While porn superstars like John Holmes and Linda Lovelace are probably on top of a lot of people’s list, the list will use as its basis the net worth of the actors or actresses concerned. After all, it is all about the money, and these people would not have raked it in if they were not popular in the first place.
So here is the list of the ten most popular porn stars of all time based on their net worth.
10. Lexington Steele – $4 million
Steele started out as a stockbroker in New York. He then moved to the porn industry in 1997, and he has proven to be a success. He has won the Male Performer of the Year Award thrice, and he now owns Mercenary Motion Pictures. The company is now estimated to be worth more than $20 million.
9. Katie Morgan – $4.5 million
Morgan entered the porn industry probably by accident. She got arrested in 2000 for transporting marijuana from Mexico to the United States. Needing money for bail, she agreed to appear in the porn movie Dirty Debutantes 197. She retired from the industry in 2008 after getting married. Morgan has since appeared in the television series Entourage and in movies like Zack and Miri Make a Porno.
8. Bree Olson – $5 million
Olson is probably more known to mainstream show business fans as Charlie Sheen’s goddess in the aftermath of the actor’s breakdown after he got fired from Two and a Half Men. For porn fans however, she was already widely known as early as 2006, when the 20-year old bombshell started appearing in adult films. She has since appeared in more than 240 porn movies. Olson also has the distinction of appearing in the covers of Playboy, Penthouse and Hustler magazines. She was also the Pet of the Month of Penthouse for March 2008. She has not made an adult movie, however, since 2010. Fans hope that it is just a semi retirement
7. Ron Jeremy – $5.5 million
This native New Yorker is considered to be one of the most successful and recognizable porn actors of all time. He is famed for his incredibly large private part and his ability to perform fellatio on himself. Jeremy has appeared or directed in more than 2,000 adult movies and has partnered with several of the top porn actresses over the years. His fame has not gone unnoticed in Hollywood, with mainstream producers tapping his expertise for the Mark Wahlberg-movie Boogie Nights, and the Kim Basinger erotic drama 9 ½ weeks. He also runs his own nightclub in Oregon.
6. Maria Takagi – $6 million
Takagi is a Japanese actress who started out in the porn business in 2002. She immediately became popular, even winning several awards in 2003 for the Prettiest Face, Best New Actress and Best Actress. Unfortunately for porn fans, she made her last adult movie, called Fin…Maria Takagi, in 2004. She has successfully moved to the mainstream business, appearing in several television
5. Traci Lords – $7 million
She was considered an underage phenom, as she was only 15 years old when she made her first porn movie. Lords went through a tough childhood, getting raped when she was only 10, being abused by her father who was an alcoholic, and getting molested by her stepfather after she moved with her mother. By the time she was 18, Lords had already headlined 100 adult movies. It should be noted, however, that Lords claimed that she actually made only around 20 movies, with the rest coming from unused footages. After authorities discovered her real age, all but one of her movies were pulled out from the shelves of adult stores. Lords has since tried to venture into mainstream roles, appearing in a number of B-movies.
4. Jesse Jane – $8 million
Jane has the distinction of being part of the most expensive porn movie ever made, the Pirates XXX, which cost a million dollars. The movie was a parody of the Pirates of the Caribbean series. Jane has appeared in more than 75 porn movies, though she has had some breakthrough in the mainstream show business industry. She made guest appearances in popular series like Entourage, Middle Men, and Bucky Larson.
3. Peter North – $10 million
North was discovered after modeling athletic clothes in Los Angeles back in the 1980s. He has gone on to appear in more than 2,000 adult movies, including the popular North Pole and Anal Addicts series back in the late 90s. He owns the production company called Northstar Associates, and he has since produced more than 20 movies.
2. Tera Patrick – $15 million
Patrick has Thai, Dutch and Indonesian blood in her veins. She started out as a model when she was just in her teens. She then went on to college, finishing degrees in both nursing and microbiology. She then transferred to the porn industry, where she immediately became a star. She now owns a talent agency that manages porn actors and actresses.
1. Jenna Jameson – $30 million
Known as the Queen of Porn, Jameson is also the co-founder of Club Jenna, an internet-based porn company established in 2000. It started out as a site that would give out advice on various topics, from relationships to the stock market. Eventually, it started showing adult films, with Jameson as its headliner. She has also directed a number of porn movies. In 2005, she started a similar website, though this time, it was targeted for gay men. She also owns Babes Cabaret, a strip club based in Arizona. Jameson cashed in on Club Jenna in 2006 by selling the site to Playboy, even as she remained as one of the company’s executives.
