Paul Barresi

Paul Barresi (born 1949) is an American actor, movie director, and media personality.

Born in Lynn, Massachusetts, when Barresi was 12 his family moved to Annapolis, Maryland for his father's job at the United States Naval Academy. Barresi was offered a wrestling scholarship to the University of Maryland but opted to instead enlist in the United States Air Force during the height of the Vietnam War. Barresi served at bases in the United States and the Philippines, and he was honorably discharged as a sergeant in 1971 after completing his tour at March Air Force Base. Upon returning to civilian life, he soon began working as a fitness trainer at a gym in nearby Riverside, California.

In the summer of 1972 Hollywood film producer Ismail Merchant spotted Barresi standing outside the set during the filming of The Wild Party in Riverside, California and offered him a job on the spot working as personal assistant to the film’s star Raquel Welch. He was later given a small role as the bartender in the movie, released in 1975. In March 1974, Barresi was featured in Playgirl magazine with Cassandra Peterson, better known today as Elvira ‘Mistress of the Dark’. The following year he was selected by Rip Colt as an early Colt model and featured on the cover of the November 1975 of Mandate. In December 1978, Barresi was handpicked by Larry Flynt himself to be the first man ever to appear on the cover of Hustler. The print modeling led to dozens of offers to star in adult film. Barresi's natural muscled build and unique persona on film made him into one the highest paid and most sought after adult film icons of the 70’s, starring in adult film classics including Co-ed Fever, Bad Girls II, All American Girls II and Secret of Stage Five. Barresi wrote, produced and directed award-winning adult films. In 1992 Barresi, using the name "Joe Hammer", won the Gay Video Guide Award in the Best Specialty Release category for the fetish video, "Razor Close". Barresi has been nominated for several other AVN Awards, including 8 nominations for the 1998 gay mafia epic which he wrote, directed, and produced, titled GoodFellas/BadFellas, and featuring him in a non-sexual role. Barresi earned a 2003 GayVN Awards nomination for "Best Non-Sex Performance — Gay or Bi" for Long Strokes, noting he got the nod "just for taking my shirt off; if I knew they wanted more, I'd have done more." Barresi also won the 2007 GayVN award and a 2007 Grabby award for "Best Non-Sex Performance" for his work in Velvet Mafia (parts 1 and 2). And in 2008, Barresi was inducted into the GayVN Hall of Fame.

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