Yesterday, AVN Media Network announced three new members of the AVN Hall of Fame - Pleasure Product Branch. Today we reveal the rest of the 2020 inductees, a wide range of individuals who worked in many different capacities in the adult industry.
Performers and directors enter AVN’s original video-based Hall of Fame, but there are other branches, too. The Founders Branch celebrates those who pioneered back in the early days of the industry. The Pleasure Products Branch is for manufacturers, distributors and retailers of sex toys. And the Executive Branch is populated by those who work behind the scenes in the C-suite or excel in other capacities—for example, in sales, marketing or education—or in founding their own companies.
In all branches, a minimum of 10 years in the business is required for consideration. And in many cases, the inductees have served much longer.
The AVN Hall of Fame Class of 2020 will be officially inducted at the 2020 AVN Awards Show, which takes place January 25. And they’ll also be celebrated at the kickoff event to the AVN Adult Entertainment Expo (AEE), which will take place at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Las Vegas a week from today (January 21), the night before AEE begins. The Welcome Industry Cocktail Party begins at 9 p.m. at Goose Island in the main casino area, and is open to all trade attendees of AEE and the AVN Novelty Expo. Drink tickets are available from AVN staffers.
The 2020 AVN Awards will be hosted by adult star Nikki Benz and cam star Emily Bloom. The AVN Awards are presented by MyFreeCams. Fans may purchase general-admission tickets, VIP table seating options, or various packages. For more information, visit AVN.com/awards.
AVN Hall of Fame - Founders Branch
Rubin "Ruby" Gottesman
Veteran adult producer/distributor Ruby Gottesman is perhaps best remembered as owner of "one-stop" distributorship X-Citement Video, which he ran along with Wicked Pictures founder Steven Orenstein for more than 20 years beginning in 1972—and also for the various busts he suffered along the way. Gottesman was first arrested in 1978 in what's been called the "Saint Valentine's Day bust,” when the feds swooped down on the San Fernando Valley and swept up several adult moguls—and then again in 1987 when he was charged with selling movies starring an underage Traci Lords. Gottesman's conviction in the case was reversed, however, when the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Gottesman hadn't known Lords was underage when he sold the films, and a government appeal of that reversal to the U.S. Supreme Court failed. Nevertheless, Gottesman wound up spending nine months in federal prison in 1997, which took its toll in more ways than one. Mainly, it caused the death of X-Citement Video, and Gottesman was reduced to managing an adult bookstore in Bakersfield, California. But Gottesman, ever the survivor, eventually found employment, first as an assistant to Charlie Brickman, the owner of Cinderella Distributors Inc., and later as a salesman for distributor Robert Hill Releasing, a job he left in November of 2007. It was his last employment before he moved into an assisted living facility in Hollywood until he passed away earlier this year.
AVN Hall of Fame - Video Branch
Bill Bailey
A beloved performer who endeared himself to all he encountered with his soft Southern drawl and easy demeanor, Bill Bailey amassed over 1,700 performing appearances during a career that began in 2009 and remained steady throughout the decade that followed. Though not typically cast in leading man roles, perhaps his most enduring turn was one that came early in his triple-X days, as none other than Bo Duke in 2010’s Not Really the Dukes of Hazzard from director Anton Slayer. A few of his other most memorable credits include Brad Armstrong’s Countdown (2012), Axel Braun’s Captain America XXX (2013) and Joanna Angel’s I Know Who You Fucked Last Halloween (2018). Not one to pursue recognition for his efforts, though, Bailey shied away from the limelight and built his reputation instead on being reliable, humble and unwaveringly respectful of his peers. It was those qualities by which he was roundly remembered last spring at a casual industry gathering in celebration of his life after it was cut tragically short due to a fatal accident during a trip to the Expo Sexo convention in Mexico City. AVN Hall of Famer Bud Lee, of talent agency 101 Modeling, which represented Bailey until his passing, summed up the general sentiment of the memorial’s many attendees by saying, “I thought he was a great guy. … He was genuine, and I think he was genuine in that Southern, folksy way, that sometimes some people didn’t believe it, but it was genuine.”
