The 10 Most Famous Adult Film Stars

Regardless of your take on the adult entertainment industry, you cannot deny that sex exploitation is a highly lucrative occupation. For example, did you know that it’s estimated that the industry made $10 billion in adult film revenues alone?

Did you also know that on the Internet, porn sites make up about 12% of all sites, taking in approximately $2.4 billion a year? Or that 25% of all search engine requests are for adult material and 35% of all downloads are adult material?

Makes you think does it not?

Here is TPH’s ode to the best ever to f**k on screen.

Seka

When you star in over 200 films you’re bound to get notice. Seka was one of the most popular and prolific porn actresses in the late 70s through mid-80s. Seka wisely “retired” in the mid-80s due in part to the AIDS epidemic, but then pulled a Jordan and returned to make several more films in the 90s.

Rocco Siffredi

This Italian actor/director/producer is arguably the most well-known male adult film star in Europe. He has topped Seka’s credits with over 400 films and is sometimes affectionately referred to as “The Italian Stallion.” The married father of two boys has also done several mainstream projects.

Marilyn Chambers

Marilyn Chambers was the innocent face of Ivory Snow until she accepted a role in a porn film called Behind The Green Door, which in turn made her a household name. Chambers would later cite that the role helped sell a lot more soap. The 1972 film also broke barriers as the first feature-length hardcore porn in the United States to depict a white woman having sex with an African American. Chambers would later mount a highly unsuccessful bid for Vice-President of the U.S. on the Personal Choice Party ticket in 2004. She died in 2009.

Sasha Grey

Shortly after her 18th birthday in 2006, Marina Ann Hantzis started a career in porn under the pen name ”Sasha Grey.” She quickly became popular and actively compared to Jenna Jameson. She has since seen some moderate mainstream success, playing a role in Steven Soderbergh’s The Girlfriend Experience and for appearing on the seventh season of the popular HBO series, Entourage.

Llona Staller

No one in the adult entertainment industry can match “La Cicciolina’s” versatile resume. Porn-star, singer, and…politician. Again, no one can match it. Staller began her career in 1983 as a porn star before becoming elected to the Italian Parliament in 1987.

While serving office, Staller at one point infamously offered to have sex with Saddam Hussein for the release of his foreign hostages. During her term, she also continued to make hardcore films and was quite open about her sexuality, even going as far as to expose one breast while she gave political speeches. Now that’s the kind of politics we can all get behind. 

Traci Lords

Patricia Kuzma (aka Traci Lords) had a very rocky childhood that led her to modeling by the age of 15 (capable via the use of a fake ID). By the time she was 18, Lords had already appeared in over 100 adult films. Her true age was uncovered in 1986 and costed the porn industry millions of dollars for having a minor in their films. Lords was arrested, but with all the media coverage, became an instant celebrity. Consequently, Lords moved into the mainstream, appearing in numerous films including John Waters’ Cry-Baby as well as Kevin Smith’s Zack and Miri Make a Porno.

Linda Loveface

As previously reported on Things People Hate, Lindsay Lohan will play the role of Linda Loveface in the upcoming biopic, Inferno. The real Loveface was mostly well known due to her role in the extremely popular Deep Throat. Lovelace lived a very confused and sad life, a product of a very strict religious upbringing. She contracted Hepatitis from a blood transfusion, was beaten and forced to make porn at gunpoint from her former lover, and even committed bestiality with a dog on camera. Loveface later denounced her porn career, wrote an autobiography, and became a voice for the feminist anti-pornography movement until her death in 2002.

Ron Jeremy

Ron Jeremy, born to a middle class Jewish family in Queens, New York, earned a degree in education and worked as a special education teacher before entering the adult entertainment industry in the late ‘70s. Ron is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records for “The Most Appearances in Adult Films” (numbering over 2,000) and has gained cult like status. A couple of lowbrow claims to fame included his ability to perform self-fellatio and his lack of need for any stimulants (apparently Viagra is very popular among male porn actors).

John Holmes

John Holmes is easily one of the most prolific male porn stars of all time. Holmes reportedly starred in approximately 2,500 films and estimated to have had sex with about 3,000 persons (unfortunately, not all of them are female). Despite the “lofty” numbers, Holmes is mostly regarded for his large penis which served as the source for being “discovered” by a photographer at the neighboring urinal stall.

By the early ‘80s, a severe cocaine addiction forced Holmes into drug and sex trafficking which culminated with an arrest for his alleged involvement in the murder of four drug dealers. He was later released due to lack of evidence. Holmes was diagnosed with AIDS in 1986 and died from complications of the disease in 1988.

Jenna Jameson

Jenna Jameson career began after she was allegedly raped several times in high school and ran away with her boyfriend to become a Vegas showgirl. Jameson started to strip and do nude modeling. She starred in her first hardcore film in 1995 and by 2001 was earning $60,000 a day for a shoot (thanks partly, to the help of Howard Stern).

Her autobiography, How to Make Love Like A Porn Star: A Cautionary Tale, spent six weeks on the New York Times bestseller list in 2004. She continues to manage ClubJenna, her own adult entertainment company, to this day.