Jenna Jameson: The Queen of Porn

With April 9th being Jenna Jameson's birthday, I thought that a bit of a tribute was in order this day.

 

In her day, Jenna was the epitome of sensual. The very first time that I saw her, I wanted to look just like her. She was slim, busty, blond, tiny waist, and round hips. She was glamorous and provocative. 

She had it all and I idolized her.

Although Jenna initially aspired to be in the world of ballet, it was stripping that started Jenna on her road to fame and fortune. While dancing under the name "Jennasis," it didn't take long for her to go from stripping to a very successful nude modeling career. Even before reaching the age of twenty, Jenna appeared many of the top skin magazines, including Penthouse, Hustler, High Society and Cheri. 

According to the IMDB, it was a visit to a porn that got Jenna interested in doing hardcore porn. With the success as a softcore modeling, Jenna was considered a prize for any film studio. She benefited from a bidding war amongst studios and in 1995 signed an exclusive agreements with Wicked Pictures. 

Soon afterwards, Jenna made her screen debut in "Up and Cummers 10."  Jenna quickly became one of the most popular porn starlets in the industry, and in 1996 she won an string of new-commer awards, including the XRCO Best New Starlet, the F.O.X.E. Video Vixen and the AVN Best New Starlet awards - she was the first entertainer to win all three of these awards. Over the following years, a stream of other awards had Jenna Jameson's name on them.

It has been reported that, by 2001, Jenna was earning $60,000 a a film and as much as $25,000 a night for dancing.

In 2000, Jenna Jameson co-founded the online porno company "ClubJenna" which became in instant hit and reportedly became profitable only weeks after opening and grossed over a million dollars in its first year. By 2005, ClubJenna was grossing more than $30 million annually.

It is still quite successful.

"I really think it's important that people know that the women in this industry are empowered. They run it, man. It's awesome."

Jameson guest hosted several episodes of the E! cable network's hit travel/adventure/party show "Wild on!" and was the host for Playboy TV's "Jenna's American Sex Star" reality show.

Jenna has been involved with numerous other projects outside of the porn industry. She appeared in an episode of Family Guy, Howard Stern's "Private Parts", a variety of wrestling-related programs, several top-selling video games, the NBC drama series "Mister Sterling", numerous music videos, and several low-budget horror films.

From Wikipedia:

Jenna Jameson (born Jenna Marie Massoli; April 9, 1974) is an American entrepreneur and former pornographic star, who has been called the world's most famous adult-entertainment performer and "The Queen of Porn." She started acting in erotic videos in 1993 after having worked as a stripper and glamour model. By 1996, she had won the "top newcomer" award from each of the three major adult movie organizations. She has since won more than 20 adult video awards, and has been inducted into both the X-Rated Critics Organization (XRCO) and Adult Video News (AVN) Halls of Fame.

Jameson founded the adult-entertainment company ClubJenna in 2000 with Jay Grdina, whom she later married and divorced. Initially a single website, this business expanded into managing similar websites of other stars and began producing sexually explicit videos in 2001. The first such movie, Briana Loves Jenna (with Briana Banks), was named at the 2003 AVN Awards as the best-selling and best-renting pornographic title for 2002. By 2005, ClubJenna had revenues of US$30 million with profits estimated at half that. Advertisements for her site and films, often bearing her picture, have towered on a 48-foot-tall billboard in New York City's Times Square. Playboy TV hosts her Jenna's American Sex Star reality show where aspiring porn stars compete for a Club Jenna contract.

Jameson has also crossed over into mainstream pop culture, starting with a minor role in Howard Stern's 1997 film Private Parts. Her mainstream appearances continued with: regular appearances on The Howard Stern Show; guest-hosting stints on E! television's Wild On! and Talk Soup programs; a guest-starring voice-over role in a 2001 episode of the Fox animated television sitcom Family Guy; an award-winning voice-over role in the 2002 video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City; and, a guest-starring role in two episodes of the 2003 NBC television series Mister Sterling. Her 2004 autobiography, How to Make Love Like a Porn Star: A Cautionary Tale, spent six weeks on The New York Times Best Seller list. She has also created a horror comic book with Virgin Comics entitled Jenna Jameson's Shadow Hunter, released in February 2008. She played the female lead character in the 2008 horror-comedy Zombie Strippers. Jenna is considering a singing/acting career on Broadway in the Tony-nominated musical "Rock of Ages".