Allen signed a contract with Vivid Entertainment founder, Steven Hirsch, making her the first 'Vivid Girl' and beating out the then-underaged Traci Lords. Allen received the Best New Starlet award in 1985 and is an inductee to the X-Rated Critics Organization (XRCO) and Adult Video News (AVN) halls of fame. She had her own line of videos through Vivid Entertainment with the director Bruce Seven.
Allen's ' girl next door' good looks led to a quick rise in her popularity and eventually she became one of the most popular female performers in adult-entertainment history. Her first pornographic movie role was in Surrender in Paradise, in which she starred with Jerry Butler. Career Adult industry Īllen began as a nude model and then began performing in hardcore sex films as Ginger Lynn by December 1983. When she answered an advertisement from the World Modeling Agency in September 1983, she immediately signed a contract with that agency and did pictorials for Cheri, Club, Hustler, and Penthouse, which brought her to the attention of the adult entertainment industry. Allen, the breadwinner of the two, felt obligated to find a lucrative occupation. After he died, she had her 'first nice boyfriend' move in with her. Born and raised in Rockford, Illinois, Allen moved to California in 1982 to become her grandfather's caregiver following his heart attack.
