View source for Seka (actress)

{{short description|American pornographic actress (born 1954)}}
{{Use American English|date=March 2016}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2016}}
{{Infobox adult biography
| name        = Seka
| image       = Seka, 2007.JPG
| caption     = Seka at the 2007 [[AVN Awards]]
| birth_name  = Dorothiea Ivonniea Hundley
| birth_date  = {{birth year and age|1954}}<!--See WP:BLPPRIVACY before adding birth names/dates-->
| birth_place = [[Radford, Virginia]], U.S.
| death_date  = 
| death_place = 
| spouse      = Francis "Frank" Patton<br>({{abbr|m.|married}} 1972; {{abbr|div.|divorced}} by 1977)
| height      = {{height|ft=5|in=8|precision=2}}
| other_names = Dorothea Hundley Patton{{r|Reed 2012}}
| website     = {{url|www.seka.com}}
}}

'''Dorothiea Ivonniea Hundley''' (born 1954), known professionally as '''Seka''',{{r|Marks 2016|AVN 2006}} is an American [[pornographic actor|pornographic actress]] who was known in the 1980s as the "Platinum Princess of Porn".<ref name="Levine 2019"/> In 2013, she released an autobiography about her life and career titled ''Inside Seka''.<ref name="Daily News 2013"/>

==Early life==
Seka was born in 1954 in [[Radford, Virginia]].<ref name="AVN 2006">{{cite web |author1=<!--anonymous author(s)--> |title=Seka Recalls Salad Days of Porn in Autobiography |url=https://avn.com/business/articles/video/seka-recalls-salad-days-of-porn-in-autobiography-49286.html |website=AVN |access-date=20 July 2024 |date=24 May 2006 |type=interview}}</ref> She recalled having "a plain, normal childhood" with two siblings, a brother and sister.<ref name="Skerchock">{{cite web |url=http://www.officialseka.com/articles/chiller.html |title=Seka, A Chiller Theatre Interview |first=John |last=Skerchock |date=n.d. |website=OfficialSeka.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110514092243/http://www.officialseka.com/articles/chiller.html |archive-date=May 14, 2011 |url-status=usurped |type=interview}}</ref> Her family later moved to [[Hopewell, Virginia]], where, nicknamed "Dottie", she won a [[beauty pageant]] at Hopewell High School.<ref name="Daily News 2013"/> She was later crowned Miss Southside Virginia.<ref name="AVN 2006"/>

She married Francis "Frank" Patton on April 21, 1972, a week after her 18th birthday. She worked for [[Reynolds Metals Company]], maker of [[Reynolds Wrap]] household aluminum. She later became a clerk at an [[adult bookstore]], where she began dating the owner.<ref name="Reed 2012">{{cite web |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/seka-raising-penises-for-three-generations/ |title=Seka, Raising Penises For Three Generations |access-date=2014-10-04 |first=John |last=Reed |date=July 26, 2012 |website=Vice |archive-date=July 28, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120728061851/http://www.vice.com/read/seka-raising-penises-for-three-generations |url-status=live |type=interview}}</ref>

==Career==
===Beginnings: 1970s–1990s===
After briefly operating a chain of seven [[adult bookstore]]s in Virginia, Seka sold her interest in the business and moved to [[Las Vegas]], where she did her first [[erotic model]]ing for a magazine.{{r|AVN 2006}} She later moved to [[Los Angeles]], where she appeared in her first [[pornographic film]].{{r|AVN 2006|Reed 2012}} She told an interviewer in 2006:

{{blockquote|I liked porn, but I didn’t like how women were treated. Women had no makeup and their feet were dirty and they had pimples on their butt and their hair was nasty and the producers didn’t care what the women looked like as long as there was a cum shot.<ref name="AVN 2006"/>}}

Seka used the [[stage name]] "'''Linda Grasser'''" early in her career.<ref name="Gibron 2005">{{cite web |url=http://popmatters.com/film/reviews/d/desperately-seeking-seka.shtml |title=Desperately Seeking Seka |date=March 31, 2005 |first=Bill |last=Gibron |website=PopMatters |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090821105120/http://www.popmatters.com/film/reviews/d/desperately-seeking-seka.shtml |archive-date=August 21, 2009}}</ref> She eventually adopted the name "Seka" after a female [[blackjack]] dealer she knew in Las Vegas.<ref name="Cachapero 2007">{{cite web |url=http://www.eros-ny.com/articles/2007-12-11/seka/ |title=Seka |first=Joanne |last=Cachapero |date=December 11, 2007 |website=Eros Zine |location=Oakland, Calif. |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071213233410/http://www.eros-ny.com/articles/2007-12-11/seka/ |archive-date=December 13, 2007 |type=interview}}</ref> By the mid-1980s, she was writing and directing adult films, as well as starring in them.{{r|Reed 2012}}