Angel Dark
Angel Dark, the statuesque 5-foot-10 Slovakian performer who debuted in 2002, never wanted fame—but her scintillating performances and gorgeous looks made it unavoidable as she racked up more than 360 credits primarily in Europe in the 2000s. A native of Michalovce, Slovakia—which is near the border of Ukraine and Poland—Dark remains one of the top performers of her generation and an all-time great from Europe despite retiring from porn around 2015. The 2011 AVN Female Foreign Performer of the Year performed in more than 30 titles for legendary Barcelona-based studio Private Media alone, while also making the rounds for leading American labels such as Evil Angel and Elegant Angel. She appeared in the late John Leslie’s Crack Her Jack 3 (2004) and Voyeur 29 (2005); Christoph Clark’s Christoph’s Beautiful Girls 17 (2004); Rocco Siffredi’s Rocco Ravishes Ibiza 2 (2005); Kelly Stafford’s Kelly’s Lost Movie (2006) and Mike Adriano's Up Her Asshole 1 (2010) for starters. Dark also got the call for early volumes of the renowned Elegant Angel series Big Wet Tits (2 and 3) and Big Wet Asses 6. Known for balls-to-the-wall anal and DP scenes, Dark took a break from porn from about 2008-10 but remained active feature dancing for Private Media in Spain and also all over Italy. A strong-willed Aries who loves the band Linkin Park and trance music, Dark in a 2010 interview with AVN—her first and only US interview—said she doesn’t feel like a star. We beg to differ.
Kianna Dior
Kianna Dior started her adult career as a stripper in her hometown of Vancouver, Canada, and after four years, encouraged by dancer/performer Shay Sights, she moved to working on-camera in 1999. Initially a girl/girl and non-sex performer, she started doing boy/girl in 2001. Since those initial scenes, Dior has been credited with more than 250 performances (as recorded on IAFD.com) working for companies ranging from Adam & Eve to Extreme Associates, Video Team and Vivid. Dior was also featured in In Your Face, a documentary about rock photographer Neil Zlozower. In 2009, she prevailed in a dispute brought by Paris couture house Christian Dior, which had contended her KiannaDior.com URL was similar to their ChristianDior.com. The WIPO arbitration found in her favor and denied the couturier's complaint. Dior continues to work for commercial companies, with an ongoing series of star showcases for Jonni Darkko/Evil Angel, including five volumes of Kianna Dior: Busty Asian Cum Slut, as well as appearances for Brazzers. Score and Kelly Madison Productions. She also shoots her own content for fans on Pornhub and OnlyFans. Dior resides in Los Angeles and says she "has an affinity for yorkies, fitness, and hiking."
Nicki Hunter
South Florida native Nikki Hunter sang in the church choir before starting to perform in adult movies at age 23 in 2004. She is credited on IAFD.com with almost 800 performances in scenes including solos, oral, girl/girl, boy/girl, orgies, gangbangs, interracial and BDSM, and her scenes are still released in compilations. She won Female Performer of the Year at XRCO in 2006, and received AVN Award nominations in categories including Best All-Girl Sex Scene, Best Supporting Actress, Best Group Sex Scene, and Best New Starlet. Hunter won an AVN Award for Best Makeup in 2010 and was also nominated for Best Solo Sex Scene that year. Hunter was a producer and director for Hustler Video, Anarchy Films and Venus Girls, among others. In March, 2010, she was one of the stars who shot public service announcements for the Free Speech Coalition that discouraged piracy of adult content. She was the host of Night Calls on the Playboy and Vivid satellite radio channels. She was also the longtime host of Porn Star Karaoke at Sardo's Grill & Lounge in Burbank, the long-running Tuesday-night adult industry get-together that ended after 14 years when Sardo's closed down in 2017. She has appeared on The Howard Stern Show, The David Spade Show, The Secret Lives of Women on Oxygen, and independent short films. Hunter told AVN she "spends most of her retirement years now doing makeup for various companies, being a mom, and making the world a better place through leadership training."
