Vanessa del Rio

Vanessa del Rio (born Ana Maria Sanchez on March 31 1952 in Harlem, New York, USA) was an American pornographic actress. She is a daughter of immigrants from Cuba and Puerto Rico. As a child and young adult she attended mostly Catholic schools.

Biography

Vanessa del Rio began her career in 1974 to earn rent money, and thus became the first Hispanic porn star. Though she has been credited occasionally as "Veri Knotty" this was not a name she ever used herself, but an error made on "loop" boxes by producers in the industry due to her very superficial resemblance to another '70s-'80s porn star who went by this very name, whose signature claim to fame was her ability to tie her labia in a knot. Similarly, she was credited as "Ursula Pasarell" on some early film boxes by loop producers, but again, she never used the name herself. Though she retired from adult films in 1986 in part due to the AIDS scare prevalent at the time, she remains somewhat active in the adult entertainment industry through her web site and by making special appearances at award shows, conventions, etc. Over the course of her 22-year career, del Rio has appeared in over 200 pornographic movies, the last of which was the film Dr. Lust. She's also appeared in several music videos, notably "Get Money" by Junior M.A.F.I.A.

Initially, del Rio was well-known due to her extremely large and prominent clitoris and for being the first "anal queen" of porn, being the first porn actress to regularly engage in extended anal sex. She was also know for turning on the side, as an expensive callgirl. She is best known now for her blunt sense of humor. While helping out middle-aged curators with the installation of a sex museum in New York, she quipped, "They're so repressed - I know what they really want."

She has recently been "canonized" by the Church of the Subgenius St. Vanessa Del Rio. Her feast day is 29 December. In spring of 2007 the German art book publisher TASCHEN plans to release a deluxe autobiography, heavily illustrated, that documents every exuberant and often shocking detail of her life.

Awards

• Hall Of Fame Adult Video News
• Hall Of Fame X-Rated Critics Organization

Notable TV guest appearance

• NYPD Blue playing "Herself" in episode: "Head Case" (episode # 3.15) 27 February 1996

Selected filmography

• China Doll (1974): Her first movie
• Forbidden Ways (1976)
• Babylon Pink (1979)
• Co-Ed Fever (1980)
• Dracula Exotica (1981)
• When She Was Bad (1983)
• Maid in Manhattan (1984)
• The Devil in Miss Jones 3: A New Beginning (1986)
• Doctor Lust (1987)
• The Best of Vanessa del Rio (1987)

External links

• Interview at Mentertainment Magazine
• Interview at Generator 21 Magazine
• Interview at LukeFord.com