Traci Lords

At 55 years old, Traci Lords has this physical status:

Life and career

Lords was born Nora Louise Kuzma in Steubenville, Ohio, to Louis and Patricia Kuzma on May 7, 1968. Her father's parents were of Ukrainian descent, though her mother was of Irish origins. Louis was employed as a steelworker. Lorraine, Kuzma's older sister, and two younger siblings, Rachel and Grace, are among the family's siblings. Kuzma and her mother and three siblings moved with her mother and three children to her great-grandmother's house when she was seven years old. Following her divorce, her alcoholic, abusive father was granted partial custody. Her mother joined Ohio University and started working part-time at the same time.

Kuzma, a child of her mother's new boyfriend, and siblings migrated to Redondo Beach, California, when she was 12. She didn't see her father for many years after he died. She started attending Redondo Union High School in September 1982, but she dropped out at age 15 to join the porn industry. Kuzma had a rebellious attitude in her early school years. As she describes her autobiography, she was angry at her mother and discovered a father figure in her mother's marriage, Roger Hayes; he was a drug addict and molested Kuzma in her sleep. She started dating her friend after her mother stopped working with Hayes due to his heroin use. Kuzma refused to follow them to a new location and was left with her older sister Lorraine. The mother and two younger sisters eventually moved to a new apartment.

Kuzma became pregnant by her high school classmate at age 15. She went to Hayes for assistance because she was afraid of her mother's reaction. He arranged for her abortions to be held without her mother's knowledge. She was introduced to Hayes' girlfriend and started working for her as a babysitter and was looking for a job to earn some money. Kuzma's career opportunities were enhanced by the woman's assistance in getting a fraudulent driver's license. Kuzma received a new birth certificate on the condition that, if she were ever caught, she would claim she stole the phony identification. Kuzma now had the alias Kristie Elizabeth Nussman and a new driver's license that stated she was 20 rather than 15 years old. She appeared in a newspaper advertisement for Jim South's World Modeling Talent Agency in February 1984. Hayes was driven by her stepfather to the agency after she posed as her stepfather. After entering a contract, she began modeling as a nude model and appeared in newspapers including Velvet, Juggs, and Club. Kuzma was asked to select a stage name during August's selection for the Penthouse magazine's September 1984 15th-anniversary issue. She chose Traci, one of the most popular names after the actor Jack Lord, since she was a fan of the television show Hawaii Five-O, in which she played Steve McGarrett.

When Lords appeared in What Gets Me Hot, she made the first of many porn films in 1984. Tom Byron, who later became her boyfriend off-screen, was a film actress. She first appeared in a non-sexual role at first, but she was later replaced with a hardcore band. She appeared in Those Young Girls, Harry Reems and Ginger Lynn's next film, they appeared in a sex role. Lords was dubbed the "Princess of Porn" after turning 16 and appearing with John Leslie (an actor 23 years her senior) in the porno parody Talk Dirty to Me Part III (which received the AVN Award for the best film). She became one of the highest-paid porn actresses of that period, earning more than $1,000 a day. She was also included in the music video for Helix' "Gimme Gimme Good Lovin'" in addition to her pornographic duties. When she decided to leave the industry at age 16, the Lords continued making more films until late 1984, but a few months later. Stuart Dell, who became her boyfriend, boss, and business partner, and a nym Steven (or Stephen) Cartier, right before her 17th birthday. The Traci Lords Company was established by the two individuals as a unit. In which they would produce three films for the company, Dell and Lords signed a distribution agreement with Sy Adler, an industry veteran who managed Vantage International. The first TLC feature, Traci Takes Tokyo, was released in March 1986; it was shot in Tokyo around Christmas Day 1985. After the second, Beverly Hills Copulator, was released, but Screamer, the third film, was shelved.

Authorities were told she was underage when she appeared in the porn films in late May 1986 (about three weeks after Lords' 18th birthday). She had lied (according to Lords, it was a "white lie") to law enforcement, photographers, producers, editors, co-workers, and the general public for two years. (see United States vs. X-Citement Video, Inc., Inc.) The operators of her film company and X-Citement Video, Inc. were arrested (see United States vs. X-Citement Video, Inc.). Leslie Abramson, a high-profile advocate, was taken into protective custody and employed her. On July 10, district attorney's investigators searched Lords' Redondo Beach home, as well as the Sun Valley offices of Vantage International Productions (a major producer of adult films) and modeling agent Jim South's Sherman Oaks office. Lords, who was seeking employment, issued a California driver's license, a US passport, and a birth certificate that said that her name was Kristie Nussman and that her birth date was November 17, 1962. Lords reported that she was older than 18 when the illicit photos for the September 1984 issue were taken, according to Leslie Jay, a spokeswoman for Penthouse publisher Bob Guccione. Nussman found the true Kristie Nussman after investigators used Lords' fake birth certificate and bogus state identification cards to locate the right Kristie Nussman, Nussman, Nussman, although Nussman's birth certificate had been robbed a few years ago, and that an impostor had apparently forged her name on official forms. Two adults who knew Lords but wanted anonymity said they saw her photograph in the adult magazine Velvet in July 1984 and phoned the district attorney's office to inform authorities that she was underage, but that an investigator told them, "There isn't anything we can do about it."

