A pornographic actor/actress or a porn star is a person who appears in pornographic film. Most actors appear nude in films (usually filmed in explicit sexual genres). Most genres have specialists who achieve most of their recognition in a specific niche market such as lesbian sex, bondage, strap-on sex, anal sex, double penetration, semen swallowing, teenage women, interracial or MILFs.

Some legal jurisdictions consider commercial pornography a form of prostitution, though most commercial sex film performers do not regard themselves as prostitutes for various reasons, but rather as actors or models.^{[citation needed]} Most notably these performers are not paid directly by their sexual partners for the sex, but both are paid through a studio or Talent Management Agency.

Performers have appeared in sex films since the era of photography began. Many "penny arcades" of the early 1900s had hand-cranked films and rotoscope (Holmes-style Stereoscope) glasses that featured nudity. These penny arcade attractions depicted topless women, full frontal nudity, and even sexual coupling. Performers in these early photograph and film recordings usually chose to remain anonymous to avoid legal sanction and social approbation.

Not to be confused with pornographic actress Sunny Lane.

Sunny Leone (born May 13, 1981) is an Indo-Canadian pornographic actress, actress, businesswoman and model of dual Canadian/American nationality. She was named Penthouse Pet of the Year in 2003 and was a contract star for Vivid Entertainment. Named by Maxim as one of the 12 top porn stars in 2010, she has also played roles in independent mainstream films and television shows.

Leone was born in Sarnia, Ontario to Sikh Punjabi parents from India. Her father was born in Tibet and raised in Delhi, while her mother (who died in 2008) was from a small town named Nahan in Sirmaur, Himachal Pradesh. As a young girl, she was very athletic and played street hockey with the boys, enjoyed ice skating on a nearby frozen lake and drinking hot chocolate in front of a fire after playing in the snow all day.

Though she was raised as a Sikh, her parents enrolled her in a Catholic school, as it was felt to be unsafe for her to go to public school. There she had her first kiss at 11, lost her virginity to a basketball player at another school at 16, and discovered that she was bisexual at 18. When she was 13, her family moved to Fort Gratiot, Michigan, then to Lake Forest, California a year later, fulfilling her grandparents' dream that the family be together in one place. She graduated from high school in 1999 and enrolled in college.

Sasha Grey (born Marina Ann Hantzis; March 14, 1988) is an American actress, model and musician, and former pornographic actress. Later in her adult film career, she was profiled by several popular culture magazines and television programs. She won several AVN Awards between 2007 and 2010, and has also been featured in music videos and advertising campaigns.

After her feature film debut as the lead in Steven Soderbergh's The Girlfriend Experience, she shifted her focus to acting, starring in the black comedy/horror film Smash Cut as April Carson, as well as having a supporting role in season 7 of HBO's Entourage. She has also appeared in independent films Quit, The Girl from the Naked Eye, Life, and Mark Pellington's I Melt With You. She is a member of aTelecine, an industrial music band.

Grey was born and raised in North Highlands, California, to a working class family. Her mother worked for the state of California and her father is a mechanic. Her ancestry includes Greek, Irish, English, and Polish. Her parents divorced when she was 5 and subsequently she was raised by her mother, who remarried in 2000. She's stated that while her parents hated her involvement in the adult industry, they get along.

Jeanna Fine (born in New York, NY, U.S.) is a pornographic actress and erotic dancer.

Adult film actress Siobhan Hunter encouraged Fine to go into adult films. Adult film actress Barbara Dare remarked how "fine" Jeanna was, which prompted Jeanna to adopt that as her surname. She was romantically involved with fellow pornographic actress Savannah.

Fine began in the adult movie industry as a blonde-haired punk-girl when she was 21 in 1986. She made 50 movies between 1986 and 1989. She re-emerged as a brunette in 1990. According to Fine's official adult film bio, Fine's sex film career was noted to have several large gaps between performing such as during the pregnancy and birth of her son.

Fine has retired from the adult film business with her last noted film "Deep Inside Sunset Thomas" released in 2003. She has appeared in no new films since, although several compilations of unreleased content featuring Fine have been released since 2003.

Fine was inducted in the Adult Video News Hall of Fame in 1998. She is also in the X-Rated Critic's Association's and Legends of Erotica Halls of Fame.

Vijayalakshmi Vadlapati(Telugu: విజయలక్ష్మి వడ్లపతి), known popularly as Silk Smitha was an Indian film artiste who worked predominantly in the South Indian languages. She entered the film industry as an extra actress, and first got noticed for her role as "Silk" in the 1979 Tamil film Vandichakkaram. She became a sought-after 'erotic actress' in the 1980s and in a career spanning 17 years, she appeared in over 450 films in Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu, Kannada and Hindi languages. On September 23, 1996, she was found dead in her apartment in Chennai, apparently having committed suicide.

Vadlapati Vijayalakshmi was born in a poor family in Eluru, Andhra Pradesh. She left school after her fourth standard (in India, at about 8 years of age) due to the family's financial constraints. Her striking looks burdened her with uninvited attention, and her family married her off at a very young age. When she was ill-treated by her husband and in-laws, she ran away to Madras (now known as Chennai) and started living with an aunt.