1. Traci Lords entered the porn industry using a fake birth certificate to conceal that she was four years under the legal age of 18.
71 Facts About Traci Lords
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Traci Lords made her mainstream screen debut at age nineteen in a leading role in the 1988 remake of the 1957 Roger Corman science fiction film Not of This Earth.
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Traci Lords followed with the role of Wanda Woodward in John Waters' teen comedy, Cry-Baby.
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Traci Lords's other acting credits included the television series MacGyver, Married.
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Traci Lords appeared in films such as Skinner, Virtuosity, Blade, Zack and Miri Make a Porno, and Excision, which earned her a Fangoria Chainsaw Award for Best Supporting Actress as well as a Fright Meter Award and a CinEuphoria Award.
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Traci Lords was born Nora Louise Kuzma on May 7,1968, in Steubenville, Ohio, to Louis and Patricia Kuzma.
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Traci Lords's parents divorced when she was seven years old and Lords moved with her mother and three sisters to her great-grandmother's house.
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When Traci Lords was 12, she moved with her mother, her mother's new boyfriend, and sisters to Redondo Beach, California.
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Traci Lords did not see her father for many years after.
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Traci Lords was angry at her mother and found a father figure in her mother's boyfriend Roger Hayes, as she calls him in her autobiography.
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Traci Lords was a drug abuser and molested Lords in her sleep.
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Traci Lords refused to follow them to a new place and was left with her older sister Lorraine.
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At age 15, Traci Lords became pregnant by her high school boyfriend.
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Traci Lords arranged for her to have an abortion without her mother's knowledge.
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Traci Lords provided Lords with a new birth certificate on condition that if she were ever caught she would say that she had stolen the phony identification.
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Traci Lords now had the alias Kristie Elizabeth Nussman and a new driver's license that stated she was 20 rather than 15 years old.
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Traci Lords first appeared only in a non-sexual role but was later replaced with a hardcore scene.
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Traci Lords became one of the highest-paid porn actresses of that time, earning more than $1,000 a day.
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Traci Lords continued making more movies until late 1984 when she tried to quit the industry at age 16, but returned a few months later.
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Dell and Traci Lords made a distribution deal with Sy Adler, an industry veteran who ran Vantage International, in which they would produce three movies for the company.
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In March 1986, the first TLC feature was released; titled Traci Lords Takes Tokyo, it was shot in Tokyo around Christmas Day 1985.
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Traci Lords had lied to law enforcement, photographers, producers, directors, co-workers, and the general public for two years.
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Traci Lords was taken into protective custody and hired high-profile lawyer Leslie Abramson.
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South and other industry officials said that Traci Lords, who was seeking employment, provided a California driver's license, a US passport, and a birth certificate, which stated that her name was Kristie Nussman and gave a birth date of November 17,1962.
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Leslie Jay, a spokeswoman for Penthouse publisher Bob Guccione, said Traci Lords showed identification indicating that she was older than 18 before the illicit photos for the September 1984 issue were taken.
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Government prosecutors declared that Traci Lords was a victim of a manipulative industry, maintaining that she was drugged and made to do non-consensual acts.
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Traci Lords enrolled at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute, where she studied method acting for three months.
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Traci Lords was contacted by Fred Westheimer and although the agency declined to officially represent her, he decided to send her out on a few auditions.
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Traci Lords immediately cast Lords into the lead role of Nadine Story, and Not of This Earth became her first mainstream film debut since her departure from the adult film industry.
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However, Traci Lords turned down the offer due to the requirement of having a nude scene, since she was trying to establish herself as a serious actress.
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In November 1988, Traci Lords enrolled in another acting class and again began looking for an agent.
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Traci Lords won the role and appeared in the film alongside Johnny Depp and Ricki Lake.
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In 1991, Traci Lords starred in the thriller Raw Nerve and the action crime film A Time to Die.
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Traci Lords appeared in such popular TV shows as Roseanne, Married.
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Traci Lords continued modeling and walked the runway for fashion designers such as Janet Howard and Thierry Mugler.
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Traci Lords first signed a development deal with Capitol Records.
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Traci Lords was later featured on the songs "Little Baby Nothing" by Manic Street Preachers and "Somebody to Love" by Ramones.
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Traci Lords arranged her to fly to London and meet with producer Tom Bailey.
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Traci Lords later met Mike Edwards, the main singer of the band Jesus Jones.
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Around the same time, Traci Lords was cast in the television series Roseanne, appearing in three episodes.
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The Paul Oakenfold remix of the song was included on the soundtrack of the movie Virtuosity, in which Traci Lords had a cameo appearance.
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In 1997, Traci Lords appeared in a small part in the Gregg Araki film Nowhere, and starred in the drama thriller Stir.
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Traci Lords guest starred on television series Nash Bridges and Viper.
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Traci Lords played a felon, Sharon Lesher, who is manipulated by a serial killer Jack-of-All-Trades and eventually becomes his partner in crime Jill-of-All-Trades.
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In 1998, Traci Lords had a supporting role in the crime thriller Boogie Boy and starred in the drama Extramarital.
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Traci Lords appeared in the action horror film Blade in which she played the vampire seductress Racquel.
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Traci Lords was eventually approached to appear in the sequel Blade II portraying Racquel's twin sister Valerine in seeking of vengeance upon Blade.
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At the premiere of the film, Traci Lords announced she was finishing her sophomore album on Radioactive Records that would be released in the spring of 1999.
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In 2000, Traci Lords had lead roles in the films Epicenter and Chump Change.
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Traci Lords played Jordan Radcliffe, an heiress and leader of the Human Resistance Group "The Raven Nation" after the aliens used her brother to murder her parents.
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Traci Lords continued to use the now-famous stage name that she had given herself as a minor and ultimately made it her legal name.
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Traci Lords signed to Sea To Sun records the following year, and released the chart-topping single "Last Drag".
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In January 2008, it was announced that Traci Lords had been cast in Kevin Smith's comedy Zack and Miri Make a Porno.
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Traci Lords said that at first she wanted to refuse but changed her mind after reading the script.
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Traci Lords chose to breastfeed her son in between takes instead.
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In 2009, Traci Lords appeared in the direct-to-DVD science fiction movie, Princess of Mars, alongside Antonio Sabato Jr.
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In March 2010, Traci Lords announced she began working on her new album with "Pretty" being the lead single.
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Traci Lords starred in the drama comedy Au Pair, Kansas which premiered in April 2011 at the Kansas City FilmFest.
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Traci Lords starred alongside AnnaLynne McCord and Ariel Winter in the horror film Excision, which premiered in January 2012 at the Sundance Film Festival.
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Traci Lords voiced the character of Layla Stockton in the 2012 video game Hitman: Absolution.
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In 2013, Traci Lords appeared in the horror movie Devil May Call and an episode of the web series EastSiders.
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In May 2015, Traci Lords appeared in an episode of the fourth season of the reality television series Celebrity Wife Swap, where she swapped lives with Jackee Harry.
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Traci Lords co-starred in Jim Wynorski's television horror Sharkansas Women's Prison Massacre and made her second appearance as Val on the series EastSiders.
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In March 2016, Traci Lords co-starred in the television thriller Nightmare Nurse in which she played a psychopathic nurse looking for revenge for her dead husband.
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Traci Lords voiced several characters in the action-adventure video game Hitman after having had previously voiced the character of Layla Stockton in Hitman: Absolution.
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In 2016, Traci Lords co-starred in the Viaplay original comedy series Swedish Dicks.
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Traci Lords played Jane McKinney, a private investigator and competitor of the show's protagonist.
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Later that month, Traci Lords confirmed she would direct her first feature film called The Unquiet Grave.
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In May 2018, Traci Lords released the single "Come Alive" as a gift for her fans in celebration of her 50th birthday.
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In 2019, Traci Lords starred in a Los Angeles revival of the stage play Women Behind Bars.
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Traci Lords has publicly stated her support of the LGBTQ community.