Jon Dough (born Chester "Chet" Joseph Anuszak; November 12, 1962 – August 27, 2006) was an American
pornographic actor
A pornographic film actor or actress, pornographic performer, adult entertainer, or porn star is a person who performs sex acts on video that is usually characterized as a pornographic film. Such videos tend to be made in a number of distinct ...
active between 1985 and 2006.
Early life
Dough was born Chester Anuszak and grew up in
Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Lancaster ( ) is a city in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 58,039 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, eighth-most populous ci ...
. When he was eight years old, his mother's boyfriend began sexually abusing him and his younger brother. At age 15, Dough was sent to live with his uncle.
At the age of 18, Dough enrolled at
Albright College
Albright College is a private liberal arts college in Reading, Pennsylvania, United States. It was founded in 1856 and had an enrollment of 1,652 students as of fall 2023.
History
Albright College traces its founding to 1856 when "Union Sem ...
in
Reading, Pennsylvania
Reading ( ; ) is a city in Berks County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. The city had a population of 95,112 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census and is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, fourth-most populous ...
. Four years later, he graduated with a degree in biology.
Career
Dough moved to Los Angeles, where he initially intended to seek work as a
soap opera actor. However, a photoshoot with adult magazine ''
Hustler'' quickly resulted in steady work in the adult industry.
His first film was a short loop he made for Lance Kinkaid in 1985. In 1999, Vivian Valentine received a black eye after being hit by Dough during the filming of
Anabolic Video
Anabolic Video was an American independent pornographic movie studio headquartered in Chatsworth, Los Angeles, California, Chatsworth, California. The studio was a pioneer of gonzo pornography, and is considered one of the most successful gonzo p ...
's ''Rough Sex''; however, she has said: "I have no regrets or bad feelings about it".
Dough was a veteran of over 1,400 adult videos as a performer and 71 as a director, according to the
IAFD
The Internet Adult Film Database (IAFD) is an online database of information pertaining to the pornography industry: actors, actresses, directors, studios, distributors and pornographic films.
History
The predecessor to IAFD was email- and FTP ...
. One of his most noteworthy achievements was participating in a
gangbang with 101 women, as well as appearing in the first
DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...
produced by the porn publisher ''
Hustler''.
He appeared in an episode of ''
Louis Theroux's Weird Weekends
''Louis Theroux's Weird Weekends'' is a television documentary series, in which Louis Theroux gives viewers the chance to get brief glimpses into the worlds of individuals and groups that they would not normally come into contact with or experien ...
'' devoted to the
San Fernando Valley
The San Fernando Valley, known locally as the Valley, is an urbanized valley in Los Angeles County, Los Angeles County, California. Situated to the north of the Los Angeles Basin, it comprises a large portion of Los Angeles, the Municipal corpo ...
's
pornographic film
Pornographic films (pornos), erotic films, adult films, blue films, sexually explicit films, or 18+ films, are films that represent Human sexual activity, sexually WIKT:explicit, explicit subject matter in order to sexual arousal, arouse, fasci ...
industry
Industry may refer to:
Economics
* Industry (economics), a generally categorized branch of economic activity
* Industry (manufacturing), a specific branch of economic activity, typically in factories with machinery
* The wider industrial sector ...
, granting
BBC Two
BBC Two is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matte ...
presenter
Louis Theroux
Louis Sebastian Theroux (; born 20 May 1970) is a British and American documentarian, journalist, broadcaster, and author. He has received three British Academy Television Awards and a Royal Television Society Television Award.
After graduati ...
several interviews on- and off-set.
Personal life

Dough's first marriage was to
Deidre Holland, a pornographic actress, whom he later divorced.
He married pornographic actress Monique DeMoan,
with whom he had a daughter in August 2002.
Death and aftermath
Dough died on August 27, 2006, in
Chatsworth, California
Chatsworth is a suburban neighborhood in Los Angeles, California, in the San Fernando Valley. The area around the town was home to Native Americans, who left caves containing rock art. Chatsworth was explored and colonized by the Spanish beginn ...
in a
suicide by hanging
Suicide by hanging is the intentional killing of oneself (suicide) via suspension from an anchor-point such as an overhead beam or hook, by a rope or cord or by jumping from a height with a noose around the neck.
Hanging is often considered to ...