Jelena Jensen
There are plenty of career distinctions Jelena Jensen can boast about, including but not limited to having been named the very first Danni Girl for internet pioneer Danni Ashe’s Danni.com; working under the direction of adult film maestro Andrew Blake; appearing in Playboy, Penthouse and Hustler; and running her own successful website, JelenaJensen.com, for 15 years. But perhaps most astonishingly of all, she has managed to maintain consistent popularity throughout her nearly two-decade career doing mostly softcore and girl/girl work—that is, outside of the limited boy/girl content she’s done for her eponymous site. So strong is her fan base among connoisseurs of lesbian erotica, in fact, that they propelled her to be crowned leading all-girl studio Girlsway’s second annual Girl of the Year in 2017. Interestingly, Jensen originally found her way into the business working as a product and marketing manager for an adult DVD retail site while attending Southern California’s Chapman University (from which she graduated magna cum laude with a degree in film and television production, by the by). Through that job, she became acquainted with AVN Hall of Fame director/performer Vince Vouyer, whom she credited in a 2010 AVN interview with convincing her to do nude glamour modeling. “So he introduced me to a few people,” she noted at the time, “and the rest is history.” Though she’s stepped back from shooting for adult studios in the past couple of years, Jensen continues to operate her website and has been actively selling indie clips via top platform ManyVids.
Karla Lane
Karla Lane, a 15-year veteran performer from Los Angeles, says she always wanted to do porn, even before she knew what it entailed. So a day after she turned 18, she got tested and debuted not long after, beginning what would be an impactful career that today has positioned her as a leading advocate for diversity in porn. The owner of Body Positive Productions, who won the 2016 BBW Performer of the Year award and the 2019 Niche Performer of the Year award, has emerged as an influential industry figure who continues to uphold the interests of plus-size performers. In her most prominent performance to date, Lane starred in the 2019 AVN Award-winning Best Featurette, “The Weight of Infidelity,” a Pure Taboo production directed by Bree Mills that was written by and co-starred Angela White. The profound episode—which also featured Tommy Pistol as the male lead—saw Lane playing the mistress of an abusive husband (Pistol) who had a dark feeder fetish. It was one of the first major porn productions to cast a plus-size performer in a leading role. Lane in 2019 also became the first BBW performer to appear on NaughtyAmerica.com, adding to a résumé that includes more than 300 credits since 2005. An early high school graduate who has a culinary degree and also owns a catering business, Lane says she wants to continue to make genre-bending porn and use her stature in adult entertainment to champion positive change.
Sunny Lane
Sunny Lane burst into porn in 2005 with not only beauty and talent but also the energy of a cyclone and a personality exemplified by her first name. The Georgia native would go on to delight fans for well over a decade as both performer and feature dancer. She starred in movies helmed by the likes of Roy Karch, Joey Silvera and John Leslie, and stole the show in James Avalon’s Roller Dollz (2008). But she found her ideal collaborator in director Will Ryder, who exploited her talent for comedy in 13 features, including Flight Attendants, Not Bewitched XXX, Love Boat XXX, Bad Babes Inc. and last year’s Love Emergency. A career highlight was Sweet Sinner’s Stripper 2, (2013) which earned her two AVN Award nominations: Best Actress and Best Tease Performance. In 2007 she got her very own star showcase in I Love Sunny from New Sensations. She has also directed two girl-girl features: Project Spotlight: Dana’s World (Sunluck Pictures) and Strap-on Sunny (Tom Byron Pictures). Lane is currently active on social media, with heavily followed Twitter and Facebook accounts and her own website, SunnyLaneLive.com. Her relationship with her fans has always been a mutual love affair, and she continues to greet them at industry events like the AVN Expo.
