John Stagliano

Stagliano grew up in the Chicago suburbs, and attended high school from 1965 to 1969. He enrolled in college, but dropped out in 1969 for several semesters. He then went back to college and studied subjects including English, journalism, and engineering, before transferring to UCLA to major in economics. He originally planned to get an economics PhD and become a professor. He then switched to studying theater, playwriting, modern dance and jazz dance, partly because there were more women in those classes. He is of Italian ancestry with some of his grandparents from Florence.

In the 1970s, he wrote erotic fiction for a small newspaper, and did some softcore modeling. He made his debut in a hardcore pornographic film in an 8 mm loop in 1974. In 1979, he was looking for dancing jobs in Hollywood. He replied to an advertisement in the Daily Variety looking for male strippers for the new Chippendales show. He performed with the group four or five nights a week for the next four years. In 1982, when he was 30, he began publishing a small pornographic magazine on newsprint, which he called Evil Angel.

The Adventures of Buttman

In 1989, he produced The Adventures of Buttman, the first in a popular series which is credited with sparking the "gonzo" adult film genre. These films involved highlighting the female buttocks, with actors often licking, kissing and playfully biting the female behind. Stagliano has stated that a scene showing Tracey Adams's buttocks inspired him to make the Buttman series of films. The clip shows Adams on her hands and knees with her rear end stuck high in the air. "The shot only lasted a couple of seconds," says Stagliano, "but I knew then what I wanted to do." Early Stagliano productions had little to no anal sex in them and were critically acclaimed for the showcasing of his buttocks fetish. Later Buttman films included numerous anal sex scenes, often featuring Stagliano himself. In the 1990s, Stagliano became one of the most successful figures in American pornographic films.

Stagliano was described by U.S. News & World Report magazine in 1998 as "the nation's leading director of hard-core videos".

He has directed series including Buttman at Nudes a Poppin', Buttman Goes to Rio, Buttman's Anal Divas, Buttman's Anal Show, Buttman's Bend Over Babes, Buttman's Bend Over Brazilian Babes, Buttman's Big Butt Backdoor Babes, Buttman's Big Tit Adventure, Buttman's Butt Freak, Buttman's European Vacation, Buttman's Favorite Big Butt Babes, Face Dance and Fashionistas, as well as numerous one-off films. Stagliano also served as mentor, producer, and co-director to Tristan Taormino in her video version of The Ultimate Guide to Anal Sex for Women.

Stagliano was in a relationship with pornographic actress Krysti Lynn (A.K.A Shawna Yager) during 1993. She was driving Stagliano's Acura Legend when she died on December 7, 1995, in an accident in Calabasas.

In 1997, Stagliano tested positive for HIV. As of 2002, medication has kept the virus in check.

He married former porn star Tricia Devereaux (a.k.a. Karen Stagliano) in 2008.

Stagliano espouses a libertarian political philosophy, and has been a significant financial contributor to the Cato Institute and the Reason Foundation, both libertarian think tanks.

Obscenity trial

On April 8, 2008, Evil Angel and Stagliano were indicted on federal obscenity charges by a federal grand jury in Washington, D.C. The scenes selected by the government to support the prosecution involved urination, use of enemas, and bondage. The involved movies are:

Milk Nymphos: directed by Jay Sin

Storm Squirters 2: directed by Joey Silvera

Belladonna's Fetish Fantasy 5: directed by Belladonna

On July 16, 2010, a federal trial began in Washington, D.C., with Stagliano as defendant and after three days all charges were dismissed. Judge Richard J. Leon stated, "I hope the government will learn a lesson from its experience," and called the evidence linking Stagliano to the production and distribution of the DVD videos "woefully insufficient". Although he dismissed the charges on the grounds of insufficient evidence, the judge cited the "difficult, challenging and novel questions" raised in the case against Stagliano, questions concerning extant federal obscenity-statutes, the Internet, free speech, and the rights of criminal defendants. He stated that he hoped "[higher] courts and Congress will give greater guidance to judges in whose courtrooms these cases will be tried."