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Porn Actors Who Went Mainstream

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The adult film industry has grown from America's dirty secret into a billion dollar industry. No longer the option of last resort, many performers seek it out as a career choice. To put it simply -- porn pays. As Ron Jeremy said, "An average actor makes $30,000 a year...an actress can make between $300,000 and $400,000, if they're a contract player" (stumpedmagazine.com).
It could be argued that porn is a platform, akin to YouTube, that gives performers the opportunity to jump from the niche of the nude arts to the cultural mainstream. Here are ten former porn stars who made that transition, and some of the names may surprise you.

Sylvester Stallone
Fair enough, he was never a porn "star," but he did appear in "The Party at Kitty and Stud's," a 1970s adult film where he landed the role of Stud. It was later retitled "The Italian Stallion" after Stallone hit it big in Hollywood. While other stars would follow suit (read: Paris Hilton, Kim Kardashian), Sylvester was one of the first to go from porn-obscurity into the mainstream.

Sasha Grey

Sasha Grey took the porn world by storm a few years ago with her capacity to be capacious. Her first scene was an orgy with Rocco Siffredi for "The Fashionistas 2." She left porn for greener pastures, including an appearance in Steven Soderbergh's "The Girlfriend Experience," a supporting role in "Entourage" and a few independent films. She is also a member of the band aTelecine, and is writing an erotic novel. Like her sexual escapades, what can't this woman do?

Spalding Gray

Spalding Gray, actor, writer and king of monologues such as "Impossible Vacation" and "Swimming to Cambodia," starred in a couple of porn films back in his youth. In 1976, he appeared in "The Farmer's Daughters" and later "Maraschino Cherry" (sfweekly.com). Sadly, he committed suicide in 2004.


Katie Morgan

Katie got her start in porn in order to pay off her bail after being arrested in 2000 for transporting 100 pounds of marijuana from Mexico into the U.S. She segued into the mainstream with a role in Kevin Smith's "Zack and Miri Make a Porno," where she played a bubbly stripper. She also landed a part on "Entourage." She has officially retired from adult films, but you can still see her naked quite often on several HBO reruns.



Anna Ilona Staller

Anna Ilona Staller, or as she is better known by her stage name, Cicciolina, is an Italian porn star and amazingly, an elected politician. She appeared in her first hardcore film in 1983. It's difficult to say if she went "legit," as she continued to make adult films while a member of the Italian parliament. Add to her resume that she has recorded several songs and appeared in the film "Replikator" and she is one of the more interesting porn actresses around. She has said, "My breasts have never done anyone any harm, while bin Laden's war has caused thousands of victims."

Jackie Chan

Yeah, that Jackie Chan. The "Rush Hour" action star got his start in a Hong Kong adult film called "All in the Family." Said Chan, "I had to do anything I could to make a living 31 years ago, but I don't think it's a big deal, even Marlon Brando used to be exposed in his movies" (cracked.com).

Traci Lords

No list would be complete without Traci Lords. She is notorious for appearing underage in adult films and magazines, and is the reason porn films now have the ubiquitous "Title 18, Section 2257, no performer under the age of 18..." at the beginning of every production. After studying acting at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute, Traci found upward mobility in Hollywood with the help of director John Waters, and has since appeared in movies like "Cry-Baby," "Serial Mom," "Blade," "Zack and Miri Make a Porno," and many more. Add to the list her solo album in 1995 and her autobiography in 2003, and Traci is the very definition of a "cross-over" star.

Sibel Kekilli

Maybe you haven't heard of her. That's because she's a German film actress who won the German version of Best Actress for her performances in "Head-On" and "When We Leave." She has also appeared on "Game of Thrones" here in the U.S. But a German tabloid revealed that she used to be a porn actress who used the alias "Dilara" in her films. Sibel's parents were unaware of their daughter's past and have since broken off contact with her.