Marcus London
Marcus London left his native England and entered the porn industry in the early 2000s, first in Europe and then Los Angeles, where he has spent 16 years performing and directing. As a sex performer he has accumulated more than a thousand credits, putting him right up there with the industry’s top male talent. Over the years he also earned a well-deserved reputation as an actor, often in the adult dramas produced by Wicked Pictures (including Love Always, Operation Desert Stormy, Oracle, Fallen, Unbridled, Love Song) plus Vivid, Penthouse, New Sensations, Mile High Media and others. He has also directed projects for Penthouse, Adam & Eve and Wicked. His most outstanding achievement, as director and star, was Spartacus MMXX: The Beginning, released by Wicked in 2012. London co-produced with fellow actor Tommy Gunn, played the title role and staged the gladiatorial action. The movie was heavily nominated for AVN Awards, winning the top prize for Best Parody, Drama. 2019 saw Marcus working harder than ever. At 51 he is often cast as a bad dad or horny businessman, always acquitting himself admirably. He also works in European productions, like last year’s Digital Playground feature Uninvited (AVN nomination Best Supporting Actor) and Marc Dorcel’s 40 Years, Initiation of My Young Neighbor.
Brandi Love
Brandi Love, the energetic, passionate uber-MILF whose mega-watt smile is what dreams are made of, is the quintessential hotwife who conquered porn. A global star who is on track to eclipse 1 billion views on Pornhub in 2020, this hard-bodied native of Michigan went hardcore upon launching her website when she was 31 in 2004 and has turned the past 16 years into a masterful blueprint on how to approach your career in adult entertainment. A Sweetheart Video girl/girl exclusive since 2016, Fleshlight Girl and the February 2018 Girlsway Girl of the Month—among other titles—Love has more than 480 performing credits, most of which came after 2009, when she started performing regularly for numerous leading studios. She refers to her loyal fans as the #LoveTroopers on social media, where at press time she had 663K followers on Twitter and a whopping 1.6M on Instagram. Love’s book Getting Wild Sex From Your Conservative Woman—published by Burman Media in 2009—described in depth how to communicate and make even the shyest women feel comfortable in the bedroom. Love in 2006 appeared with her husband on The Tyra Banks Show along with the late Hugh Hefner and his three girlfriends, debating a monogamous couple about "Is Monogamy Natural?" She has also spoken at universities—including grad students at East Carolina University Department of Sociology—about alternative relationship styles and swinging. She has won four Pornhub awards in the past two years, capturing both the Top MILF Performer and Favorite MILF trophies back to back. One of Love’s most notable feature roles came in Dana Vespoli’s The Candidate, which was released in 2017 by Sweetheart Video. In the title, Love played Democratic Senator Jen Hanlon, who was embroiled in a sex scandal as she was poised to become the first woman president of the United States.
L.T.
When this Chicago native came to Los Angeles, he was aiming at mainstream entertainment. Instead, he began a career in adult that kicked off in 1998 after he did a scene with Sharon Mitchell for Fallen Angel’s Dirty Dancing series, and it’s still going strong. He made the leap into directing in 2006, shooting more than 100 titles for Elegant Angel, both interracial and all-black productions, but also helming projects for Black Magic Pictures, Black Market Entertainment, Combat Zone and West Coast Productions. “My fans like what I do, they like how I shoot the black stuff,” L.T. told AVN in a 2014 interview. “Black-on-black is what made my name.” In his two decades in the business, L.T. has seen a lot of performers come and go. “About 75 percent of black girls, I did their first anal,” he says. And he’s worked with some of the greats: Jada Fire, Marie Luv, Nyomi Banxxx. In the last couple years he’s produced three Elegant Angel star showcases—featuring Cherry Hilson, Bethany Benz and, most recently, Julie Kay in the AVN Award-nominated All About Julie. But he’s just as passionate about the work he has done for his own imprint, Brutha’s Inc., which features amateur performers. “These titles are pro-am, which is something I never did at Elegant—something that I always wanted to do. And I like it.” The studio’s most recent release, Maid for Anal 2, came out in August and features Simone Richards, Ambitious Booty, Ivy The Character and Blu Magic.
