Biography

Karen Summer was born on July 22, 1962 in Los Angeles, California. An only child, Summer grew up in both Tarzana and Encino, California. Karen began her career in show business doing a lot of extra, photo double, and stand-in work for the mainstream movie industry; she worked as a stand-in and production assistant for the hit TV series The Dukes of Hazzard (1979) for three years. After meeting noted adult industry casting director Jim South at an El Torito restaurant on Ventura Boulevard, Summer started out in the adult entertainment industry as a nude model and made her hardcore film debut at age twenty in 1982.

Karen appeared in a slew of adult movies made throughout the 1980's for such top directors as Larry Revene, John Stagliano, Bruce Seven, Kirdy Stevens (Stevens was Summer's all-time favorite director), Svetlana Mischoff, and Jack Remy. After retiring from the adult film industry in the 1990's, Summer continued to work for a while as a feature dancer and burlesque performer before moving to Florida, getting married, and becoming a paralegal. In the wake of divorcing her husband in 2000, Karen went on to work in the health care field.

Summer decided to return to the adult entertainment industry in 2014 after running into good friend and fellow adult film actress Nina Hartley in Las Vegas. Karen hosts her own show XXX Porn Star Radio as well as runs her own official interactive website. Summer was inducted into the AVN Hall of Fame, the XRCO Hall of Fame, and Legends of Erotica in 2015.
- IMDb mini biography by: woodyanders

[on Kirdy Stevens] Honestly, everything I ever did for Kirdy Stevens, I love them; they were like family to me. Every time I got the opportunity to work with him, I jumped at the chance. He was a great man. I knew his family, his kids. He was a great director. His wife was wonderful. You went to his house, and they treated you like family.

I learned long ago not to try and figure out other people's plans or to judge what they are doing. I always find it much more honest and productive to focus on what I'm doing, and how I can be a better performer instead. Being a porn star is something that matters to me, in the true sense of the word. In 2015 I was inducted into the AVN Hall of Fame, which is an honor that I'm very proud of, but that sort of thing comes from the media. What matters more to me is someone like my good friend Nina Hartley recalling that I was the lucky lady to be part of her very first lesbian scene in a XXX feature film. That kind of mutual respect among major performers means a lot more to me. Obviously, the thing that matters the most is the appreciation of my fans, and now with say the live web-cam shows work it's easier than ever for my fans to share intimate moments with me online.

I am absolutely a people person, I do not judge ever, everybody has their right to be who and what they want to be. I'm open to new ideas and I love learning new things.

[on watching her own adult films in the 1980's] I could never watch my own stuff. It's weird, but you see yourself from angles you don't normally see yourself from. It's like, "What? Is that me?" And you're with your man at the time, and he's like, "Yup, that's you" and you're like, "Really, that's what it looks like? Okay." Back then, we used to do premieres at theaters, and the first time I ever saw my pussy 40 feet wide on a screen, I was like "Oh my god!" and had to run out of the room. You're just not ready for that. It's funny as hell and scary at the same time.