Ginger Lynn Allen moved to California in 1982 after hearing about her grandfather's heart attack. Following her grandfather's death, a male friend came to live with her and became her "first nice boyfriend". Allen was the major financial supporter in the relationship and needed to find a higher-paying job. When she answered an advertisement from the World Modeling Agency in September 1983, she was immediately hired and did a spread for Penthouse. This made her visible to the adult film industry. Allen did some nude modeling work and then began performing in sex movies as Ginger Lynn in December 1983. Her first role was in Surrender in Paradise, where she starred with Jerry Butler and celebrated her 21st birthday in Hawaii. Allen quickly rose in popularity and eventually became one of the biggest stars in adult-entertainment history, making 69 hardcore movies. She had her own line of videos through Vivid Entertainment with director Bruce Seven. 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. Career highlights include her performance as the neighbor who introduces Tom Byron to sex in Kinky Business (1984) and her work in Slumber Party with Eric Edwards. Allen's work was also distinguished by explicit and inventive "dirty talking" during her performances. She was the first Vivid Entertainment Vivid Girl, beating out the then-underaged Traci Lords. She was later called to testify on Lords' behalf against porn producers; she refused, and according to her, was then targeted by the Internal Revenue Service for falsification of a tax return. Allen had at least six scenes with porn legend John Holmes early in her career. In February 1986 Allen decided to stop making adult films and to establish a career in mainstream films using her full name. She appeared in several non-adult films, television shows and even interactive movie segments of the Wing Commander computer games. She started her career in mainstream features with a small part in the western Young Guns II, which co-starred her former boyfriend Charlie Sheen's brother, Emilio Estevez. Allen returned to the adult-film industry in 1999 for three movies: Torn (1999), White Lightning (2000) and New Wave Hookers 6 (2000). In December 2005 she appeared in American Pie: Band Camp (2005) playing the supporting role of Nurse Sanders. In March 2006 she became a host of Playboy Radio's Sirius Satellite Radio show, Night Calls Radio, with former adult film actress Christy Canyon. In June 2007 Allen performed for two of Kink.com's hardcore websites, Ultimate Surrender and Sex and Submission. In 2008, Allen appeared in the films Dirty Rotten Mother Fuckers with James Deen (24 years younger than her) and Seasoned Players 4 with Tom Byron, then performed in more than a dozen hardcore releases in each of the next two years.