She stopped performing in pornography in 1992 because of what she saw as the adult film industry's poor response to the [[HIV/AIDS in the United States|AIDS epidemic]], including an unwillingness to require condom use or routine HIV screening.{{r|AVN 2006|Reed 2012|Cachapero 2007}} She would go on to model for ''[[Club (magazine)|Club]]'' magazine and release videos through the website ''[[AEBN]]'',{{r|AVN 2006}} as well as performing [[striptease]] on tour.{{r|Reed 2012}}

===Later appearances===
For several years beginning in 1994, Seka hosted a [[talk show]] called ''Let's Talk About Sex'' on Chicago FM radio station [[WLUP-FM|WLUP]].<ref name="Berkwitt 2010">{{Cite web |url=http://ringsidereport.com/?p=2015 |title=Legendary Adult Movie Star Seka Sits Down with RSR to Talk about Her Career and Love for the Sport of Boxing Part I |website=RingSideReport |access-date=July 22, 2010 |date=April 11, 2010 |first=Brad |last=Berkwitt |archive-date=October 7, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141007140445/http://ringsidereport.com/?p=2015 |url-status=live |type=interview}}</ref>{{Self-published inline|date=July 2024}}

In 1997, she was presented with the [[Free Speech Coalition]] Lifetime Achievement Award.<ref>{{cite web | title=Night of the Stars | url=http://www.freespeechcoalition.com:80/industry/news/stars.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19980611115426/http://www.freespeechcoalition.com:80/industry/news/stars.html | archive-date=June 11, 1998 }}</ref>

In 2005, she moved from Chicago to [[Kansas City, Missouri|Kansas City]], operating her fan club through her 
own website. In February 2007 she announced her first [[Hardcore pornography|hardcore]] scene in nearly 15 years, distributed via online pay-per-view.<ref name="Rugg 2007">{{cite news |url=http://www.pitch.com/kansascity/hardcore-at-52/Content?oid=2184372 |title=Hardcore at 52 |first=Peter |last=Rugg |date=2007-02-08 |newspaper=[[The Pitch (newspaper)|The Pitch]] |location=Kansas City |type=interview |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120906200214/http://www.pitch.com/kansascity/hardcore-at-52/Content?oid=2184372 |archive-date=September 6, 2012 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all}}</ref>

Seka has appeared on various television talk shows including [[The Oprah Winfrey Show]],{{r|AVN 2006}} [[The Phil Donahue Show]],{{r|Reed 2012}} and [[The Morton Downey Jr. Show]].<ref name="Saxon 2001">{{cite news |last=Saxon |first=Wolfgang |title=Morton Downey Jr., 67, Combative TV Host |newspaper=The New York Times |date=March 14, 2001 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/03/14/arts/morton-downey-jr-67-combative-tv-host.html |url-access=limited |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140819090539/http://www.nytimes.com/2001/03/14/arts/morton-downey-jr-67-combative-tv-host.html |archive-date=August 19, 2014 |url-status=live}}</ref> She appeared on ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'' in the 1980s{{r|AVN 2006}} and was interviewed for the documentary ''[[After Porn Ends]]'' (2012).

===Reception and legacy===

''[[PopMatters]]'' describes Seka as "one of the adult industry's most recognizable superstars".{{r|Gibron 2005}} She was known as the adult film world's "Platinum Princess"<ref name="Levine 2019">{{cite book |last1=Levine |first1=Barry |last2=El-Faizy |first2=Monique |title=All the President's Women: Donald Trump and the Making of a Predator |date=2019 |publisher=Hachette Books |location=New York |isbn=978-0-316-49267-6 |quote=A third star from that time, who was known as 'Seka,' called 'the Platinum Princess of Porn' [...]}}{{page needed|date=July 2024}}</ref>{{r|Reed 2012}} whom the magazine ''[[High Society (magazine)|High Society]]'' called the "[[Marilyn Monroe]] of porn".{{r|Reed 2012}} Pornographic film actor [[Jamie Gillis]], who performed with her numerous times, said "Seka was porn, but a little above it{{emdash}}sort of a white trash queen in a way".{{r|Reed 2012}}<ref>{{cite book |title=The Other Hollywood: The Uncensored Oral History of the Porn Film Industry |authorlink=Legs McNeil |first1=Legs |last1=McNeil |first2=Jennifer |last2=Osborne |isbn=978-0-06-009659-5 |page=231 |publisher=[[ReganBooks]] |date=2006}}</ref> Director [[Brian DePalma]] stated Seka had genuine acting talent.<ref>{{cite book|title=Brian De Palma: interviews|publisher=[[University Press of Mississippi]]|author=Brian De Palma|author2=Laurence F. Knapp|year=2003|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nZpkTAxWu4EC|isbn=1-57806-516-X|page=91}}</ref> 

