Jenna Jameson

Porn Star Jenna Jameson is the most popular pornstar of all time, and no wonder. With her hot body, the breathtaking blonde is the ultimate XXX wet dream. But she is way more than just that. A cultural phenomenon whose celebrity extends well beyond Silicone Valley, the former Wicked Pictures and Vivid girl is arguably the key ambassador in the Xbiz. Even people who do not watch porn know who she is. Her first Vivid release with Briana Banks, Briana Loves Jenna, is an early odds-on favorite to be the year's best selling tape. And such Wicked productions as Dream Quest, Flashpoint and Conquest remain popular, as does her website. Very few stars are identifiable merely by their first name. Jenna - AVN's 1995 Best New Starlet - is one.

Ron Jeremy

Porn Actor Ron Jeremy is the most recognizable porn ambassador. From his first impression in 1978 when a girlfriend of his sent his nude photo to Playgirl magazine for its "Boy Next Door" feature to his current status as a Metro contract player, Ron Jeremy has been in the public eye as an adult performer for over 20 years. He brings a professional actor's energy and vitality to everything he does, from hosting a nude beauty pageant to performing a small part in a music video to doing a sex scene with a girl who was not even born when he got into the adult business. Eeverywhere he goes, he is recognized. "It's like going someplace with Jesus," one porn writer said after taking a late-night excursion with him to a restaurant. "Everybody wanted to shake his hand, and the crowd parted before him as he walked through them." Aside from his lengthy porn career, performing in over 1,600 productions and directing more than 100, Ron has also worked in mainstream, acting in small parts in dozens of studio and independent films and music videos. He was also a consultant on the mainstream films Boogie Nights and 9 ½ Weeks. Most recently, the AVN Hall of Famer's life has been examined in the documentary film, Porn Star: The Legend of Ron Jeremy and also in VH1's "The Surreal Life" with Trishelle Cannatella.

John Holmes

Porn Actor John Holmes was the king of porn. The crown was heavy on his head and his fame did not shelter him from the self-destructive tendencies that ultimately were his downfall. His 13½-inch cock is one of porn's landmarks, a physical monument that John Holmes wielded with pride as he blazed a trail that every other man who fucks on camera follows. He was the first male porn superstar and he remains the most famous male porn performer ever. He played porn's first continuing character, Johnny Wadd - a hardboiled, hardcore detective who scored with every chick who crossed his path, and he made hundreds of other films. Holmes was a skinny man who came across as non-threatening with a warm smile, and audiences just could not get enough of him. He was not a pretty guy and that bonded him with viewers who wanted to fuck in their fantasies through his big cock. It is hardly a surprise that the mainstream's most successful movie about adult, Paul Thomas Anderson's 1997 Boogie Nights, was loosely based on Holmes. Holmes was a chronic liar, but one who used his real name in his movies, as he was proud of them. Big cocks come and go, but 14 years after his death from AIDS, Holmes' continues to tower above all the rest.

Linda Lovelace

Almost 40 years after Deep Throat made her the first pornstar, Linda Lovelace remains the most known name in adult history. Her starring role in Gerard Damiano's Deep Throat made her an instant celebrity; she was the world's first porn star and an emblem of '70s porno chic. Almost overnight, she went from the shady, illegal world of early New York underground loops to appearing on talk shows and making the scene at the Playboy Mansion; as documented in Eric Danville's recent book The Complete Linda Lovelace, she became a part of the American pop culture lexicon. During her porn heyday, Lovelace soaked up the limelight as a self-proclaimed nympho, but her 1979 book Ordeal presented a radically different version of events. Stating that she was the victim of coercion and abuse at the hands of manager Chuck Traynor, Lovelace emerged as one of porn's most outspoken opponents. She testified against the industry and followed Ordeal with another memoir, Out of Bondage. Though Lovelace remained firm in her anti-porn stance, she did pose for a layout in the January 2001 issue of Leg Show.

Traci Lords

Porn Actress Traci Lords almost brought it down in the 80s when it came to light that she had performed in dozens of titles while under 18. All of Lords' underage work was pulled from the market, costing the Xbiz millions of dollars. As a result, more stringent proof-of-age requirements were instituted and remain in effect today. A single title she made after hitting her 18th birthday "Traci, I Love You" is her sole adult tape one can view legally. After being shown the adult door, Lords used her notoriety to launch a mainstream acting career, garnering roles in, among other films, John Waters' Cry Baby, the Wesley Snipes vampire thriller Blade, and the Sci-Fi Channel series First Wave. Her most famous role, however, that of 1980s underage porn queen, is mentioned nowhere on her Website.

Marylin Chambers

One of the main figureheads of the '70s Golden Age, Marilyn Chambers made her first impression in the Mitchell Brothers' classic 1972 film Behind The Green Door, following that dialogue-less performance with an impressive acting performance in The Resurrection of Eve. These porn performances contrasted with the pert-young-mother image she projected on the box of Ivory Snow that she had posed for as a model a while before, leading an embarrassed Procter and Gamble to redesign the box with an illustration. Marylin appeared in such mainstream B-movies as Rabid, directed by David Cronenberg, and The Angel of H.E.A.T., but she kept working in Xbiz as well, and surprised many people by signing a VCA Pictures contract in 1998, making Still Insatiable, Dark Chambers and Edge Play with fellow Golden Age performer Veronica Hart.

Ginger Lynn

For many who fondly remember the "golden age" of adult video in the early 1980s, one star stands out above all: Ginger Lynn. An excellent actress, Lynn made just 75 features, several as the first Vivid Girl, working for the company she helped found. Lynn was the quintessential "girl next door;" a beauty whose sexuality smoldered just below the surface until it exploded on-screen with such famous partners as John Holmes, Jerry Butler, Jamie Gillis and John Leslie, for directors like Bruce Seven, Henri Pachard, Alex deRenzy and Gregory Dark, and most recently, Veronica Hart. "I never thought of myself as a star in general," Ginger said in a 1999 interview. "So to say I am a living legend - I think of myself as Ginger Lynn Allen from Rockford, Illinois; I made some movies, had a great time, and so, the whole star status, the whole 'legend' thing is kind of a surprise to me."

In 1986, Ginger moved on to Hollywood, where she had starring roles in the Vice Academy series, in Bound and Gagged: A Love Story, and had smaller parts in varies of TV shows and movies. But without mega-star status, mainstream work was always hit-and-miss, so in 1999, she decided to return to the industry that still idolized her. "Just because I fuck on film does not mean I can not act," she said in response to charges that she could not make the grade in Hollywood. "But let's be realistic here: If Hollywood would have given me Meg Ryan roles, I would not be doing porn again."