Jenna Jameson

Dubbed "The Queen of Porn," Jenna Jameson became the first porn brand, and made herself rich in the process. Her name has become a beacon for girls the world over who now choose to break into the industry. She crossed over into the mainstream with a role in Howard Stern's "Private Parts," and voice-over roles on "Family Guy" and "Grand Theft Auto." She also created a horror comic book and wrote a best-selling autobiography. She said, "I've always embraced my hardcore roots, but becoming a household name was an important thing to me."

Ron Jeremy

"The Hedgehog" has done a variety of mainstream projects, including "The Rules of Attraction," "Reindeer Games," "Crank: High Voltage," "Killing Zoe" and many music videos. Outside of movies, he's involved in a line of rum called Ron de Jeremy, and in 2008 he wrote a memoir -- "Ron Jeremy: The Hardest (Working) Man in Showbiz."

 

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Today's Funniest Photos 1-23-13

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The Super Bowl's Hottest WAGs

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Every Style of Male Facial Hair There Is

The Evolution of Masturbation

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Since the dawn of time, society has made a host of amazing technological advances. Many of those innovations have been used to make the world a better place. They've also made the world an easier place to masturbate in. Use the graph to trace the impact that technology has had on playing with yourself.

the evolution of masturbation

 

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The Funniest GIFs of the Week - January 24, 2013

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10 Stories of Pro Athletes on Recreational Drugs

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The 16 Greatest Cities in Human History

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10 Weird Superstitions That People Believe Will Kill You

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Xenia Deli Could Be the Next Big Thing

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Today's Funniest Photos 1-24-13

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A Gallery of Brilliantly Hacked Street Signs

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Kate Upton Does What She Does Best In New Mercedes Super Bowl Ad

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It's time for your daily dose of Kate Upton. The buxom beauty on every guy's top ten list is lending her talents to a new Mercedes CLA ad for the upcoming 2013 Super Bowl. It won't matter if your team loses the game because this commercial featuring Kate Upton moving in slow motion will leave you feeling like a winner.

 

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A Brief History of the Prop Bet

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To some football fans, the battle on the gridiron is enough, the dulcet tones of Jim Nantz and CTE-addled ramblings of Phil Simms providing the perfect soundtrack to the league's 47th championship game. But to many other NFL lovers, true happiness will only come if -- regardless of who hoists the Lombardi Trophy -- the longest touchdown scored on February 3rd is no longer than 45.5 yards. Welcome to the too-tempting-to-resist world of prop bets.

So why does that guy at your Super Bowl party have his iPhone open to the stopwatch app as Alicia Keys sings the national anthem? Whether it's waiting to see how long a diva holds the last note of "The Star-Spangled Banner" or what color Gatorade gets dumped on the winning coach, the prop bet has taken over the big game, making those mindless box pools feel as exciting as Psy's new side gig shilling for pistachios. By now, even the biggest stick in the seven-layer dip has to admit that prop bets are fun -- and they've changed the way casual fans watch the game.

YOU CAN BET ON WHAT?
Last summer in London, countless people lost money when Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II showed up to the Olympic opening ceremonies wearing a salmon-colored hat. (Hey, purple seemed like a no-brainer at 5-to-1.) But that's nothing compared to whoever took the 1,000-to-1 odds that a UFO would show up over Olympic Stadium. These were just two of the bets offered by William Hill, the UK bookmaker with a £1.93 market cap and the inventors of the prop bet.

As that annoying friend who tags along on every Vegas trip likes to say, they don't build those giant casinos by losing money. But according to William Hill's longtime media relations director Graham Sharpe, the company's eponymous founder took a big loss on the first prop he ever offered in 1960: 1,000-to-1 that no man would walk on the moon before 1970. (The victor would spend his £10,000 winnings on a sports car and promptly die in a wreck.)

Losing money may go against the religion of bookies, but all that free publicity cushions the blow, and Hill truly rocked the betting world when they broke even after fielding £250,000 worth of bets on Dallas' infamous "Who shot J.R.?" subplot. (Yes, years later they took money from Simpsons fans when Mr. Burns took a bullet.)

