8 Adult Movie Stars That Made the Successful Transition to Mainstream Movies
Adult film stars are pretty awesome. One of the best things about them, besides watching them boink, is that they don’t seem too concerned with crossing over to Hollywood movies.
Nonetheless, there are quite a few adult film stars that have moved on to mainstream movies, and we thought it might be nice to brighten your day with their stories. At the very least, it’ll give you something to talk about at your next dinner party.
Marilyn Chambers
The earliest instance of an adult film star with an actual role in a mainstream movie (not just “Customer #3″) was Marilyn Chambers, with a small role in ‘The Owl and the Pussycat,’ a 1970 film starring George Segal and Barbara Streisand. Chambers played Evelyn Lang, the girlfreind of Robert Klein’s character.
Chambers starred in a lot of the most popular adult movies of the ’70s, like ‘Behind the Green Door,’ which featured the first interracial sex scene in an American porn, ‘Resurrection of Eve’ and ‘Deep Throat.’ But, Chambers wanted more; she wanted Hollywood. Chambers also was cast in movies that were never made; she claimed to have stormed out of a meeting with Art Garfunkel and Jack Nicholson in which she says they asked her for cocaine. Finally, she was cast as the lead in the David Cronenberg movie ‘Rabid’ in 1977.
Chambers was well received and went on to a few more movies and plays before returning to adult films in the ’80s.
Ginger Lynn Allen
Ginger Lynn Allen is a badass. She was an adult film star in the early ’80s, and gradually transitioned to soft-core movies like ‘Vice Academy,’ where she played a cop going undercover to bust an adult film ring. She also landed roles in ‘Young Guns II’ (she was dating Charlie Sheen, so she deserved it) and ‘Buried Alive.’ Allen also had roles in films like ‘The Stranger,’ about female bikers seeking revenge, and roles in TV shows like ‘Silk Stalkings’ and ‘NYPD Blue.’ She’s gone back to adult films here and there, and she put in quite a performance as Fanny in 2005′s ‘Devil’s Rejects.’
Traci Lords
Traci Lords had a rough upbringing. She started appearing in adult films illegally at the age of 15 with a driver’s license that said she was 20. Her underage movies are unavailable in the US as they contain her engaging in acts as a minor. Disillusioned with the industry after it profited from the underage scandal, Lords started studying acting at age 18, and got a part in Roger Corman’s ‘Not of This Earth.’ After that came her most notable role of ‘Wanda’ in ‘Cry-Baby,’ but she also appeared in ‘Blade,’ ‘Tommyknockers,’ ‘Serial Mom’ and lots of TV shows.
Lords’ most recent movie appearance was in 2009′s ‘I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell.’
Echo Valley
Echo Valley had enormous breasts. Enormous. She played ‘T*ts Hemingway’ in ‘Harold and Kumar’s Escape from Guantanamo Bay,’ but other than that, she was mostly in adult movies. She was killed in a car accident in 2011, because she was not wearing a seat belt. RIP, Echo.
Rocco Siffredi
We had to include at least one man on the list, right? Rocco Siffredi became extremely popular in the industry for his intensity, his roughhousing, and his willingness to be smothered with a woman’s butt. He started in the late ’80s and retired in 2004, because his kids were getting old enough to ask questions about Dad’s career.
In 1999, Siffredi starred in a French movie called ‘Romance,’ which was controversial for featuring non-simulated acts of copulation on camera. When asked later about the scenes, Rocco insisted it was real; his costar insisted it was not. In 2003, he starred in another French film, ‘The Anatomy of Hell,’ playing a gay man who becomes involved with a woman. He went back to adult films in 2009.
Katie Morgan
Here’s a fun fact: Katie Morgan started in the adult industry for money to fight being charged with transporting over 100 lbs. of marijuana from Mexico to the US. After such humble beginnings, Morgan went on to be the cheeky (and completely naked) host of several HBO shows about sex. Morgan played herself in an episode of ‘Entourage’ in 2008 and also had a small but funny role in ‘Zach and Miri Make a Porno.’
Georgina Spelvin
Georgina Spelvin has been in a few movies. None of her parts were huge roles, but it’s kinda awesome that this ’70s adult film actress was in both ‘Police Academy’ and ‘Police Academy 3: Back in Training,’ playing the esteemed role of “Hooker.”
Sasha Grey
No discussion of crossover adult film stars would be complete without Sasha Grey. Sasha gained notoriety when, in her first adult feature in 2006, she asked Rocco Siffredi to punch her in the stomach during a scene. She went on to win lots of AVN awards and be featured in all kinds of magazines as “the next big thing,” but she had other plans.
In 2009, Grey starred in a low-budget Canadian movie called ‘Smash Cut,’ playing a TV reporter who goes undercover to solve a murder. That same year, Steven Soderbergh read a profile of Grey in ‘Los Angeles’ magazine and decided she should be the star of his newest movie, ‘The Girlfriend Experience.’
Based on reviews of her performance, perhaps he should have gone on more than that print interview, but that role was enough to win Grey a recurring role as Vincent Chase’s drugged-out girlfriend in ‘Entourage.’ Grey again gained notoriety in this role, due to her untrimmed nether region.