Traci Lords

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 16 years old in her first film), but is now pursuing a mainstream career.

Career

Traci Elizabeth Lords was born Nora Louise Kuzma on May 7, 1968, in Steubenville, Ohio to parents Louis and Patricia Kuzma. 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 twelve she fled from her abusive, alcoholic father to Lawndale, California with her mother and three sisters. Later, while attending Redondo Union High School, she had an abortion and after having a nervous breakdown, ran away from home. While living with her Mom's forty-something ex-boyfriend who posed as her stepfather, she used a friend'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 sexual performance. By the time she was 18, she'd appeared in 100 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 her, as well as the owners of her movie agency and X-citement Video, Inc. See United States v. X-Citement Video.

Related Topics:
May 7 - 1968 - Steubenville, Ohio - Hawaii Five-O - Jack Lord - Abortion - Penthouse - 1984 - Miss America - Vanessa Williams - 1986 - X-citement Video - United States v. X-Citement Video

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The ensuing prosecution against the agencies cost the pornographic film and distribution industry millions as they were obliged by law to remove hundreds of thousands of her videotapes, films and magazines from store shelves to avoid the risk of prosecution for trafficking child pornography. 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 within the industry that she engineered the revelation of her age, to channel people's purchasing to the one film which would actually make money for her.

Related Topics:
Child pornography - Traci, I Love You

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In parts of Europe and other regions where the minimum legal age for involvement in pornographic films is lower, Lords' films and images in a variety of formats are still legally available. They are commonplace on the Internet, and not hard to find in the New York City area.

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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 did it because she had a drug habit. 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.

Related Topics:
Ron Jeremy - Ginger Lynn

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The Justice Department was forced to drop all charges when it was revealed that the fake ID which Lords had used to dupe the pornographic film industry was a US passport in the name of Traci Lords - the government had been duped, and any defendant would simply have been able to hide behind the government's error.

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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).

Related Topics:
B-movies - Not of this Earth - John Waters - Cry Baby - Blade

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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.

Related Topics:
Married... with Children - 1987 - Roseanne - 1988 - Melrose Place - 1992 - Profiler - 1996 - MacGyver - 1985 - Highlander - Tales from the Crypt - 1989 - Hercules - 1995

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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 collaboration with Juno Reactor, called "1000 Fires". The album was a hit with critics and the club audience. The Juno Reactor produced 1st single "Control", proved a smash, reaching a peak of #2 at the Billboard Dance Charts. The second single off the album "Fallen Angel"; earned a lot of attention because of the fact that one of its remixes ("Honeymoon Stitch Mix") was produced and remixed by Chad Smith and Dave Navarro from the "Red Hot Chilli Peppers", with a strong indie and "Alterna-chick" sound. The video; a very high-end production was directed by Stéphane Sednaoui; whom had directed for the aforementioned Red Hot Chilli Peppers (Give It Away), and Madonna (Fever) among hundreds of notable music videos. Lords music isn't a mindless dancefloor affair; she marries highly addictive beats and sonical landscapes to personal lyrics. "Father's Field" (From "1,000 Fires") may be the best example; where a very suffocating musical framework gives place to a harrowing account of a personal (and true) experience of sexual molestation as a child.

Related Topics:
1990s - Singer - Manic Street Preachers - Little Baby Nothing - Music video - Juno Reactor - 1000 Fires - Red Hot Chilli Peppers - Madonna

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After a couple of years of musical silence, Lords has returned to the music scene with a new production; a double A Side Single "Sunshine". Independently produced.

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In 2003 she published a book, '.

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