In the DVD commentary for the film ''[[Boogie Nights]]'' (1997), director [[Paul Thomas Anderson]] stated that she was the main inspiration for his character of Amber Waves due to her involvement in a documentary about pornographic film actor [[John Holmes (actor)|John Holmes]].<ref>{{cite AV media |people=Anderson, Paul Thomas |title=Boogie Nights |date=2007 |chapter=Director's commentary |medium=DVD video |publisher=New Line Home Entertainment |location=Los Angeles |isbn=978-0-7806-5761-8}}{{time needed|date=July 2024}}</ref>

==Personal life==
Seka was married to Frank Patton from 1972, to no later than 1977. She dated comedian [[Sam Kinison]] in the mid-1980s, crediting him for arranging her appearance on ''[[Saturday Night Live]].''<ref name="Reed 2012"/>

==Awards==
Seka is a member of the [[AVN Hall of Fame]],<ref name="AVN 2006"/> [[XRCO Hall of Fame]], and [[Urban X Award#Hall of Fame Inductees|Urban X Hall of Fame]].<ref name="XRCO Hall of Fame">"The XRCO Hall of Fame," ''Adam Film World Guide 1992 Directory of Adult Films,'' pp. 284–85</ref> She is also in the [[Porn Block of Fame]].<ref>{{cite magazine |title=John Stagliano, Belladonna to Join Hustler Walk of Fame |magazine=[[AVN (magazine)|AVN]] |date=March 22, 2012 |url=https://avn.com/news/video/john-stagliano-belladonna-to-join-hustler-walk-of-fame-126084}}</ref>

==Partial filmography==
*''Teenage Desires'' (1978)
*''[[Dracula Sucks]]'' (1978)
*''Heavenly Desire'' (1979)<ref name="Marks 2016">{{cite book |last1=Marks |first1=Laura Helen |editor1-last=Pulliam |editor1-first=June Michele |editor2-last=Fonseca |editor2-first=Anthony J. |title=Ghosts in Popular Culture and Legend |date=2016 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |location=Santa Barbara, Calif. |isbn=978-1-4408-3491-2 |page=259 |language=en |chapter=Pornography}}</ref>
*''Rockin' with Seka'' (1980)
*''The Seduction of Cindy'' (1980)
*''[[Prisoner of Paradise (1980 film)|Prisoner of Paradise]]'' (1980)
*''Inside Seka'' (1980)
*''Exhausted: John C. Holmes, the Real Story'' (1981)
*''Blond Heat'' (1985) (opposite John Leslie)
*''Careful, He May Be Watching'' (1987)
*''American Garter'' (1993)
*''Desperately Seeking Seka'' (2002)

==Bibliography==
*{{cite book |title=Inside Seka |author=Seka |author2=Zukus, Kerry |publisher=BearManor Media |year=2013 |isbn=978-1-59393-272-5}}<ref name="Daily News 2013">{{cite news |author1=<!--anonymous author(s)--> |title=Seka releases a new book about the pornography industry and her experiences in it |url=https://www.nydailynews.com/2013/09/15/seka-releases-a-new-book-about-the-pornography-industry-and-her-experiences-in-it/ |access-date=20 July 2024 |work=Daily News |date=15 September 2013 |location=New York |url-access=subscription}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{commons category|Seka}}

* {{official website|http://www.seka.com}}
* {{IMDb name|0782790|Seka}}
* {{iafd name|id=Seka|gender=female|name=Seka}}
* {{afdb name|id=1583|gender=female|name=Seka}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Seka}}
[[Category:1954 births]]
[[Category:American pornographic film actresses]]
[[Category:American female adult models]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:People from Radford, Virginia]]
[[Category:Pornographic film actors from Virginia]]
[[Category:21st-century American actresses]]