Last 
year wasn’t the best year for the porn industry.
Piracy continued to ravage the already suffering video business. And scandal rocked the industry more than once. The industry suffered a setback in November when voters in Los Angeles County passed a resolution that made condom use in adult films shot in the area mandatory – and, depending on how the issue is enforced, could mean a lot more than that.
When the 
movie industry slapped adult films with an XXX rating, porn companies came to embrace the scarlet letters. But when the nonprofit corporation that oversees Internet addresses rolled out the .xxx domain, the reception was unequivocally unenthusiastic.
Manwin, one of the porn industry’s largest companies, is challenging Icann, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, in an antitrust suit over the new domains. And while most other porn companies haven’t rushed to join the legal fight, they’re watching closely.
While 
plenty of adult stars dream of making the transition to traditional acting, their dreams rarely become reality. Hollywood — and mainstream culture, in general — tend to segregate the men and women of porn, keeping them at arm’s length.
But there are some performers whose drive, persistence and fan base lets them break through. Some make it onto the big screen. Others take a different path. But by the time they’re done, their names are known by a much wider audience than they started with. Here are 10 who have managed to make the transition to ‘civilian’ celebrity.
Fabian 
Thylmann isn’t a familiar name to most people outside the adult entertainment industry.
But while the 33-year-old managing partner of Manwin lacks the icon status of Hugh Hefner or the grand showmanship of Larry Flynt, he has quietly become one of the most powerful people in porn over the past two years.
Los Angeles 
may be about to lose its title as the US porn capital.
The L.A. City Council voted Tuesday to make condom use mandatory in adult films. And adult studios are already planning how to minimize the effects of that law.
The porn 
industry stands at a precipice as it heads into 2012.
Online piracy continues to nip at the earnings of studios, and new legislation could dramatically impact how companies do business. So it makes sense, in a way, that the industry’s annual convention is facing big changes as well.
Chris Morris: Journalist 