Nina Hartley

Nina Hartley was born on March 11, 1959 in Berkley California under the name Marie Louise Hartman. She grew up in the San Francisco bay area and was always interested in her sexuality more than most of the girls she knew. As she grew older her belief system lead her to accept a unique brand of feminism that has served her well throughout a very wild ride in the world of adult entertainment and beyond.

Nina Hartley had parents who were Jewish at the time of her birth but they were very open-minded and made the decision to begin practicing Budhism instead while Nina was still young. She grew up with an older sister and two older brothers who by all accounts maintained a supportive close relationship with Nina throughout her life. Unlike many of the stereotypes and negative hype espoused by mainstream media groups or small minded people who try to push their philosophy on others by claiming porn is stocked full of women who came from broken homes, Nina has always pointed out that she had a very loving, warm and caring relationship with her family. Her decision to enter XXX entertainment was made voluntarily and with a good understanding of all that it entailed. Out simply, Nina Hartley really likes sex and porn was the best way for her to market her amazing sexual appetite.

Proving her intellect was always at least as appealing as her perfect ass and cocksucking skills, Nina Hartley graduated at the top of her class from a San Francisco State University nursing school with full Magna Cum Laude accolades in 1985 and became a registered nurse. While she was in school, during her sophomore year of studies, Nina took a job at the now famous Mitchell Brothers O'Farrell Theater working as an exotic dancer. Stripping was something that came very naturally to this blonde beauty in her early twenties. A year later when she was a college junior she entered porn officially by making her first few movies during the spring of 1984 at the age of twenty-five.

Nina Hartley chose to use a stage name like most other pornstars and chose her name according to later interviews for a few reasons. The name Nina was simple, memorable and easy to pronounce for many of the Asian tourists who she learned to please during her days performing in live shows as a stripper. Hartley became her famous last name because it was similar enough to her own real name to feel natural for her and because a famous model named Mariette Hartley was starring in a popular series of commercials for a new camera at the time. Friends remarked that Nina and Mariette had a similar sense of style, and the decision to take on a similar last name was an easy one.

The very first XXX feature film Nina Hartley ever made was called Educating Nina. It was publishing by Atom films in late 1984 and was produced by renowned erotica expert Julier Anderson, also known to many in the industry as Aunt Peg for the nurturing care she showed to so many girls starting out in smut. Thanks in large part to the best ass of her era, Nina quickly discovered she was able to bring in a huge audience of very loyal fans for her films. Educating Nina became a blockbuster smash hit by the standards of the time and studios quickly scurried to capitalize on her fame by producing follow-up films the same year including: Butter Me Up by 4-Play Video and Looking For Lust by VCX Pictures later that same year.

The early years of the 1980s from 1982 to around 1987 are considered by most erotic film critics to be the 'Golden Age' of American porn. It was a time when a small group of actors and actresses starred in a staggering number of new titles every month. Featuring iconic costars that included Ron Jeremy, Paul Thomas, Billy Dee, Sharon Mitchell, Christy Canyon, Gail Force, Ginger Lynn and a few dozen others. Nina Hartley fucked all of them, in group sex scenes, solo performances and some of the most delightful story-line plot driven porn ever produced.

Unlike many legends of the classic porn era who have cum and gone, Nina Hartley has remained a mainstay of adult entertainment and continues making fresh, exciting new hardcore films right through to today. During the classic porn era most movies had a detailed plot that required real acting skills along with strong sexual prowess to create memorable and believable feature films for fans. Keep in mind, during those early years, some movies were still only seen in adult cinema theaters and it was largely because of Nina Hartley and her fellow porn performers of the time that VHS (Video Tapes) were able to reach millions of households in such a short period of time. Viewers might be willing to wait on line to see a Hollywood movie with major mainstream stars in it, but watching a few people fucking is what made so many willing to shell out hundreds of dollars to own a VCR at home.

All through the years, as technology has improved, Nina Hartley and her perfect heart-shaped ass have been leading the way from the bedroom to the big screen. During the DVD era Nina starred in famous films for dozens of well known studios. Again when porn evolved and became a digital media sensation, Nina Hartley continued to deliver by becoming among the first pornstars ever filmed for gonzo style individual scenes to be published online. Recently her role in Cougar Prey 6 for Mile High has proved her DVD career continues to endure while her exclusive videos on Porn.com show that her mature body and elegance on screen allow her to connect with a new generation of fans seeking her talents online. To date Nina Hartley has appeared in 883 feature films and countless individual scenes for hardcore xxx websites.

