12th AVN Awards


The 12th AVN Awards ceremony, organized by Adult Video News took place on January 7, 1995, at Bally's Hotel and Casino, Paradise, Nevada beginning at 7:45 p.m. PST / 10:45 p.m. EST. During the ceremony, AVN presented AVN Awards in 89 categories honoring the movies released during the period December 1, 1993 to November 30, 1994. The ceremony was produced by Gary Miller, Mark Stone and Marco Polo. Actor Steven St. Croix hosted the show for the first time, with co-hosts Dyanna Lauren and Tera Heart.
Michael Ninn’s Sex won nine awards, including Best Film. Other winners included Dog Walker and Shame with five each. Flashpoint and Idol Country were the top gay movies with four trophies apiece.

Winners and nominees

The nominees for the 12th AVN Awards were announced at the AVN nominations luncheon 30 days prior to the awards ceremony. Dog Walker and Michael Ninn's Sex earned the most nominations with fourteen. They were the most nominated movies since the awards began in 1984. Shame, an avant-garde western, earned ten nominations while Body & Soul and The Dinner Party had nine apiece.
The winners were announced during the awards ceremony on January 7, 1995. John Leslie won best director in both the film and the video categories, the first time that had happened. He joined previous winners Cecil Howard and Henri Pachard as the only people to have won three best director awards. Ashlyn Gere won Best Actress in both the film and the video categories, just as she had done two years earlier. Asia Carrera became the first person to win the AVN Award for Female Performer of the Year in her first year in the industry. Kylie Ireland was crowned Starlet of the Year.

Major awards

Winners are listed first, highlighted in boldface, and indicated with a double dagger.

Additional award winners

These awards were also announced at the awards show, in two winners-only segments read by T. T. Boy, Dyanna Lauren and Tera Heart. Some of the gay awards were announced by Gender and Chris Green.
GAY AWARDS:

Special Achievement Award

inductees for 1995 were: Robert Bullock, Karen Dior, Chi Chi LaRue, Scotty Fox, Ryan Idol, Sean Michaels, Kelly Nichols, Nikki Randall, Jim South, Sheri St. Clair, Samantha Strong

Multiple nominations and awards

The following five movies received the most nominations:
NominationsMovie
14Dog Walker
14Sex
10Shame
9Body & Soul
9The Dinner Party

The following ten movies received multiple awards:
AwardsFilm
9Sex
5Dog Walker
5Shame
4Flashpoint
4Idol Country
3John Wayne Bobbitt: Uncut
3Revenge of the Bi Dolls
2Body & Soul
2The Dinner Party
2The Face

Presenters and performers

The following individuals, in order of appearance, presented awards or performed musical numbers or magical acts. The show's trophy girls were Lexus Locklear and Lisa Ann.

Presenters

NameRole

Asia Carrera
Ashlyn Gere
Colt Steele		Presenters of the award for Best Supporting Actress—Video

Dyanna Lauren		Presenters of the award for Best Supporting Actor—Video

Mark Davis
Alex Sanders
Krysti Lynn		Presenters of the awards for Best Supporting Actress—Film and Best Supporting Actor—Film

Ian Daniels
Shelby Stevens
Rebecca Wild
Alicia Rio		Presenters of the awards for Best Group Sex Scene—Video and Best All-Girl Sex Scene—Video

Dyanna Lauren		Announced first winners-only segment

Gender		Presenters of the award for Best Supporting Actor—Gay Video

Wendy Whoppers
Lisa Lipps
Tonisha Mills
Chasey Lain
Sindee Cox		Presenters of the awards for Best Selling Tape, Best Renting Tape and the first Special Achievement Award

Persia
Lana Sands		Presenters of the awards for Best Couples Sex Scene—Film, Best Couples Sex Scene—Video and Most Outrageous Sex Scene

Paul Thomas		Announced the Hall of Fame inductees

Rebecca Lord
N’J De Bahia		Presenters of the Hot Vidéo Award for Best European Release

Chanel
VixXxen
Brittany O'Connell		Presenters of the award for Best Continuing Video Series

Yvonne
Crystal Gold
Jeanna Fine		Presenters of the awards for Male Performer of the Year and Female Performer of the Year
Presenter of the second Special Achievement Award
Announced second winners-only segment
Presenter of the award for Best New Starlet

Tera Heart		Presenters of the award for Best Director—Video

Lilli Xene
Ariana		Presenters of the award for Best Director—Film

Julia Ann
Janine Lindemulder		Presenters of the awards for Best Actor—Film and Best Actress—Film

Kaylan Nicole
Sunset Thomas
J. R. Carrington		Presenters of the awards for Best Actor—Video and Best Actress—Video

Shane
Jake Williams
Celeste
Sarah Jane Hamilton		Presenters of the awards for Best All-Sex Video and Best All-Sex Film

Nina Hartley
Shanna McCullough
Juli Ashton
Lacy Rose		Presenters of the award for Best Shot-on-Video Feature

Tera Heart		Presenters of the award for Best Film

Performers

NameRolePerformed

Déjà Vu Dreamgirls
La Raf
The Stingers		PerformersOpening number: “The Show Must Go Off”

and dozens more		Performers"Great Moments in Adult HIstory" video montage
PerformersMagic act

Dyanna Lauren
The Stingers		PerformersClosing number: "Nasty"

Ceremony information

Actor Steven St. Croix hosted the show for the first time following a three-year stint by actor Randy West. His co-host for the first half of the show was Dyanna Lauren while Tera Heart co-hosted the last half of the show.
Midway through the show, AVN executive editor Gene Ross introduced a montage of scenes of humorous moments from a variety of movies, “Great Moments in Adult Video History”, featuring actor Randy West and dozens of others.
Several other people were involved with the production of the ceremony. Gary Miller and Mark Stone served as producer and director for the show while Marco Polo served as director of the broadcast. Stone also served as musical director.
There were several new categories for this year's awards show, including: Best Ethnic-Themed Video, Best Special Effects, the Hot Vidéo Award, Most Outrageous Sex Scene and a couple more awards in gay categories.
John Wayne Bobbitt: Uncut was announced as the movie with the most sales and also the most rentals over the 12 months.
A VHS videotape of the show was also published and sold by VCA Pictures, which had hardcore clips of the winning movies interspersed with the awards presentations. A softcore version was made available on VHS for promotional purposes by NightVision.

Critical reception

The show received a mixed reception from media publications. Erotic X-Film Guide called the show “a gala, star-studded event equal in glitz and glamor to any mainstream film awards show.” However, Oui magazine and Adult Cinema Review said the video montage didn't work and some of the other entertainment was long, boring and tedious.

''In Memoriam''

AVN publisher Paul Fishbein shared a moment of remembrance for industry performers who died over the past 12 months: