Traci Lords
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Nora Louise Kuzma (born May 7, 1968), also known as Traci Elizabeth Lords and Traci Lords, is an American actress. She first achieved notoriety for her underage appearances in pornographic films and Penthouse magazine (she was 15 years old in her first film), but is now pursuing a mainstream career.
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Career
Traci Elizabeth Lords was born Nora Louise Kuzma on May 7 1968, in Steubenville, Ohio. She made her stage name by combining the first name of her high school best friend, Traci, and the last name of her favorite actor from Hawaii Five-O, Jack Lord. At fifteen she fled from her abusive, alcoholic father to Lawndale, California with her mother and three sisters. Later, while attending Redondo Union High School, she ran away from home and had an abortion. While living with a forty-something boyfriend posing as her stepfather, she used a friend's sister's birth certificate and a fake driver's license indicating that she was twenty-two years of age to fake her way into the porn industry at the age of fifteen, starting with Jim South's World Modeling Agency. She quickly became one of the most popular starlets in town and is considered by many to be one of the first porn queens. She was most famous for her enthusiastic film performance of coitus, and her pubescent breasts with large puffy nipples characteristic of a 15-year-old. By the time she was 18, she'd appeared in one hundred and seven adult films. She even modeled for widely distributed adult magazines, such as Penthouse, in the same September 1984 issue that exposed Miss America 1984, Vanessa Williams. But in 1986, federal authorities discovered she was underage while making movies and they arrested the owners of her movie agency and X-citement Video, Inc. See United States v. X-Citement Video.
The ensuing prosecution cost the pornographic film and distribution industry millions as they were obligated by law to pull her videotapes and magazines from store shelves. Adult book and video stores needed to pull hundreds of thousands of her videos and films from their shelves to avoid the serious accusations of trafficking child pornography. The case gave government prosecutors a high profile, unequivocal violation of the law to use in prosecuting the pornographers and distributors associated with Lords' films as effectively as possible. Lords herself was never charged, since as a minor she was unable to give legal consent to perform sex acts on film for money. Instead, the agents and producers who accepted her fake IDs were charged and people affiliated with the films in question experienced legal troubles for years. Only one of her films, Traci, I Love You was actually produced after her eighteenth birthday, and is the only one of her films commonly and legally available in the United States. Since Lords retained the distribution rights to that film, there has been speculation in the industry as to whether she herself engineered the revelation of her age, to channel people's purchasing to the one film which would actually make money for her.
In parts of Europe and other regions where the minimum legal age for involvement in pornographic films is lower, Lords' films are still available, and they are commonplace on the Internet.
The controversy still sparks debate. Government prosecutors declared that Lords was a victim of a manipulative industry, while Lords has claimed that she was drugged and made to do things she did not want to do. But industry insiders, like Ron Jeremy and Ginger Lynn, as well as boyfriends say they never saw her use drugs and that she was fully aware of her actions even if, as a minor, she could not legally consent. While Lords decries the pornographic film industry, she continues to use the stage name she gave herself as a minor.
Lords has since moved into mainstream films and television with some success. She has played roles in a number of B-movies. Some of her more notable films include Not of this Earth (1988), John Waters' Cry Baby (1990), and Blade (1998).
Lords also appeared in continuing roles in several television series, including Married with Children (1987), Roseanne (1988), Melrose Place (1992), and Profiler (1996), with single appearances in MacGyver (1985), Highlander (1992), Tales from the Crypt (1989), and Hercules (1995), among others.
In the 1990s, Lords began developing a career as a singer performing vocals for Manic Street Preachers on the single "Little Baby Nothing", and also appearing in the music videos of other performers and groups. In 1995 Traci made her solo debut, in colaboration with Juno Reactor, called "1000 Fires". She has since become an active gay rights advocate.
In 2003 she published a book, Traci Lords: Underneath It All.
