Ginger Lynn Allen (born December 14, 1962) is an American pornographic actress and model who was a premier adult-entertainment star of the 1980s. She also had minor roles in various B movies. Adult Video News ranked her at #7 of the 50 greatest porn stars of all time in 2002.[2] After ending her pornography career, she began using her full name and found work in a variety of B-movies.[3] She had a late-career return to the adult industry and made a brief series of movies. Allen is a member of AVN, NightMoves, XRCO, and Urban X Halls of Fame.
Born and raised in Rockford, Illinois, Allen moved to California in 1982 to become her grandfather's caregiver following his heart attack. After he died, she had her "first nice boyfriend" move in with her. Allen, the breadwinner of the two, felt obligated to find a lucrative occupation.[citation needed] When she answered an advertisement from the World Modeling Agency in September 1983, she immediately signed a contract with that agency and did pictorials for Cheri, Club, Hustler, and Penthouse, which brought her to the attention of the adult entertainment industry.[1]
Allen began as a nude model and then began performing in hardcore sex films as Ginger Lynn by December 1983. Her first pornographic movie role was in Surrender in Paradise, in which she starred with Jerry Butler. Allen's "girl next door" good looks led to a quick rise in her popularity and eventually she became one of the most popular female performers in adult-entertainment history. She had her own line of videos through Vivid Entertainment with the director Bruce Seven. Allen received the Best New Starlet award in 1985 and is an inductee to the X-Rated Critics Organization (XRCO) and Adult Video News (AVN) halls of fame. Allen signed a contract with Vivid Entertainment founder, Steven Hirsch, making her the first 'Vivid Girl' and beating out the then-underaged Traci Lords.[4] She was later called to testify on Lords' behalf against porn producers; she refused, and according to her, was then targeted by the Internal Revenue Service for falsification of a tax return.[5]
In February 1986, Allen left adult video in order to establish herself in mainstream films by using her full name. Also in 1986, she contributed vocals to Fantasy World, a single released by the music group Ginger.[6] Allen appeared in several non-adult films, television shows and interactive movie segments of the Wing Commander computer games. She started her career in mainstream features with a small part in the western Young Guns II, which co-starred her future boyfriend Charlie Sheen's brother, Emilio Estevez.[5]
Allen was the subject of an episode of the documentary series E!True Hollywood Story in 2002.[7] Allen appeared in another episode about her relationship with actor Charlie Sheen in 2010.[8]
Allen returned to the adult-entertainment industry in 1999 for three movies: Torn (1999), White Lightning (2000), and New Wave Hookers 6 (2000). In March 2006, she became a host of Playboy Radio's Sirius Satellite Radio show, Night Calls Radio, with former adult-entertainment performer Christy Canyon. In June 2007, Allen performed for two of Kink.com's hardcore websites, Ultimate Surrender and Sex and Submission.[11]
Allen had a relationship with Charlie Sheen from 1990 to 1992 and accompanied him through drug rehabilitation.[5] Despite consistent claims that Sheen has been physically abusive towards women, Lynn has said she never experienced abuse: "Not one time did he raise his voice. No violence".[12] She had a relationship with actor George Clooney.[13][14][15]
In 1991, Lynn served four and a half months in prison for tax evasion.[5] In 1996,[16] Lynn had a son with porn producer Steve Hirsch.[5]
^ abAlilunas, Peter (2016). Smutty Little Movies: The Creation and Regulation of Adult Video. University of California Press. pp. 121–122. ISBN978-0-520-96536-2.
^Gaffin, Harris (1997). Hollywood blue: the tinseltown pornographers. Batsford. p. 21. ISBN071347906X.
^ abcdeCollins, Scott (March 8, 2011). "Ginger Lynn shares her past with Charlie Sheen". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on March 8, 2022. Retrieved March 8, 2022. [I]n 1991, Lynn was convicted in a federal tax-evasion case (she ended up serving 4 1/2 months in prison).
