Christy Canyon Biography

Christy Canyon (born on June 17, 1966) is an American radio personality and AVN and XRCO Hall of Fame, retired pornographic actress.

Adult film career

Canyon was born in California to an Armenian-American father and an Italian-American mother. She appeared in nearly 200 adult films, won several "best female performance"-type awards, and is a member of both the XRCO and AVN Halls of Fame. Canyon is best known for large natural breasts,<see Celebrity Sleuth Vol 13 No 4> high-energy performances, and (at times) flowing pubic hair (further bolstering the extra-"natural" look so popular in the industry in the 1980s). During her career, her measurements were reportedly 36DD-24-36. She effectively "retired" from performing in-front-of-the-camera three times, as she shot films from September 1984 to March 1985; June 1989 to December 1992; and, 1995 to 1997 (as an exclusive/contract performer for Vivid). Like many other porn stars, she parlayed her adult film stardom into a career as a "feature" exotic dancer, performing across the country during and in between her acting stints. She retired from dancing around 2001. In 1999, AVN rated her as one of the top 25 adult film stars ever. In her autobiography, Canyon stated that porn actor Greg Rome approached her while she was waiting for a ride in Hollywood, and told her that she would be a terrific figure model. He gave her the business card of adult magazine and film recruiter/agent Jim South, of World Modeling Agency. After visiting South's office she posed for men's magazines and began her video career shortly thereafter. She has stated that her first on-screen performance was with Peter Lambert in 1984's "Swedish Erotica 57," and that Jeremy soon became a close friend in the business. Jeremy remains a close personal friend and the duo still appear together at various publicity events. Her pictures appeared in Celebrity Sleuth magazine, as well as Penthouse, Hustler and dozens of other men's magazines. The music group Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark mentions Canyon in the song "Heaven Is" from 1993's Liberator. The lyrics are: "Heaven is Christy Canyon falling in love with me." In a 2005 interview on Taylor Wane's radio show, Canyon stated that although on-camera she had protected sex (with condoms) with all of her male co-stars during her time with Vivid Entertainment in the mid-1990s, this was not something she practiced in her private life. Canyon stated that she engaged in unprotected sex with each of her male co-stars off camera, prior to their filmed sex scenes. In her personal life, Canyon has dated directors John Frankenheimer and Adam Rifkin. From 2005 to March 2011 she was co-host of Sirius XM Satellite Radio's Playboy Radio show Night Calls. As of April 2011 she became co-host of Sirius XM Satellite Radio's Spice Sex Circus with Ginger Lynn and sole host of Sirius XM Satellite Radio's weekly Legends of Porn. She is now co-host of Radio Sex You Porn on Sirius/XM Channel 102

Partial filmography

• I Like To Be Watched (1984)
• Hollywood Starlets (1985)
• Educating Mandy (1985)
• Black Throat (1985)
• Holly Does Hollywood (1985)
• Star 90 (1990)
• Passages 1-4 incl Peter North (1991)
• Comeback (1995)
• Oral Addiction (1996)
• Domination Nation 1 and 2 (both 1997)
• The Top 25 Adult Stars of All Time (1999)

Retirement

Canyon is retired from performing in adult films and dancing on the road but still has an adult-related career, concentrating on her web site, working as a host for Sex Radio and selling merchandise on eBay and ABIBIDS. In 2003, she published her autobiography: Lights, Camera, Sex (ISBN 0-9727470-0-1), which is still in print. In November 2005, she appeared as a judge on the first season of Jenna's American Sex Star.

Christy Canyon is one of twenty-five women of the golden era of adult films featured in the 2012 book by author Jill C. Nelson entitled: Golden Goddesses: 25 Legendary Women of Classic Erotic Cinema, 1968"1985, which was published by BearManor Media.

Awards

• 1991 F.O.X.E Female Fan Favorite
• 1992 F.O.X.E Female Fan Favorite
• 1996 AVN Best Tease Performance for Comeback
• 1997 AVN Best Group Scene - Film for The Show
• AVN Hall of Fame
• XRCO Hall of Fame
• 2004 Free Speech Coalition Lifetime Achievement Award

See also

• List of porn stars