In order to avoid being charged for selling child pornography, video rental shops and adult movie theaters in the United States began to remove all hardcore material starring Lords from their stores and adult movie theaters in the United States on July 17, 1986, in order to avoid charges of selling child pornography. Distributors should stop releasing any film made before May 1986 that stars Lords "in sexual conduct," according to John Weston, attorney of the Adult Film Association of America. The removal of Lords' movies from the market cost the company millions of dollars. Lords was convicted of a manipulative industry, according to government prosecutors, who said she was drugged and coerced to perform non-consensual conduct. Ron Jeremy, Tom Byron, Peter North, and Ginger Lynn, among other industry insiders, said they never saw her use opioids and were always aware of her activities. Although most of Lords' films were eventually removed from television, several were re-edited to eliminate her scenes (such as Kinky Business and New Wave Hookers) or in a few cases, a different actor appeared in a new video (as in Talk Dirty to Me Part III). Traci, I Love You, her only porn film in the United States, was shot in Cannes, France, two days after her 18th birthday.

After several months in therapy, Lords decided to concentrate on acting. She attended the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute, where she studied method acting for three months. Lords placed an advert in The Hollywood Reporter seeking representation after leaving the academy. Fred Westheimer contacted her, and although the company refused to officially represent her, he decided to send her out on a few auditions. As a result, she was given the opportunity to appear in an episode of the television show Wise. She met director Jim Wynorski, who was directing Roger Corman's 1957 sci-fi masterpiece Not of This Earth, a short time later. Lords was immediately cast in the lead role of Nadine Story, and Not of This Earth (1988) became her first mainstream film debut since being barred from the adult film industry. Despite the fact that the film did not do well in video sales, it did a good job in video sales. Lords was invited to appear in Wynorski's next film, The Haunting of Morella (1989), based on his popularity. However, Lords turned down the bid due to the fact that she was attempting to establish herself as a professional actor. She also signed with a modeling company under her birth name Nora Kuzma and appeared on two covers of Joe Weider's magazine Muscle & Fitness. Around the time, Lords became a spokesperson for Children of the Night, an organization that fosters runaways and abandoned children, and was planning to publish a book called Out of the Blue: The Traci Lords Story.

Lords enrolled in another acting class in November 1988 and began looking for an agent. She mass-mailed her resume to several agents in December and arranged a meeting with Don Gerler in December. Lords auditioned for the part of Breathless Mahoney in the 1990 film Dick Tracy (1990), but Madonna took the lead. John Waters auditioned her for his teen comedy musical Cry-Baby (1990), but Waters had referred to Lords as a "sexual criminal." She received the role and appeared in the film alongside Johnny Depp and Ricki Lake. Wanda Woodward's portrayal of the rebellious teenager established her as a credible actress, both critically and commercially successful. Brook Yeaton, who she started dating on the set of the film, was introduced to her property master, Brook Yeaton, whom she soon met on the set. In September 1990 in Baltimore, Maryland, the couple married. The exercise video Warm up with Traci Lords was released in June 1990. The video was shot and produced by her late boyfriend and business partner Stewart Dell in early 1988. She was dissatisfied with the final version of the film, as Lords wrote in her autobiography. In 1993, an extended version of Traci Lords: Advanced Jazzthetics was reissued.

Lords appeared in the 1991 thriller Raw Nerve and the action crime film A Time to Die. Lords appeared on such popular television shows as Roseanne, Married... with Children, MacGyver, and Hercules. Janet Howard and Thierry Mugler, among other fashion designers, kept modeling and walking the runway.

During 1992, Lords began to concentrate on her work as a recording artist. She first committed to Capitol Records as a result of a growth contract. She was recommended to Jeff Jacklin, who was hired to record the song "Love Never Dies" for the movie Pet Sematary Two (1992), after meeting Rodney Bingenheimer at a birthday party. Gary Kurfirst, the soundtrack's producer, has signed Lords to his company Radioactive Records. She appeared on Manic Street Preachers' album "Little Baby Nothing" and "Somebody to Love" by Ramones later this year. Lords was included in Stephen King's book The Tommyknockers on television in 1993.

