The 1980s are often seen as the golden age of porn. Movies were still being shown in mainstream cinemas at the time. Many of the best 80s pornstars went on to do major business outside of porn too. As a result, many of the 80s pornstars have become household names.
There were so many 80s pornstars kicking around at the time, that it is was pretty difficult to put together this list of the best of them. However, we think that we have done a pretty decent job. Most of the names should be ones that you have already heard of. The ones that you haven’t heard of, you should probably track down immediately!
Remember, it shouldn’t be too difficult to find the porn that most of these people starred in. You are going to be in for a real treat once you are lucky enough to track it down. Let’s jump into the best 80s pornstars now, shall we?
Best Pornstars of the 80s
Nina Hartley
Like many 80s pornstars, Nina Hartley got started in the business as a stripper. Somebody liked what she had to offer, and it wasn’t too long before she was snapped up to star in Hustler magazine. From here, she made the jump into the world of porn and for a long while she never looked back. She is one of the people to star in the Debbie Does… serious of films.
After she moved from starring in porn, she directed a couple of films in the 90s and resumed her stripper career. She then became an advocate for the porn industry, and you would often find her speaking on television about the rights of performers. This was a role that was later filled by Jenna Jameson. However, she is still incredibly popular to this day, and we still find people that enjoy her movies.
Christy Canyon
Christy Canyon is a porn star that was incredibly popular in the 1980s. In the years that she was active, she starred in over 100 porn movies. This means that she was working a lot harder than many of the other women at the time. She is probably best known for the Vivid Entertainment work that she carried out in the 90s.
This is when the company decided to throw a ton of money at her in a bid to get her on the books. She loved the work, and to this day she speaks lovingly about the work that she did for Vivid Entertainment. Nowadays, you will find this AVN Hall of Fame inductee at various conventions around the United States.
Ginger Lynn
Ginger Lynn is regarded as one of the most popular porn stars of all time. It isn’t difficult to see why. In her heyday, she was sexy as fuck. Even now, you probably wouldn’t be saying no. Like many of the ladies on this list, Ginger Lynn worked heavily for Vivid Entertainment.
For a brief while, it appeared as if she was only using the world of adult entertainment as a springboard to Hollywood success. However, she only starred in a couple of low budget movies before she returned to the porn industry with a bang. She was still starring in porn as late as 2008, although she has now retired from the industry completely.
Kelly Nichols
Hustler and Penthouse are how Kelly Nichols got her start as an 80s pornstar. This launched her career when Chuck Vincent wanted to work with her. Over the next few years, she would produce 80 different movies, a good number of them under the directorship of Chuck Vincent. She even went into the world of mainstream movies.
If you have ever heard of the 70s version of King Kong (and we are sure you haven’t) she was a body double. After she left the porn industry, she hasn’t really done much related to porn other than induction into the AVN Hall of Fame in the 1990s. However, you may still catch her at a convention or two.
Amber Lynn
If you look at Amber Lynn now, you would swear that she was in her 40s. But no, she is closer to 60. However, she looks mighty fine for her age. Her career started in Hustler and Penthouse. Eventually, she was picked up for a starring role in films. If you go through this list, you will notice that there are a lot of women here that went on to become strippers while still acting on screen. Amber Lynn is one of them. In fact, she was the very first one to do it, and she was highly paid for the work that she put in. Sadly, she never produced as much porn as she should have done due to a severe cocaine addiction.
Traci Lords
If you have heard of just one name on this list, it is almost certainly going to be Traci Lords. Her career started under much controversy. She started when she was 17 when she lied about her age. This cast quite a shadow over the 80s pornstar business at the time. She made a lot of films. However, you won’t be able to see that many of them. Almost all of them are banned now.
She left the porn industry just a couple of days after she became 18, so only the movies available at this point can now be found. She had a decent career in television and music afterward. However, she will always be known as one of the 80s pornstars that turned the industry on its head.
Heather Lere
Now we are up to the first 80s pornstar that doesn’t seem to have a Wikipedia page. We suppose this makes sense. While Heather Lere was popular throughout the 1980s, she never really achieved real mainstream success, and she hasn’t really done anything related to adult entertainment since she retired from the industry. She did star under a variety of names in the industry, though. Over a few dozen movies, she went by both the name Heather Lere and Briana Rai. If you want to see one of the best blond 80s pornstars, then check out content from either of these names.
Jeanna Fine
The 1980s was height of real punk (sorry for gatekeeping there, but it is true). So, when Jeanna Fine came onto the scene, with her punk chick good looks, she was an instant smash. Interestingly, while this lady was very popular at the time, and still is very popular, she never made that many movies. She actually took a significant amount of time away from the industry at various points. She was active in the porn business up until the early 2000s. She is perhaps best known for the lesbian relationship that she had with fellow porn actress Savannah.
Kay Parker
English lady Kay Parker moved to the United States with a dream. She wanted to be an importer. One of the flashiest jobs you could possibly have, right? Well, thankfully, John Leslie nipped that in the bud pretty quickly. He saw just how good-looking Kay Parker was in the 1980s, so he asked her to star in one of his movies. She happily obliged.
Kay Parker was one of the first proper MILF pornstars. This is because she entered the business quite old. Even if you have not heard of her name before, you will almost certainly have heard of the main movie that she starred in Taboo. Even to this day, this movie is managing to get lots of views online. She now works as an author talking about her life in the sex industry.
