John Stagliano

John Stagliano Biography

John grew up in the suburbs of Chicago in the '60s. In 1972 he enrolled at UCLA as an economics major where he also pursued his interest in modern dance and acting. He had been involved in the adult entertainment business when he wrote some porn fiction for a small paper and worked on soft core modeling jobs. His first performance in a hardcore movie was in an 8mm loop in 1974. A 1979 ad in Daily Variety for male strippers for Chippendale's led John to a four year career taking off his clothes for hundreds of screaming women five nights a week. It was a dream job with fringe benefits that any straight male would kill for! In 1982, he at age 30, John started publishing a small porn magazine on newsprint. In 1983, the VCR era was beginning and the first shot on video adult movies were coming to market. John spent a mere $8,000 on his first video. He had very little knowledge about filmmaking, but was bursting with ideas about how to make better porn films. In 1989, he started EVIL ANGEL, to sell his own videos. Soon after, he changed the business model of adult movie sales by offering other directors an opportunity to offer their movies through Evil Angel without relinquishing ownership or profit participation. John's influence on moviemakers is undeniable as he came up with the idea of breaking the fourth wall, dispensing with the fake story, putting himself in the movie as the cameraman and focusing on his favorite theme, ass-fetish. That movie would become the classic Adventures of Buttman. In 2003, John filmed his groundbreaking feature The Fashionistas, which swept the AVN Awards. The following year, his live dance spectacular Fashionistas (based on the story in the film) debuted in Las Vegas to critical acclaim, including Best Choreography of 2005 from the Las Vegas Review-Journal. In 2008, John Stagliano, a fervent Libertarian, took on the biggest challenge of his life when he was indicted federally on several counts of obscenity for distributing his company's products on DVDs and via the internet. Since that time, John has let it be known that he intends to defend this case on its merits while challenging the reason for the statute itself, and fighting for his right to speak out publicly against government interference with liberties that should remain available to all adults. In addition to the dozens of awards and accolades John has won over the years, John is a Hall of Fame member for AVN, XRCO, NINFA and is now the Free Speech Coalition Man of the Year.