Traci Lords (born Nora Louise Kuzma on May 7, 1968), also known as Traci Elizabeth Lords, is an American actress. She first achieved notoriety for her underage appearances in pornographic films and Penthouse magazine (she was 16 years old in her first film), but has now made the transition into more mainstream acting roles.

Traci Elizabeth Lords was born Nora Louise Kuzma on May 7, 1968, in Steubenville, Ohio to parents Louis and Patricia Kuzma. She made her stage name by combining the first name of her high school best friend, Traci, and the last name of her favorite actor from Hawaii Five-O, Jack Lord. At twelve she fled from her abusive, alcoholic father to Lawndale, California with her mother and three sisters. Later, while attending Redondo Union High School, she had an abortion and after having a nervous breakdown, ran away from home. While living with her Mom's forty-something ex-boyfriend who posed as her stepfather, she used a friend's birth certificate and a fake driver's license indicating that she was twenty-two years of age to fake her way into the porn industry at the age of fifteen, starting with Jim South's World Modeling Agency. Shortly after, she was modelling for widely distributed adult magazines, most notably Penthouse, in the same September 1984 issue that exposed Miss America 1984, Vanessa Williams. She quickly became one of the most popular starlets in town, and by now ventured into Adult movies. Lords's youthful appearence and enthusiastic sexual performances propelled her to stardom and is considered by many to be one of the first porn queens. By the time she was 18, she'd appeared in 100 adult films. (According to Lords' autobiography, however, approx. 80 of those films were comprised from leftover and re-edited footage from the original 20 films that were shot.) But in 1986, federal authorities discovered she was underage while making movies and they arrested her, as well as the owners of her movie agency and X-citement Video, Inc. See United States v. X-Citement Video.

The ensuing prosecution against the agencies cost the pornographic film and distribution industry millions as they were obliged by law to remove hundreds of thousands of her videotapes, films and magazines from store shelves to avoid the risk of prosecution for trafficking child pornography. Lords herself was never charged, since as a minor she was unable to give legal consent to perform sex acts on film for money. Instead, the agents and producers who accepted her fake IDs were charged and people affiliated with the films in question experienced legal troubles for years. Only one of her films, Traci, I Love You was actually produced after her eighteenth birthday, and is the only one of her films commonly and legally available in the United States. Since Lords retained the distribution rights to that film, there has been speculation within the industry that she engineered the revelation of her age, to channel people's purchasing to the one film which would actually make money for her.

In parts of Europe and other regions where the minimum legal age for involvement in pornographic films is lower, Lords' films and images in a variety of formats are still legally available. The controversy still sparks debate. Government prosecutors declared that Lords was a victim of a manipulative industry, while Lords has claimed that she was drugged and made to do things she did not want to do but did it, because she had a drug habit. But industry insiders, like Ron Jeremy and Ginger Lynn, as well as boyfriends say they never saw her use drugs and that she was fully aware of her actions even if, as a minor, she could not legally consent. While Lords decries the pornographic film industry, she continues to use the stage name she gave herself as a minor.

The Justice Department was forced to drop all charges when it was revealed that the fake ID which Lords had used to dupe the pornographic film industry was a U.S. passport in the name of Traci Lords - the government had been duped, and any defendant would simply have been able to hide behind the government's error.

Leaving her porn past behind her, Lords moved into mainstream films with success. She has played roles in a number of B-movies. At 18, Lords began studying at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute, and soon after, starred in a remake of Roger Corman's cult favorite Not of this Earth. Then in 1990, Lords' mainstream career was legitimized when she was added to the cast that included Johnny Depp, Ricki Lake, and even Iggy Pop, in John Waters' Cry Baby, playing the role of Wanda Woodward. Other movies on her resume include Blade, Extramarital, Black Mask 2:City of angels, and Chump Change, the latter which won her a Best Actress Award at the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival.

In addition to movies, Lords has also made many appearences in various TV shows, including Married... with Children, MacGyver, Highlander, Tales from the Crypt, Hercules, Gilmore Girls, and Will & Grace among others, along with recurring roles in Profiler, Roseanne, and Melrose Place. In 2000 Traci Lords starred in the Francis Ford Coppola produced sci-fi series First Wave, playing "Jordin Radcliff", leader of a group called Raven Nation.

In the 1990s, Lords began developing a career as a singer, performing vocals for Manic Street Preachers on the single "Little Baby Nothing", and also appearing in the music videos of other performers and groups. In 1995 Traci made her solo debut, in collaboration with Juno Reactor, called "1000 Fires". The album was a hit with critics and the club audience. The Juno Reactor produced 1st single "Control", proved a smash, reaching a peak of #2 at the Billboard Dance Charts. The second single off the album "Fallen Angel"; earned a lot of attention because one of its remixes ("Honeymoon Stitch Mix") was produced and remixed by Chad Smith and Dave Navarro from the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, with a strong indie and "Alterna-chick" sound. The video; a very high-end production was directed by Stéphane Sednaoui; whom had directed for the aforementioned Red Hot Chilli Peppers ("Give It Away"), and Madonna ("Fever") among hundreds of notable music videos. Lords music isn't a mindless dancefloor affair; she marries highly addictive beats and sonical landscapes to personal lyrics. "Father's Field" (From "1,000 Fires") may be the best example; where a very suffocating musical framework gives place to a harrowing account of a personal (and true) experience of sexual molestation as a child. After a couple of years of musical silence, Lords has returned to the music scene with a new production; a double A Side Single "Sunshine". Independently produced.

In 2003 she published her autobiography, Traci Lords: Underneath It All (ISBN 0-060-508-205), which made the New York Times bestseller list.