Lords began working on her debut album in the spring of 1994. The company arranged a visit to London for producer Tom Bailey, who was arranged to travel to London. Lords was introduced to producer Ben Watkins of Juno Reactor, who released more techno-influenced songs after finishing her album with Bailey. She then met Mike Edwards, the band's main singer. Lords appeared in three episodes at the same time as they were cast in the television series Roseanne. Lords appeared in four episodes of Melrose Place, where she played Rikki Abbott. On February 28, 1995, 1000 Fires, her debut studio album, was released. The lead single, "Control" topped at number two on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Songs chart, receiving generally favorable feedback, while the lead single "Control" debuted at number two. On the soundtrack to Mortal Kombat (1995), an instrumental version of "Control" was remixed and released by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). "Fallen Angel," the album's second single, was also very popular on charts, peaking at number eleven on Hot Dance Club Songs. The Paul Oakenfold remix of the song appeared on the soundtrack of the film Virtuosity (1995), in which Lords made a cameo appearance. Following the album's release, Lords embarked on a brief tour as a DJ, most in Miami nightclubs. On August 12, 1995, she appeared at the Lollapalooza after-party, Enit Festival, alongside Moby, Sven Väth, DJ Keoki, and Single Cell Orchestra.

Lords divorced Brook Yeaton, her husband of five years, by the end of 1995. Juliette Lewis appeared in a commercial for GUESS in 1996.

Lords appeared in a small part of Gregg Araki's Nowhere in 1997 and starred in Stir, a drama thriller. She has appeared on television shows Nash Bridges and Viper as a guest star. In the second season of the crime television show Profiler, she became a regular cast member. She played a criminal by a serial killer Jack-of-All-Trades and then became his partner in the crime Jill-of-All-Trades. Lords appeared in the drama Extramarital in 1998 and played a supporting role in the crime thriller Boogie Boy. She appeared in Blade (1998), in which she played the vampire seductress Racquel. Lords was eventually invited to appear in Blade II (2002), portraying Racquel's twin sister Valerine in the search of revenge on Blade. However, she turned down the bid due to her inconsistent schedule. Lords announced at the premiere of the film that she was finishing her second album on Radioactive Records, which will be released in the spring of 1999. However, it was later dismissed after she removed the word from the record label. Lords ended her two-year relationship with John Enos in August after they reportedly got into a dispute after her cat was killed by one of Enos' dogs.

Lords appeared in the films Epicenter and Chump Change in 2000. Sam's role in the romantic comedy Chump Change was coveted with the Film Discovery Jury Prize for Best Actress in the United States. The Comedy Arts Festival is an annual event that takes place in Edinburgh, Canada. In September, she became a regular cast member of the Sci-fi Channel television series First Wave's third season, becoming the first recurring female character to be included on the series. After the aliens used her brother to murder her parents, Jordan Radcliffe, an heiress and leader of the Human Resistance Group "The Raven Nation" was played by Jordan Radcliffe.

Traci Lords: Underneath It All was published by HarperCollins in July 2003. Lords chronicled her childhood, work, and two-year stint in the x-rated industry in the book. Critics were supportive of the book, and it was a commercial success, earning the New York Times Best Seller list. Pornographers, who claim to be the victims, had it attacked. Lords admitted in the book that she received about $35,000 in total compensation for all her porno films, including the $5,000 for her underage appearance in Penthouse. Lords continued to use the now-famous stage name that she had acquired as a child and later made it her legal name. "I wanted to avoid running from it," she explained. Rather, I won it by officially changing my name to Traci Elizabeth Lords. I was who I was and that's what I was going to be." "I discovered you can run, but you can't hide," Oprah Winfrey said in an interview with her.

During 2003, it was revealed that Lords was working on new music and that there had been recorded a cover version of Missing People's "Walking In Los Angeles." During Mike Ruiz' interview on The Oprah Winfrey Show, the music video was premiered. "Sunshine" and "You Burn Inside of Me" were two songs released by the artist on December 28, 2004. Both of the songs, as well as "What Cha Gonna Do," were included in the television series Joan of Arcadia. In the commercial for Duprey Cosmetics, where Lords appeared, "You Burn Inside of Me." The following year, she signed to Sea To Sun records and released the chart-topping single "Last Drag." Lords is currently recording new songs in Los Angeles.

Lords became unexpectedly pregnant at the start of 2007. "I kind of thought the kids stuff was off the table," she first revealed her pregnancy in June.

Now I'm expecting a boy!

We're shocked and ecstatic. These 36-Ds are mine, and I want you to know it.

I haven't had a boob job, she laughed!

I am 51⁄2 months pregnant!

