Jenna Jameson - Mainstream Appearances

Mainstream Appearances

Jameson is also known for achieving a high level of celebrity outside of pornography – even bringing pornography itself closer to mainstream society's awareness and acceptance. She has said: "I've always embraced my hard-core roots, but becoming a household name was an important thing to me."

In 1995, Jameson sent photos of herself to radio host Howard Stern. She became a regular guest on his show, appearing more than 30 times, and played the role of "Mandy", the "First Nude Woman on Radio", in Stern's semi-autobiographical 1997 film Private Parts. This film appearance was the beginning of a series of non-porn film and television roles. In 1997, Jameson made an appearance for an Extreme Championship Wrestling pay-per-view, Hardcore Heaven '97 as the valet for the Dudley family; another appearance at ECW Living Dangerously on March 1, 1998; and a few months where she was ECW's on-screen interviewer. In 1998, she filmed a vignette with Val Venis, a character in the WWE, for airing on WWE programming. In the late 1990s, Jameson guest hosted several episodes of the E! cable network's hit travel/adventure/party show Wild On!, appearing scantily clad in tropical locations.

Jameson was featured and interviewed on the British television show "European Blue Review" on Channel 5.

Jameson voiced an animated version of herself in a July 2001 episode of Family Guy entitled "Brian Does Hollywood". Her character won an award for acting in a porn film directed by Brian Griffin, and at the close of the episode Peter Griffin kidnaps her. In 2002, Jameson and Ron Jeremy played themselves in Comedy Central's first feature television movie Porn 'n Chicken, in the roles of speakers for a pornography viewing club. Also in 2002, she appeared in two video games, most notably voicing Candy Suxxx in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. Her character begins as a prostitute, but goes on to success as a pornographic actress and is displayed on several billboards within the game. Her performance won the 2003 G-Phoria "Best Live Action/Voice Performance Award – Female". She also provided both the appearance and the voice for "Daisy", a secret playable character for the video game Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4, who performs provocative tricks with her clothing and skateboard. In 2003, Jameson appeared in two episodes of the NBC prime time television show Mister Sterling as the girlfriend of a political financier.

Jameson also appeared in a 2001 music video for the Eminem song "Without Me." She can be seen in bed with Eminem as one of the "two trailer park girls" that "go round the outside."

Some of her mainstream appearances sparked controversy. An interview with Jameson contained in the 1999 Abercrombie & Fitch A&F Quarterly was part of the motivation for Michigan Attorney General Jennifer Granholm and Illinois Lieutenant Governor Corinne Wood to speak out against the hybrid magazine-catalog. The campaign was joined by parents and Christian conservative groups, and got the Quarterly removed from shelves and eventually canceled in 2003.

In November 2001, the Oxford Union debating society invited Jameson to come to Oxford to argue against the proposition "The House Believes that Porn is Harmful." She wrote in her diary at the time, "I feel like I am going to be out of my element, but, I could never pass this chance up ... it's a once in a lifetime thing." In the end, her side won the debate 204 to 27.

In February 2003, Pony International planned to feature her as one of several pornographic actors in advertisements for athletic shoes. This was attacked by Bill O'Reilly of Fox News in an editorial called "Using Quasi-Prostitutes to Sell Sneakers", calling pornographic actors inappropriate role models for teens. In response, The Harvard Crimson proposed a boycott of O'Reilly and Fox News. Jameson herself sent a sarcastic email to the show, writing:

"I hope Bill understands the difference between a porn star and a hooker. I assume he has done some research on the subject because he requested some of my videos after we finished taping my appearance. I imagine he wanted them for professional reasons."

In the months following the publication of her autobiography, she was interviewed on NBC, CNBC, Fox News, and CNN, and the book was reviewed by The New York Times, Reuters, and other major media outlets.

Samhain, a 2002 low budget horror film in which she starred with other pornographic actresses including Ginger Lynn Allen, had sat unreleased until 2005, when it was re-cut and released as Evil Breed: The Legend of Samhain, with her featured prominently. She has another minor horror film role in Sin-Jin Smyth, delayed from release in late 2006, and a starring role in the comedy horror film Zombie Strippers, released in 2008. "Any time you mix really sexy girls and huge amounts of gore, it's gonna be a hit", she told Metromix.com.

In February 2006, Comedy Central announced plans to feature Jameson as "P-Whip", in a starring role in its first animated mobile phone series, Samurai Love God. Mediaweek called her the biggest name attached to the project. In April 2006, Jameson was the star of a video podcast ad for Adidas, advertising Adicolor shoes by playing a provocative game of whack a mole. In July 2006, Jenna Jameson became the first pornographic actress to have a wax model at Madame Tussauds (in the Las Vegas museum).

Jameson made an appearance in the hit U.S. TV show The Simple Life in the episode 'Committed' (#5.6) which aired July 1, 2007. Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie still working in the 'love camp' brought in the Adult Film Star to help throw a 'love ceremony' vow for the five dysfunctional couples.