Gianna Michaels
In 2001, Gianna Michaels moved to California from her native Seattle and took a job as a receptionist. She was approached about modeling and she decided to try it, figuring that if she didn't like it, she could stop. The modeling led to nude photo shoots and then hardcore. "I ended up not having an issue with it. I loved the fucking money and loved what I was doing and decided to make a career of it for a while, as long as it lasts," she said in 2007. From 2004 to 2015, she appeared in more than 650 productions and won four AVN Awards, including Best All-Sex Release for G for Gianna and Best Sex Scene in a Foreign-Shot Production for a 10-person orgy in Furious Fuckers Final Race—and Unsung Starlet (!)—all in 2008. Statuesque (she stands 5-10) and curvy (34DD-27-38), Michaels has performed in scenes including girl/girl and boy/girl, interracial and group sex, with a substantial number of oral and big-bust titles. She took a short break from performing in late 2009 but returned in 2010, adding cam performing to professional production. On the mainstream side, she had a small part in the 2010 mainstream exploitation film Piranha 3D, which also featured adult performers Ashlynn Brooke and Riley Steele as well as Richard Dreyfuss, Elisabeth Shue and Christopher Lloyd. Michaels still performs content on CamSoda and OnlyFans as well as her GiannaXXX website.
Tony Montana
Tony Montana entered the adult industry in 1984, just a year after the release of the movie Scarface, from whose lead character he borrowed his screen name. Like the fictional Tony, he was proudly Latinx, claiming Colombia as his birthplace. He proved himself a reliable performer as well as a convincing actor in lead and supporting roles, playing both romantic lovers and thugs with equal aplomb, and his sexual skills were never in question. But good as he was on his own, what he’s remembered for most is his partnership with Blondi, the breathtaking starlet he discovered and introduced into XXX movies. They worked exclusively together for almost two years, beginning in 1986, and their chemistry was natural and volcanic. Starring in product from, among others, CDI Home Video, Vidco, Essex, Leisure Time Entertainment and Caballero’s Swedish Erotica loop line, they became one of the iconic couples of adult video. After Blondi Tony continued his career as a hard-working porn stud. A mainstay with Leisure Time, he also worked for directors like Gregory Dark (New Wave Hookers 2), Henri Pachard (The Adultress), John Leslie (Voyeur) and Rocco Siffredi (Rocco’s Initiations). He was a regular in Snatch Productions’ Pussyman Auditions series. His final appearances were in 2009.
Laurent Sky
It would be impossible to engage in a discussion about the greatest cinematographers of all time without considering the enduring brilliance of French auteur Laurent Sky. This largely unsung shooter—whose unmistakable polish, slick camerawork and glamorous art direction helped define high-end pornography during the digital era—has been quietly instrumental in building some of the biggest brand names in adult entertainment during a wide-ranging career that has spanned more than two decades in Europe, South America and the U.S. While Sky is only officially credited with directing about 120 titles, in fact the porn whisperer has helmed hundreds more movies in an uncredited capacity in the process of calling the shots for thousands of sex scenes. A former photographer for France’s Hot Video magazine, Sky got one of his first big breaks in the U.S. shooting box covers for pioneering porn studio VCA Pictures. But Sky began building his current high profile under the tutelage of legendary director Michael Ninn in the early 2000s, where he became an exclusive shooter and learned the craft of directing. Sky would go on to direct for Jenna Jameson’s internationally known Club Jenna Productions and Club Magazine’s short-lived studio imprint in the mid-2000s. In the early 2010s—after a short hiatus from adult—Sky continued to be a man in demand, taking for-hire directing jobs for Reality Kings, Manuel Ferrara Productions and Angela White’s AGW Entertainment, among others. In late 2013, Sky shot exclusively for X-Art for more than two years before becoming an exclusive shooter for Vixen Media Group in 2016, helping Greg Lansky fine-tune the look of award-winning labels such as Blacked, Tushy and Vixen. He remains one of VMG’s most prolific directors to this day. Early in his career Sky worked as an assistant for Denys Defrancesco, founder of DDF Productions. In 2004, he won the AVN Award for Best Director - Non-Feature for Fetish: The Dream Scape, a Ninn Worx production distributed by Pure Play Media.