. He was 43 years old. DeMoan discovered Dough's body hanging inside a closet of their home. Dough had survived another suicide attempt a month prior when he was rushed to the hospital and saved.
DeMoan subsequently retired from the porn industry. In a 2012 interview with
Louis Theroux
Louis Sebastian Theroux (; born 20 May 1970) is a British and American documentarian, journalist, broadcaster, and author. He has received three British Academy Television Awards and a Royal Television Society Television Award.
After graduati ...
, she cited Dough's ongoing struggles with drugs and alcohol and growing disillusionment with a porn industry decimated by illegal internet sites as a catalyst for his worsening depression and eventual suicide.
On the day Dough died, DeMoan was napping while Dough was in the living room and their daughter was next door visiting a friend. Upon waking up, DeMoan left the house for a short time to buy drugs, and became concerned when Dough could still not be found after she returned home. She soon began calling friends and searching the neighborhood. After two hours of searching, she found his body in a dark walk-in closet in their home. While Dough was someone who typically kept his thoughts to himself, DeMoan says he did begin mentioning suicide in the weeks before his death.
In the aftermath of Dough's death, DeMoan lamented that he had been "a hunk of a man – he's got everything going for him. Nothing seems to faze him," but drug and alcohol abuse eventually got the best of him. She said that even at the height of his struggles, he was always a dedicated father to his young daughter.
Dough was best friends with fellow adult performer
Randy Spears
Randy Spears (born June 18, 1961), sometimes credited as Greg Ory, is an American retired pornographic actor and director who has appeared in numerous adult feature films. Spears is noted among porn actors for his comedic acting talent.
Career M ...
, who were next-door neighbours at one point. According to Spears, "We surfed together, rode motorcycles together, cooked out together, drank beer together, fooled around in our garages. We borrowed money from each other. We laughed, we cried. We talked each other into joy, and we talked each other down from emotional fences. I can't believe he's gone." Spears has described Dough as being "like a brother" to him. Following Dough's death, he set up a memorial fund on
MySpace
Myspace (formerly stylized as MySpace, currently myspace; and sometimes my␣, with an elongated Whitespace character#Substitute images, open box symbol) is a social networking service based in the United States. Launched on August 1, 2003, it w ...
to raise funds for the funeral costs.
Awards
* 1991
XRCO Award
The XRCO Awards are given by the American X-Rated Critics Organization annually to people working in adult entertainment and it is the only adult industry awards show reserved exclusively for industry members.
Once every calendar year, XRCO m ...
– Best Actor (''Brandy & Alexander'')
* 1992
AVN Award
The AVN Awards are List of movie awards, film awards sponsored and presented by the American trade magazine ''AVN (magazine), AVN'' (''Adult Video News'') annually to honor achievements in the global Sex industry, adult entertainment industry. ...
–
Best Supporting Actor, Film (''Brandy & Alexander'')
* 1993 XRCO Award – Best Actor, Single Performance (''
New Wave Hookers
''New Wave Hookers'' is a 1985 pornographic film that established the alt porn genre. It featured a cast of established performers from the era and was followed by a number of sequels and a remake. The movie starred Ginger Lynn, Desiree Lane, Kr ...
3'')
* 1994 XRCO Award – Male Performer of the Year
* 1995 AVN Award –
Male Performer of the Year
* 1995 AVN Award – Best Supporting Actor, Film (''Sex'')
* 1995 XRCO Award – Best Actor, Single Performance (''Latex'')
* 1996 AVN Award –
Best Actor, Video (''Latex'')
* 1997 AVN Award – Best Actor, Video (''Shock'')
*
AVN Hall of Fame
The ''AVN'' (''Adult Video News'') Hall of Fame has honored people for their work in the adult entertainment industry since 1995.XRCO Hall of Fame
The XRCO Hall of Fame lists well-known adult entertainment works and workers. The list is managed by X-Rated Critics Organization and inducted annually during the XRCO Awards. The first XRCO Awards were presented in Hollywood on February 14, 198 ...
inductee
References
External links
*
*
*
''AVN'' Article on Jon Dough"Randy Spears, Demi Delia Establish Jon Dough Memorial"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dough, Jon
1962 births
2006 suicides
2006 deaths
American male pornographic film actors
American people of Polish descent
Actors from Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Suicides by hanging in California
20th-century American male actors
Best Actor AVN Award winners
Best Supporting Actor AVN Award winners
Male Performer of the Year AVN Award winners