Linda Lovelace
Linda Lovelace is another porn name that you may have heard of. This is because she was the main star in one of the most popular porn movies of all time; Deep Throat. It is hard to state just how much that movie turned the porn industry upside down and made it cool(ish) to watch porn at the cinema.
She did a lot of unique things while she was active in the porn industry. She did golden shower scenes. Bestiality (yep, you read the right) and lots and lots of deepthroating. To be honest, despite being a household name, her career wasn’t all that successful. Nowadays, she hates the porn industry and wants it shut down.
Cicciolina
Hungarian pornstar Cicciolina was drop-dead sexy throughout the 1980s. In her 60s, she sort-of dresses like she still lives in the 80s which isn’t a good look But back then, oh my. Every guy wanted to get his hands over her. Most of her porn movies were made in Italian as she held dual nationality with that country. She is particularly well known in Italy for the very first person to ever appear topless on television in the country.
Later on the 1980s, she became an Italian politician. When she finished that job, she returned to the porn industry in the 1990s. While she is no longer actually active in the porn industry, you will still see her attending a lot of conventions. Most of her work seems to be political now, though.
Nicole Black
Irish-Italian girl Nicole Black was never really a prominent porn star in the 1980s. She performed in a lot of movies in a short span of time, but she was never the real focus of the shoot. This is a great shame, as we believe this brunette beauty deserves the fame that many of the other fine ladies on this list have. That is why we are including her here. If you want to see some of the best stuff that she starred in, then you may want to look into Moments of Love, Sex Games, and Brief Affair. In the latter, she was credited as Nicole Noir.
Seka
Back in the 1980s, you would have seen Seka referred to as the Platinum Princess of Porn. It isn’t really hard to see why. She was a goddess, plus she had platinum-colored hair. She managed to stay active in the porn business for 17-years, which is far longer than most of the other ladies that we mention here.
So, how did she get into the business? Well, she was 23 and was pretty rich at the time, one would assume. She owned seven different adult bookstores in the United States. She decided that she could do porn better…so she did. Her most recent foray into the porn business was when she agreed to be filmed for the documentary After Porn Ends.
Brigitte Lahaie
Brigitte Lahaie stopped acting in the 1980s, so she is on the absolute cusp of being called one of the best 80s pornstars. While she did most of her work in the 70s, we would never have forgiven ourselves if we hadn’t included this sexy minx on this page. She only ever starred in French movies. This means that if you want to see Brigitte Lahaie as her absolute best, it is probably best that you go on in with a basic understanding of French…or at least ignore the French and enjoy her body. After she left porn, she entered mainstream movies, and ultimately became a writer.
Marilyn Jess
This is another French porn actress in the 1980s. If you ask anybody in France to name the best porn actresses to come from the country, then you can bet your bottom dollar that they will say Marilyn Jess and Brigitte Lahaie. Of course, since she is French, most of her movies will be in French. This shouldn’t stop you from being able to enjoy her wonderful body, though. She has the fame of being one of the people to star in the very last movie that Traci Lords made which just so happened to have been filmed in France.
Vanessa Del Rio
Before Vanessa Del Rio, every single success female pornstar in the industry was a white woman. This lady managed to buck that trend. She was an almost instant hit. She was actually at the forefront of many changes to the porn industry. For example, after she retired from making movies, she still wanted to share her content. Guess what she done? She went and learned how to make websites and done it all herself. The porn stars that sell their content online have it easy compared to what Vanessa Del Rio had to tackle!
Little Oral Annie
This is another lass that wasn’t immensely popular in the 1980s, but certainly deserved to be. She starred in countless movies over her 11-year career, and people still love her to this very day. This blond-haired minx was well known for her oral and anal skills. Sadly, since she was not one of the most popular of the 80s pornstars, not much is known about her as she just disappeared from the industry. However, if you can see her movies, you will easily see why she had such a successful career.
Bambi Woods
Bambi Woods starred in one of the most famous porn movies of all time. Debbie Does Dallas. However, this is all that she starred in. After becoming a sensation, she completely disappeared from the industry. Nobody actually knows what happened to her at all. She never spoke out on camera. Nothing. This means that there isn’t that much we can say about her. However, we can say that the movie she did make was one that completely changed the world of porn forever, and that is why she deserves a place on this list.
Britt Morgan
Britt Morgan was one the 80s pornstars with that classic 80s porn hair. So, if you like to see content that looks very vintage, then you may want to check her out. Again, because this lady didn’t really achieve fame outside of the porn business, not much is known about her. However, we do know that she created some amazing movies including The Bod Squad and The Young and the Wrestling. She also directed for a short while.
Angelica Bella
And finally, we have Angelica Bella. She starred in porn movies mostly in Italian. At the time, she would have been known as Gabriella Dari. She never really achieved huge amounts of fame in the United States as she only made a couple of films there, all of which were focused on European babes.
She starred in a ton of Italian and German films throughout the 1980s. At the tail end of her career, she made some further videos in the United States in the 1990s, then she completely disappeared, leaving nothing but her porn legacy behind.
Conclusion
If you want to start getting into vintage 80s pornstars, then every woman on this list is a great place to start. They have all produced some decent movies that you can easily find online. If you want to see even more of what these lovely ladies have produced, you can also head to sites like IMDB where you can see the full collection. The brilliance of being active in the Golden Age of Porn was that most of the movies were seen as legit movies.