Rob Spallone
He may be most recognized as Bobby Soporno from the classic VCA parody series The Sopornos, which bore eight volumes between 1999 and 2004, but there’s much more than that to Rob Spallone. His industry roles have included talent manager, producer, testing clinic proprietor, general rabble-rouser, and above all else, director of some 180-plus titles, primarily for Legend Video and its various imprints, but also including outings for Hustler Video, Platinum X Pictures, Third Degree Films and more. In another curious turn, he reportedly “leaked” the sex tape of notorious tabloid subject Joey Buttafuoco and his second wife, Evanka, that was released by Red Light District in 2008, as allegedly captured on hidden cameras during a party at Spallone’s house. It’s far from an accident that Spallone pursued a life in the porn business: He’s the son of Gourmet Video co-owner Joe Spallone, who gave him his start making movies. A couple of the younger Spallone’s other most notable ventures over the span of his colorful professional history have been operating one of the very first cam houses (shedding some light, it would seem, on the Buttafuoco tale), and taking an excursion into the food truck racket with one specializing in authentic Italian ices like the celebrated ones found in his native New York. Today, Spallone has settled into a happy, quiet life with his significant other, whom he now joins in the AVN Hall of Fame, sex screen icon Christy Canyon.
Charlotte Stokely
In 2020, Charlotte Stokely will mark her 15th year in adult entertainment, yet she still looks remarkably similar to the teenager who left Florida for a career in Porn Valley back in 2005. Stokely hit the adult industry before the 2008 crash, and business was booming. “I was making 30 grand a month, so what else did I need? I would rent limos to go to McDonald’s at 2 a.m. because I could. Just lived a wild life,” she recalls. Though she never did anal, Stokely didn’t shy away from hardcore. She shot for all the major companies and was particularly popular in IR scenes, but in 2007 she changed things up and stopped shooting boy/girl. Stokely’s next big career jumpstart came in 2012, when she signed a contract with MetArt and SexArt for girl/girl work. “I think that really helped push my girl/girl career,” she says. She also honed her acting skills in such projects as Axel Braun’s Justice League XXX: An Axel Braun Parody and The Possession of Mrs. Hyde (both Wicked Pictures), and Ricky Greenwood’s Confessions of a Sinful Nun and Terror Camp (both Sweetheart Video). In 2019 she reached a new milestone, taking home an AVN Award for All-Girl Performer of the Year. And later that year she stepped out as an entrepreneur, launching a health and wellness business. (Find out more at TheGreatestFeelings.com.) “I want to guide women on ways to be a successful porn star but to not lose sight of joy, creativity, environment, mental health, spiritual health,” Stokely says. In addition to information on hygiene, nutrition and self-care, the industry veteran also can share practical information that she’s gleaned during her years as an adult performer.
AVN Hall of Fame – Executive Branch
Farrell Hirsch
Before Farrell Hirsch signed on to work with Sirius XM satellite radio in 2012, he'd never heard of either Steve Hirsch, the founder of Vivid Entertainment Group, or Steve's sister, Marci. But after several years writing/producing on Broadway, in 1998, Farrell was hired to work on Playboy TV's top show Night Calls, where he answered subscribers' phone calls and put their stories into bits that hostesses Juli Ashton and Tiffany Granath could use on-air. His success with Night Calls led to Farrell's being hired away by Sirius XM to create a Playboy Radio channel, where Farrell had a relatively free hand to create several spin-offs, such as Private Calls and Night Calls 411, not to mention a Spanish-language version, plus another sexually oriented channel dedicated to the Spice network. He also created satellite radio channels for Comedy Central, Entertainment Weekly ... and, after Playboy Radio folded, a new porn presence on the channel, Vivid Radio, which at its height employed 56 technicians and about 35 to 40 adult stars including Christy Canyon, Ginger Lynn, Anne Marie Rios, Tanya Tate and more. Farrell used to say he was "one of the few people who would pay adult film stars to use their brains." In 2016, Farrell left Vivid Radio to become CEO of the Muckenthaler Center, a performing arts center in Orange County that, besides running classes and schools, brings the arts into prisons, homeless shelters, and even detention centers on the Mexican border. Among the things Farrell is proud of are his book, Fifty Things I Learned By Fucking Up In Front Of Celebrities (available on Amazon under a slightly different title) and the fact that former Sen. Sam Brownback quoted him in the Congressional Record saying about one of his shows, "It's 60 sizzling minutes where fiction meets friction."
