With the help of her fake ID and with her mother's ex-boyfriend claiming to be her stepfather, South was easily convinced of her age, and after having her strip naked, immediately saw Lords' potential to be a porno star.

In order to get work, Lords presented South with her friend's sister's birth certificate, which read 'Kristie Elizabeth Nussman age 22.' She eventually moved in with her mother's then ex-boyfriend while attending Redondo Union High School, who began taking the 15-year-old around to various modeling agencies, eventually landing at Jim South's World Modeling Agency, which recruited women for nude spreads and porn movies.

But the family was far from being safe - her mother's new boyfriend turned out to be a cocaine dealer and molested young Lords, which led to her eventually running away from home before her 16th birthday. As a young girl, the future adult film star moved to Lawndale, CA, with her mother, Patricia, and three sisters, fleeing their alcoholic steelworker father, Louis. Her stage name was a compilation of Nora's high school best friend, Traci the character Katharine Hepburn played in 'The Philadelphia Story' (1940), and the last name Lords, after her favorite actor from her favorite show, 'Hawaii Five-O' (CBS, 1968-1980), Jack Lords. Traci Elizabeth Lords was born Nora Louise Kuzma on May 7, 1968, in Steubenville, OH. Not content to stick with features, Lords broke off into other avenues - music, television, even video games - making sure that despite her sordid past, perhaps someday she would be associated with something more respectable. Since that unfortunate time, when the scandal of her being too young for porn rocked the industry to its core, Lords was one of the few porn stars to legitimately go mainstream, appearing in several television series, low-budget movies and the occasional studio film, including the Wesley Snipes vampire vehicle, 'Blade' (1998). No matter what path actress Traci Lords attempted when her career finally came to an end, she would for better or for worse be remembered for being one of the most famous and successful - not to mention underage - adult film stars in history, having done roughly 100 XXX-rated movies while under the age of 18.

Traci lords 1983