Today, William Hill is still famous for offering 1,000-to-1 odds on everything from the Loch Ness or Elvis Presley being discovered alive to, ironically, a sitting president officially admitting that the moon landing was a hoax. But for the company that issued the UK's first fixed-odds football (that means "soccer") coupon in 1944, sports betting is still its bread and butter. As such, it's no surprise that William Hill brought their bizarre bets to the world of athletics.

Even though the NFL continues to foist teams like the Jaguars and Rams on its European fan base, American football is still big business in London. With that comes the Super Bowl prop bet. "I suspect that we have been taking such bets for the better part of a quarter century," says the thoroughly British Sharpe. "Such bets individually are relatively small beer, but as a whole represent a significant turnover. Many of what used to be known as novelty bets are now mainstream-and they turn over millions."

Perhaps that's why, along with making the 49ers 4-to-7 favorites to win Super Bowl XLVII, William Hill also posted 20-to-1 odds that Beyonce will have a wardrobe malfunction during her halftime show. (Hubby Jay-Z making a cameo pays out at just 2-to-1.) As the company's sports guru, Joe Crilly, can attest: "there will always be someone who wants to bet on a market that we offer, no matter how ridiculous they may seem at face value."

THE PLUNGE HEARD 'ROUND THE WORLD
Still, to find out when the proposition bet went from novelty to mainstream, one need look no further than Super Bowl XX in January 1986. Despite Bears coach Mike Ditka's pre-game vow not to use his rotund defensive lineman in any offensive sets, William "Refrigerator" Perry ran one in from the one-yard line, upping the score to 44-3.

Perry's plunge was more than fuel for the George Michael Sports Machine, however. That's because many intrepid bettors grabbed the odds of such a TD occurring at 75-to-1. That line was eventually bet down to 5-to-1, but Las Vegas still lost a mint. And as Jimmy Vaccaro, the inventor of said prop bet, explained, a boom was born.

By all accounts, wagering on Super Bowl XLVII could give 2006, when a record $94.9 million was bet in Las Vegas alone, a run for its money. LVH SuperBook's Jay Kornegay estimates it will fall just a few million short, but he's also confident that prop bets will represent a minimum of 10 percent-and possibly even a full half-of total betting on the game. (SportsBook will grease the skids by offering around 300 different options.)

This, mind you, is only the money being wagered in Las Vegas, where, by law, bookmakers must stick to outcomes that can be documented on the field. (Goodbye, national anthem bet.) That plus offshore wagering means the value of prop bets this year can easily reach nine figures-hardly a surprise in a gambling loving world where the first Super Bowl odds turned up last July.

So will the big game feature a missed extra point or successful two-point conversion? Can Ray Rice (-105) out-rush Frank Gore (-125)? Will Joe Flacco (+200) best Colin Kaepernick (+140) to win the MVP? All these questions will be answered over the last 60 minutes of NFL action this season.

Just try not to laugh too hard at that friend who put his rent money on Vonta Leach scoring the first touchdown (+4,000) because, surprisingly, it might not be a sucker's bet. "Prop bets are not easy money for us," says William Hill's Graham Sharpe. "In fact, they are often suggested by people with more expert knowledge of the subject in question than we have."

It may confuse the average Super Bowl partygoer, but betting stupid sums of money on ridiculous outcomes may not be so crazy after all. So cut some slack to the friend who uses the prop as his crutch. And when it comes time to make your own bet, hammer "tails" on the opening coin toss. Heads has was won the last four Super Bowls in a row, so tails is totally due.

-- Mike Olson

 

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Deal With It: Hilarious Meme Gallery

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This Week's 20 Inappropriately Hilarious Tweets

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Today's Funniest Photos 1-25-13

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The 25 Greatest Athlete Ad Campaigns of All Time

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Kat Torres is a Blonde Brazilian Bombshell

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