Ronald Hightower (born January 25, 1966, in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

) is an American adult-mainstream director who began his career as a pornographic actor. He has also directed music videos for various hip-hop recording artists, particularly rappers.

Early life and career

Born in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, Hightower entered the adult entertainment world in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

after working as an

exotic dancer A stripper or exotic dancer is a person whose occupation involves performing striptease in a public adult entertainment venue such as a strip club. At times, a stripper may be hired to perform at private events. Modern forms of stripping m ...

in the early 1990s. His good looks and muscular physique soon caught the eye of West Coast studio executives who recognized his potential as a top sex star, and they wasted no time in tempting him with better and more prominent roles.

Career in adult films

Arriving at 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 ...

-based porn scene at a time when there were very few black men in the business who were actual celebrities (and when most

interracial Interracial topics include: * Interracial marriage, marriage between two people of different races ** Interracial marriage in the United States *** 2009 Louisiana interracial marriage incident * Interracial adoption, placing a child of one raci ...

movies consisted of showing Caucasian men having sex with

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

women), Hightower rapidly gained popularity as a natural born performer who always pleased his female co-stars , and his early appearances in productions like ''White Men Can't Hump'' and the Dark Alleys series (both 1992) were well received by many fans of black themed and interracial

erotica Erotica is art, literature or photography that deals substantively with subject matter that is erotic, sexually stimulating or sexually arousing. Some critics regard pornography as a type of erotica, but many consider it to be different. Erot ...

. He also displayed much talent as a hard-working director early on in his career and began directing his first of many movies almost immediately after he had begun performing, starting with ''Dark Alleys 8'' (also 1992). Hightower had often made public his frustration with what he felt were stereotypical depictions of black men in

pornography Pornography (colloquially called porn or porno) is Sexual suggestiveness, sexually suggestive material, such as a picture, video, text, or audio, intended for sexual arousal. Made for consumption by adults, pornographic depictions have evolv ...

, and at the risk of jeopardizing his career he would take the opportunity during interviews to expose the restrictions that were placed by studio heads at the time on black actors whose female partners were white. Like his contemporary and friendly rival, Sean Michaels, he worked hard to eliminate negative stereotypes of African Americans in the business and also to break new ground for them.

Directorial career

In 1996 Hightower retired from performing sex in front of the cameras to become a full-time adult film director, later to pursue work for mainstream productions. By 1997, he was dubbed by one book as the "king of the black porno market".

Music videos

As a mainstream director, Hightower has produced and directed music videos for such recording artists such as Above The Law,

Gang Starr Gang Starr was an American Hip-hop, hip hop duo, consisting of Houston-born record producer DJ Premier and Boston-based rapper Guru (rapper), Guru. Gang Starr was at its height from 1989 to 2003, and is considered a widely influential MC-and-pr ...

, New Child, and

Tupac Shakur Tupac Amaru Shakur (; born Lesane Parish Crooks; June 16, 1971 – September 13, 1996), also known by his stage names 2Pac and Makaveli, was an American rapper and actor, regarded as one of the greatest and most influential rappers of all tim ...

, for whom he directed the music video 'How Do U Want It'.

References

External links

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AdultFYI - Conversations with Ron Hightower
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hightower, Ron 1966 births Living people American male pornographic film actors African-American pornographic film actors Male actors from New York City Male actors from Los Angeles Pornographic film actors from California 21st-century African-American male actors 21st-century American male actors 20th-century African-American male actors 20th-century American male actors