However, now that I'm getting around. "My husband is content with the changes in my body," says the author. Gunnar Lords Lee, she and her husband of five years, Jeff Lee, welcomed their first child at the age of 39 on October 7, 2007.Lords had been cast in Kevin Smith's comedy Zack and Miri Make a Porno (2008), a public service in January 2008. She said at first she wanted to avoid reading the book but that she changed her mind after reading the script. "It was so good that I went back to work right away, but I was dying to work with Kevin." I had no idea it would be a thing named Zack and Miri Make a Porno.

What?

So I went and read the script at his house and was prepared to say no. I thought I had the right idea. I had no children at the time. If I say I can't do this right now, no one is going to blame me. However, it made me laugh out loud and it made me cry. It was just funny." The character had a topless scene in the film, but Lords refused. "I'm done with all of this," she said. In the midst of taking her son, the Lords chose to breastfeed her son. Katie Morgan, a pornographic actress, appeared in the film as well.

Lords appeared in the direct-to-DVD science fiction film Princess of Mars in 2009, alongside Antonio Sabàto Jr. "I was afraid that it would be a crummy movie if it were stuck in my heart." The whole thing was just too careless. However, I trusted the voices of those around me who said, 'No, it'll be artistic, no, it will be innovative.' You'll look stunning. We have a very limited budget, but honest, you'll be proud.' They were wrong, it was very bad. I was told at least that. After watching the first two minutes, I had to turn it off and hide under the covers."

Lords revealed in March 2010 that she was beginning to work on her latest album, with "Pretty" being the lead single. However, the scheme was later shelved and "Pretty" was released as a promotional single only. Lords appeared in the drama comedy Au Pair, Kansas, which premiered at the Kansas City FilmFest in April 2011. Lords officially signed to independent record label Sea To Sun Recordings in July and performed their musical debut with the song "Last Drag" in October. In dance charts debuting at number forty-five and eventually debuting at number four on the Billboard Dance Club Songs, the single was a hit.

Lords appeared in Excision (2012), a horror film that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2012. Lords Fangoria Chainsaw Award for Best Supporting Actress, as well as the Fright Meter Award and CinEuphoria Prize were given to her for her portrayal of the controlling mother Phyllis. Lords released a collection of dance songs in September. M2F2 (2012). It featured three of her own remixed tracks as well as songs by other artists. "He's My Bitch" rose to the top of the Billboard Dance Club Songs chart, peaking at number twenty-five. In the 2012 video game Hitman: Absolution, Lords also discussed Layla Stockton's character. Following the Steubenville High School rape case, Lords debated the subject and then released the song "Stupidville" as a reaction to the situation. "I was born in Steubenville, Ohio, and I was raped in there." So was my mother. "I believe there is a disease in that region," Lords said. Lords appeared in the horror film Devil May Call (2013) as well as an episode of the web series EastSiders in 2013. At the 2014 Indie Series Awards, she was nominated for the Best Guest Star – Drama.

Lords appeared in an episode of the fourth season of the reality television series Celebrity Wife Swap, where she swapped lives with Jackée Harry in May 2015. Lords co-starred in Jim Wynorski's television horror Sharkansas Women's Prison Massacre (2015) and made her second appearance as Val on the film EastSiders. Lords co-starred in Nightmare Nurse (2016), in which she played a psychopathic nurse searching for revenge for her dead husband in March 2016. After having previously voiced Layla Stockton in Hitman: Absolution (2012), Lords became several characters in the action-adventure video game Hitman (2016).

Lords revealed her partnership with Pinup Girl Clothing in June. Wanda Woodward's early pieces from her collection were inspired by both 1950s and 1960s fashion; the clothing line is exclusive to Pinup Girl Clothing's website. "John [Waters] wrote such strong characters in Cry-Baby," she recalled. Wanda Woodward is definitely a queen in this punk rock, punk rock, vintage pin-up girl kind of world.

Lords co-starred in the Viaplay original comedy series Swedish Dicks in 2016. Jane McKinney played Jane McKinney, a private investigator and critic of the show's protagonist. The show was resurgent in October as a confirmed cast member in Lords' second season. The first season of the United States premiered in August 2017. Lords also announced that she would direct her first feature film, The Unquiet Grave, later this month. In 2017, filming was scheduled to begin. Lords voiced Jackal Z in the forthcoming video game Let It Die (2016), and the character will appear in the third season of EastSiders in November. The Fall 2017 collection starring Lords was revealed in July 2017. Helmut Lang's fashion campaign for the Fall 2017 collection featuring Lords was announced in July 2017. Lords released "Come Alive" as a token for her followers in honor of her 50th birthday in May 2018. Following the unveiling of the news, she and Adam Barta and Jordan Von Haslow announced that they were working on an EP. In July 2018, Swedish Dicks' second season premiered in the United States.

Lords continues to act as of 2020, and there have been a number of films released in the last couple of years. Nicole's Ex & the Killer's film debut is also in limbo due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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