Acting credits
Film
- Black Mask 2: City of Masks (2001) - Chameleon
- Chump Change (2000) (as Traci Elizabeth Lords) - Sam
- Epicenter (2000) (as Traci Elizabeth Lords) - Amanda Foster
- You're Killing Me... (2001) - Laura Engles
- Blade (1998) - Racquel
- Extramarital (1997) - Elizabeth
- Me and Will (1998) - Waitress
- Stir (1997) - Kelly Bekins
- Boogie Boy (1997) - Shonda
- Underworld (1996) - Anna
- Blood Money (1996) - Wendy Monroe
- Virtuosity (1995) - Media Zone singer
- Ice (1993) - Ellen
- Serial Mom (1994) - Carl's Date
- Plughead Rewired: Circuitry Man II (1994) - Norma
- Laser Moon (1992) - Barbara Fleck
- The Nutt House (1992) - Miss Tress
- Raw Nerve (1991) - Gina Clayton
- A Time to Die (1991) - Jackie
- Cry-Baby (1990) - Wanda Woodward
- Shock 'Em Dead (1991) - Lindsay Roberts
- Fast Food (1989) - Dixie Love
- Not of This Earth (1988) - Nadine
Television
- D.R.E.A.M. Team (1999) (as Traci Elizabeth Lords) - Mira
- Deathlands (2003) - Lady Rachel Cawdor
- They Shoot Divas, Don't They? (2002) (as Traci Elizabeth Lords) - Mira
- First Wave (1998) (as Traci Elizabeth Lords) - Jordan
- As Good as Dead (1995) - Nicole Grace
- Dragstrip Girl (1994) - Blanche
- The Tommyknockers (1993) - Nancy Voss
- Murder in High Places (1991) - Diane
Video
- Adult 45 (1985)
- Adventures of Tracy Dick: The Case of the Missing Stiff (1985) - Tracy Dick
- Another Roll in the Hay (1985)
- Aroused (1985) - Allison
- Bad Girls III (1984)
- Black Throat (1985) (scenes deleted on re-release) - First Whore
- Breaking It (1984) - Jodie Brown
- Country Girl (1985) - Billie Jean
- Diamond Collection 69 (1985)
- Diamond Collection 73 (1985)
- Dirty Pictures (1985)
- Dream Lover (1985)
- Educating Mandy (1985) - Mandy
- Electric Blue 20 (1985)
- Electric Blue 21 (1985) - Suzy/Jane
- Electric Blue 28 (1985) - Nikki (scenes deleted)
- Erotic Gold (1985)
- Erotic Zones Vol. 1 (1985) (as Tracy Lords)
- Future Voyeur (1985)
- The Grafenberg Spot (1985)
- Harlequin Affair (1985) - Tracy
- Holly Does Hollywood (1985) - Tracy
- Hollywood Heartbreakers (1985)
- Huge Bras 3 (1985)
- It's My Body (1985) - Maggie
- Jean Genie (1985)
- Just Another Pretty Face (1985)
- Ladies in Lace (1985) - Linda
- Love Bites (1985) - Nurse
- Lust in the Fast Lane (1984) (as Tracy Lords) - Jackie
- Miss Passion (1984)
- New Wave Hookers (1985) - Devil
- The Night of Loving Dangerously (1984) (as Tracy Lords)
- Peek a Boo Gang (1985) - Tracy
- Perfect Fit (1985) - Diane
- Porn in the USA (1985) (as Tracy Lords)
- Portrait of Lust (1985) (as Tracy Lords) - Mirage
- The Sex Goddess (1984) - Marilyn West
- Sex Shoot (1985) (as Tracy Lords)
- Sex Waves (1985)
- Sexy Shorts (1984) (music video compilation) - Miss Georgia (segment "Gimme Gimme Good Lovin'", uncredited)
- Sister Dearest (1985)
- Sizzling Suburbia (1985)
- Tailhouse Rock (1985) - Stacey
- Those Young Girls (1984) (as Tracy Lords) - Tracy Lords
- Traci, I Love You (1987)
- Traci Takes Tokyo (1986)
- Tracy in Heaven (1985) (scenes deleted on 1987 re-release) - Monika Hart
- Tracy Lords (1984) (as Tracy Lords)
- Two-Timing Tracie (1985)
- We Love to Tease (1985)
- What Gets Me Hot! (1984) (as Tracy Lords) - Lannie
External links
- Template:Imdb name
- Official Traci Lords website (http://www.tracilords.com/)
- NOTES on the HISTORY of PORNOGRAPHY: Traci Lords (http://www.tranquileye.com/historyofporn/traci_lords.html)de:Traci Lords