The reasons people work in the porn/adult film industry or act in erotic films, vary. After achieving mainstream fame, some own up to their past and admit it was a part of their career and see no shame in accepting that. Others try to hide all evidence that it ever happened.
A career is a career and regardless what society thinks of its negative effects, it paid the bills for these stars until something better came along. Not everybody got a good deal out of their early ventures in such films, but today nobody cares if it was part of their resume at some point.
One would like to believe the audience has matured enough to realise that the persona on screen and the person in real life are two different people. It makes no sense to pull down, insult or degrade an actor for their careers in porn or erotica. But the shaming happens (thanks to a few fools who think they’re better than everyone else) as it happened with Sunny Leone on national television. While the actress took it in her stride and held her own in the face of base questions from the interviewer, it showed Sunny to be a smart, independent and a cool individual.
She can take solace in the fact that good things are sure to follow, like it did in the case of these Hollywood celebrities...
SYLVESTER STALLONE
THAT FILM! The Italian Stallion aka The Party at Kitty & Stud’s
BREAKOUT FILM: Rocky
The Party... was a 1970 softcore porn flick that earned him $200. He would later tell Playboy magazine that he had been “starving” and “desperate” when he did the role. It got him off the streets. But, self-admittedly, it was a horrendous film. Rocky made Sly a star and the action hero never looked back since.
BEN AFFLECK
THAT FILM! I Killed My Lesbian Wife, Hung Her on a Meathook & How I Have a Three-Picture Deal with Disney
BREAKOUT FILM: Good Will Hunting
The Oscar-winning director made a short film with a very long (and self-explanatory) title, back in 1993. The movie was so bad, even Ben said, “It’s horrible. It’s atrocious. I knew I wanted to be a director, and I did a couple of short films, and this is the only one that haunts me. I’m not proud of it. It looks like it was made by someone who has no prospects, no promise.”
FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA
THAT FILM! Tonight For Sure
BREAKOUT FILM: The Godfather
It would take FFC 10 long years to go from Tonight... to The Godfather. The former released in 1962, the later in 1972. He won a Best Director Oscar for The Godfather II in 1974.Tonight was a softcore outing, part of which came from a short film called The Peeper, which he made while still in film school.
HELEN MIRREN
THAT FILM! Caligula
BREAKOUT FILM: Excalibur
She started out in acting as early as 1967 and even starred in quite a few TV movies, did a load of Shakespearean roles before signing on for Tinto Brass’s Caligula in 1979. The film courted controversy for its explicit sex scenes of Roman debauchery and was banned in several countries. She eventually won accolades playing The Queen.
MATT LE BLANC
THAT FILM! The Red Shoe Diaries (TV series)
BREAKOUT FILM: F.R.I.E.N.D.S. (TV)
Before he was Joey Tribbiani on F.R.I.E.N.D.S., Matt was one of the stars of a TV series called The Red Shoe Diaries, that could well fall into the genre of softcore porn. The series ran for several seasons and Matt was a part of quite a few episodes in the first season in 1992, a full two years before F.R.I.E.N.D.S.
DAVID DUCHOVNY
THAT FILM! The Red Shoe Diaries (TV series)
BREAKOUT FILM: THE X-Files (TV)
Fox Mulder came after RSD host and presenter Jake Winters made his appearances across 10 episodes in the first season. In fact, he would go on to work on the show between 1992-97, while X-FIles went on from 1993-2004.
JACKIE CHAN
THAT FILM! All In The Family
BREAKOUT FILM: Drunken Master
All In The Family, where Jackie plays a lecherous rickshaw driver, released in 1975, when Chan was seen in nothing but uncredited roles. A few years on, he became popular in China as a star of action film, but it was with Rush Hour in 2006 that he got catapulted to international fame. It was around that time, he admitted, “I had to do anything I could to make a living 31 years ago, but I don’t think it’s a big deal.”
SASHA GREY
THAT FILM! A string of porn films
BREAKOUT FILM: The Girlfriend Experience
There was a time you couldn’t Google Sasha Grey without getting links or images of her porn film career. She would soon leave it all behind, for a mainstream career in films and music, starting with The Girlfriend Experience and later TV series Entourage, where she featured alongside Elijah Wood.
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