Glenn King
In addition to being an AVN Award-winning director, Glenn King is the owner and creator of MeanBitches.com, a website that pioneered “erotic femdom,” which adds a higher level of sexuality into this fetish genre. King got his start in 2002, managing a website for a dominatrix before starting MeanBitch. Throughout the site’s 15-year history, King has fulfilled the fantasies of thousands of fans, directing more than 2,000 femdom scenes. He started off shooting traditional femdom content with no intercourse and segued into producing (and sometimes performing in) full-on sex scenes. King proudly states that he has directed the first femdom scenes of more than 100 female performers, many of whom went on to become professional dommes or stars in the genre. King had a long and productive association with Evil Angel before leaving in 2015 to focus on femdom and web distribution. His prominence as an online content producer earned him the title of Web Director of the Year at the 2017 AVN Awards. But that’s just one side of his achievement in the industry. King also is known for his work in radio, having hosted shows for Playboy’s Spice Radio and Vivid Radio. And he also explored the world of television broadcasting with Glenn King’s ManEaters Show on Roku TV. Now based in Las Vegas, King continues to help the current crop of adult performers find their inner MeanBitch, but he’s also been producing segments for IMPACT Pro Wrestling and will be appearing in an on-screen role in a new TV show on the AXS Channel. An experienced hand as an interviewer, he’s brought his voice to the realm of podcasting with Mature Audiences Mayhem, a podcast with more than 60,00 subscribers.
Dave Peskin
Where would the performers and directors in the AVN Hall of Fame be without the many hard-working sales executives who have toiled over the years getting DVDs into the hands of consumers? One such veteran is David Peskin, who began working in the adult industry in 1996 with Snatch Productions and Samurai Video, the first-ever uncensored Asian hardcore in the United States directly from Japan. In 2001 Peskin joined Vivid Entertainment, where he worked alongside the late Howard Levine, a 2015 Inductee into the AVN Hall of Fame. While at Vivid, Peskin sold for the Club Jenna and Teravision imprints until he left in 2009. After his stint at Vivid, Peskin set up shop with a number of adult studios, including Antigua Pictures, Third World Media and Exquisite Multimedia. When he moved to Exquisite in 2015, Peskin was once again reunited with Levine, who worked in the same building at Exile Distribution. In 2016, Peskin briefly flirted with a job at a commodities firm but later that year he was back in adult, working for VIP Digital Media. The peripatetic pitchman is now at Joy Media Group where he reps Bizarre Video’s extensive thousand-title library as well as sales for Bizarre’s newest division, Joy Media Group, which distributes DVDs from Aziani, Two Tgirls and Porta Gloryhole.
Andy Wullmer
Known around the world in adult digital circles as The Traffic Captain, Andy Wullmer is part businessman, part rock star and all heart. The charismatic German has reached industry icon status with his remarkable ability to connect with people both on a professional and a personal level. A pioneering figure in mobile carrier billing, this beloved international man of leisure is also a seasoned expert in many other verticals—from porn production, online retail, dating and live cams to agency management and traffic brokering. Through his prolific travels—he has been on tour, attending 25-plus annual expos for years—Wullmer has cultivated a larger-than-life image, making his mark as someone who works as hard as he plays. It’s impossible to find any webmaster who doesn’t know Wullmer, who actually started his career in porn production and online DVD shops more than 20 years ago and evolved into a legendary brand marketer, expert speaker and professional partier. Wullmer also is one of the most decorated web-tech executives in the history of adult entertainment, with five personal GFY Awards alone, including GFY Businessman of the Year honors in 2015, 2017 and 2018; and GFY Company Rep of the Year in 2016. He joined SexGoesMobile Germany in 2010 as international affiliate manager and thanks to his formidable network, in six months he turned an unknown startup into a profitable adult mobile brand and later was named CEO. By 2017, he also became CMO of TrafficPartner Germany, marketing brands such as Fuckbook.com, SGM, Webbilling, Grand Slam Media, DatingPartner, CamPartner, Digital Performance, AliceX and more. Wullmer is also the owner and founder of the Captain’s Model Agency with a presence in Colombia/Curacao and Germany; and was certified as a Live-cam Studio Manager by LiveJasmin.
