Vanessa Del Rio

About Vanessa Del Rio

Vanessa del Rio (born Ana Maria Sanchez on March 31, 1952 in Harlem, New York, USA is a retired American pornographic actress and adult model.

Vanessa began appearing in adult films in 1974 after a strict Catholic upbringing and a keen curious interest in sex, where, after she lost her virginity to her first boyfriend at age 14. She would eventually become the adult entertainment industry's first Hispanic porn superstar.

Initially, del Rio was well-known due to her large breasts, extremely large clitoris and for being the first porn actress to regularly engage in extended anal sex (for this reason she was dubbed the "anal queen" of porn).

Porn historian and former director Bill Margold said Del Rio represented the grimy and seedy NYC porn scene from the 1970s and early 80s that stood in direct contrast to the porn that would later be made in Los Angeles. "The adult movies in NYC had their own grimy feel. There were "wise guys" on set watching everything cause the Mafia was funding the movies. And the women were not beauty queens and were often prostitutes who also worked all the numerous adult theatres in the city. These women had ethnic noses, bad teeth, and spoke in thick accents from NYC and New Jersey. There were no blonde Barbies like you would later see dominate California porn".

In the span of about 25 years, del Rio has appeared in over 100 pornographic films and in several music videos, notably "Get Money" by the rap group Junior M.A.F.I.A.

Though she retired from adult films in 1986 in part due to the AIDS scare prevalent at the time, she returned to make six final films in 1986/87, following a stint as a bodybuilder, including the faux porn biopic "Deep Inside Vanessa del Rio" and "The Devil in Miss Jones 3" directed by Gregory Dark and co-produced by VCA Pictures in lieu with the notorious punk-inspired production company Dark Brothers. She then worked as a feature dancer and magazine model until tearing the meniscus in her knee onstage in 1996. After that she used her coding skills to create her own website, produce original content, continued to appear in magazines, and made special appearances at award shows and conventions. During and after her porn career she appeared on many TV shows as herself, including a 1996 episode of" NYPD Blue". Afterwards, she remains somewhat active in the adult entertainment industry through her web site and by making special appearances at award shows, conventions, etc.

In 2015, Freeones.com named Del Rio, Ginger Allen(Ginger Lynn), Jenna Jameson, and Nina Hartley to their Mt. Rushmore of female porn.