other area?
08:16Well, the stigma is definitely there.
08:19Her early work as a model included a memorable cover shoot for the ivory detergent brand,
08:24but it was her adult film work that cemented her stardom. Behind the Green Door was considered
08:29to be one of the foremost works from the golden age, whereby more critical attention was being
08:33paid to the artistic merit of experimental adult films.
08:36Sorry, I've only done five. It's not like I've done 400 or anything. But, um, so I was
08:42very happy to sign this contract for the three films that I'm going to be doing this year.
08:45Chambers would also sign her name into the horror history books with an outstanding
08:49performance in David Cronenberg's Rabbit.
08:51Do you mind if I get in with you? I've been lying in bed for so long. My body aches all over.
09:04I'm so glad I ran into you.
09:07Video features and more adult films would eventually follow, with Marilyn Chambers remaining a legend
09:12through it all.
09:13Ron Jeremy
09:13He arguably possesses one of the most recognizable voices, faces, and physiques when it comes
09:18to adult films' male rogues gallery.
09:20You have a, uh, a reputation, uh, as a thespian, and I'm just wondering, is that what you want
09:27your legacy to be in life? Or looking back, do you say, you know what, I could have done
09:30this or that, or I could have been out.
09:32Acting is good.
09:33A golden age star whose ability to handle dialogue and emotive performances helped turn
09:37Ronald Jeremy Hyatt into the hedgehog, Ron Jeremy.
09:41This is another adult star with a wide-ranging scope of recognition from the mainstream.
09:45Yet this degree of fame didn't arrive without cost.
09:48You've done it all. And when I say that, I mean, are you bored now with, I mean, what is there
09:53left to do? You've done it all by the age of 40.
09:55No, I still, um, thank you for that, by the age of 40. Yeah, I just turned 40 a few days ago.
10:00Jeremy's legacy within the adult industry depends largely upon who you ask, with some claiming
10:05he's one of the all-time greats, while others tell a darker story. Specifically, the accusations
10:10of sexual misconduct that consistently dogged the actor. Until a 2021 indictment was thrown
10:15out due to Jeremy's cognitive decline, making him unfit to stand trial.
10:19The prosecution is opposing a recent judgment that would place the former porn star in a private
10:25residence over concerns about his deteriorating health. Allred says it's unclear if that residence
10:30is a lockdown facility. It added that the victims didn't have their day in court in a trial.
10:34Before we continue, be sure to subscribe to our channel and ring the bell to get notified
10:39about our latest videos. You have the option to be notified for occasional videos or all
10:44of them. If you're on your phone, make sure you go into your settings and switch on notifications.
10:51Ilona Stoller, aka Chicholina. Ilona Stoller may not be a household name in North America,
10:56but this Hungarian-Italian actor and adult film star managed to serve her country as a member
11:02of Parliament from 1987 to 1992. Stoller started out in sex comedy and exploitation roles before
11:08developing the Chicholina personality that would make her both famous and infamous. The former
11:13due to her quirky personality in Anything Goes approached sexuality, the latter due to her work
11:18with co-star John Holmes, the American adult star who continued to work in countries like Italy
11:22despite knowing about his HIV-positive status. Still, the legacies of both Chicholina and her adult
11:28contemporary Moana Pozzi helped blur the lines between art, sex, politics, and entertainment.
11:33What are your thoughts about how the golden age of adult films crossed over into mainstream waters?
11:38Have you ever seen the old grindhouse theaters from U.S. cities like New York or Boston?
11:42Let us know in the comments.
11:43And I think the reason why I became famous so fast was because I was not just a pretty face,
11:49I was pretty business savvy.
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