Stepping outside the typical confines of ordinary pornstars, Nina Hartley has also become an accomplished author, political activist and mainstream media sensation. Referring to herself as a 'sex positive feminist' Nina famously once said " Sex isn't something men do to you. It isn't something men get out of you. Sex is something you dive into with gusto and like it every bit as much as he does." Her appearance on the wildly popular Oprah Winfrey show along with fellow pornstar and friend Ona Zee showed the grit and determination of an outspoken porn starlet capable of confronting closed-minded audiences and overcoming their vitriol with a kind, calm, sensible demeanor that put the right of all woman to choose their own lifestyle above the desire of some women to castigate others for their choices.

In 1995 Nina Hartley recounted the ordeal of the so-called 'Erotic Eleven' for author Wendy McElroy during an interview for the book XXX: A Woman's Right to Pornography. The incident involved eleven women who allegedly performed a lesbian live show during a fundraiser for an adult-friendly charity in Las Vegas during 1993. All eleven ladies were arrested by an undercover police officer in the audience and each was threatened with six to twelve years in prison for felony charges stemming from open displays of lesbian sex and alleged pandering. Even when faced with harsh government tactics Nina Hartley remained firm about her beliefs and refused to be trampled by law enforcement. Her victory later came when she was eventually allowed to plead guilty to a misdemeanor without any further action.

In 1997 Nina Hartley made her much lauded break-through to mainstream movies with a theatrical performance as the unfaithful wife of porn husband played by William H. Macy in the critically acclaimed cult movie classic Boogie Nights. The story of the film was intended to mirror an earlier time in porn that Nina Hartley was intimately familiar with and having her on set provided the cast and crew with an excellent resource capable of lending their own performances a greater level of realism than would ever have been possible without her efforts.

Building on her earlier training as a nurse and expanding on her love of sex, Nina Hartley authored her own book Nina Hartley's Guide to Total Sex (Avery, USA) in 2006. She has also produced her own series of films that explain, in graphic detail, many of the most important sexual acts. Always reassuring viewers that their own sexual fetishes and predilections are perfectly normal so long as they and their partners consent, Nina explores the fine art of anal sex, cunnilingus, deepthroat blowjobs, handjobs, lesbian sex and more. The videos mix hardcore video starring porn friends of Ms. Hartley and feature commentary that puts every kind of pleasure into a simple 'How To' format for fans, couples and swingers to enjoy while learning.

In her private life away from the porn studios, Nina Hartley has always been openly bisexual and enjoyed the swinger lifestyle which promotes promiscuity even among married couples who believe that sex and loving commitment can in fact be treated separately by the human psyche. During her earlier years Nina Hartley had married her husband Dave and her 'wife' Bobby Lilly at age 19. The three-way relationship lasted for nearly twenty years before it crumbled. When asked about the eventual failure of the relationship by a reporter who presupposed the problems stemmed from having an open marriage, Nina Hartley sincerely pointed out her belief the threeway ended simply because "I was too immature and he was too possessive. It didn't work. It ended because it was the wrong three people involved."

Since that time Nina Hartley has remarried and by all accounts is very happy with her current husband Ira Levine who uses the alias Ernest Greene as a director of porn films in the BDSM nice primarily. While Nina has worked in a few of his films, notably The Ultimate Guide to Anal Sex for Women and O: the Power of Submission - it is clear that their relationship goes much deeper off camera than any mere working relationship ever would. There marriage remains strong to this day and recently on her own personal blog Nina Hartley posted "Even though I got the go-ahead for sex from my doctor this past Wednesday, Ernest and I won't have our fun until tomorrow, since that was the first quiet day that we had available. That's the nice part about being married. If we don't get to sex today, there will be ample other opportunities." The years may have mellowed Ms. Hartley but her strong sense of self and of sex continues to boil right beneath the surface.

Among porn fans and expert critics Nina Hartley has won every meaningful award ever offered as an adult entertainment honor. Some of her more notable awards include: Best Actress for Debbie Duz Dishes in 1987, Best Supporting Actress for Portrait of an Affair and Best Couples Sex Scene for Sensual Escape both in 1989, Best Supporting Actress for The Last X-Rated Movie in 1991, Best Specialty Tape - Spanking for Nina Hartley's Guide To Spanking in 2005 and Best Non-Sex Performance in an adult film for her wonderfully charismatic performance in the movie of the year Not Bewitched XXX during 2005. Perhaps even more significant than any expert award or fancy trophy, Nina Hartley has become one of the single most respected women ever to appear in adult films.

Classic actors like Ron Jeremy, modern icons like Lexington Steele, legendary women like Jenna Jameson and just about every writer or publisher who has had an eye on adult entertainment during the last thirty years acknowledges the profound impact Nina Hartley has had on the sex industry and even more so on the sex lives of ordinary people who have benefited greatly from the honesty, candor and enthusiasm of the world's most important porn provocateur. Perhaps Lex Steele said it best when he mentioned in an interview that the absolute high-point of his own extraordinary porn career was the day he had the chance to finally fuck Nina Hartley.