Ron Jeremy

Ron Jeremy
Jeremy receiving the "Positive Image Award" at the "Free Speech Coalition Awards Annual Bash Event", Los Angeles, November 2009
Born	Ronald Jeremy Hyatt (1953-03-12) March 12, 1953 (age 63) Queens, New York, U.S.
Nationality	American
Other names	R. J., Ronald Jeremy, Ron Jeremey, Ron Jeremy, David Elliot, Big Daddy, The Hedgehog, Ronnie, Ronny
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1979–present
Height	5 ft 6 in (1.68 m)
Website	ronjeremy.com
No. of adult films	2,216 as actor 285 as director (per IAFD)

Ronald Jeremy Hyatt (born March 12, 1953), known by the stage name Ron Jeremy, is an American pornographic actor and filmmaker. Nicknamed "The Hedgehog", he was ranked by AVN at #1 in their "50 Top Porn Stars of All Time" list. Jeremy has also made a number of non-pornographic media appearances. In 2001, director Scott J. Gill filmed a documentary about him and his legacy, entitled Porn Star: The Legend of Ron Jeremy.

Ronald Jeremy Hyatt was born in Queens, New York, to a middle-class Jewish family. His father, Arnold, was a physicist and his mother a book editor who served in the O.S.S. during World War II, as she spoke fluent German and French.

Jeremy left the teaching profession (he called it his "ace in the hole") to pursue a legitimate acting career on Broadway. He has said that he learned then what it was like to be broke, making no money as an actor who "starved Off-Broadway" Jeremy soon found work posing for Playgirl after his then-girlfriend submitted his photo to the magazine. Jeremy utilized this opportunity as a springboard into the adult film industry, which he viewed as a reliable means of supporting himself.

Jeremy began using his first and middle name professionally in the adult industry, after his grandmother Rose was pestered by people calling her thinking they were contacting him. Rose, listed at that time as R. Hyatt in the phone book, was reportedly pestered at all hours by prospective suitors who'd seen Jeremy in Playgirl. "She had to move out of her apartment for a month," he has said. "My father told me, 'If you want to get into this naked, crazy business, so be it, but if you use the family name again, I'll kill you.'" He quickly dropped his last name professionally for fear of embarrassing his family.