Ona Zee (also referred frequently to as Ona Z) was born on the 3rd of March 1954 in Los Angeles, California. It was here where she grew up under her real name of Ona Zimmerman and in 1987, at age 36 (an unusually late entry to the industry, at a time when many of the girls starting out were straight out of high school or college) she began acting in adult movies. Her first year contained a number of titles released by famed producers including Video Team, Vidco, Caballero and Command. Each of these performances gained her more fans from the starting base that she used (this was also contributed to by working as a model for a variety of companies outside of the industry, including working for the Wilhemina Agency, which landed her shots in magazines such as Cosmopolitan) but it wasn't until the year of 1988 that she hit the mainstream of the industry with her AVN award-winning performance in 'Our Dinner With Andrea' which was directed by her then-husband Frank Zee (whom she has been divorced from since 1999). The video featured Ona in four scenes out of a total of seven including a lesbian performance with Sharon Kane, a straight scene with Robert Bullock and two G/G/B threesomes with both of the aforementioned actors. It was this video which catapulted her to stardom and has been followed by appearances in almost 300 videos along with directing over 65 more under a large amount of aliases (including Joanna Collins, Ona Simms, Ona Zimmerman and Ona Simms Wiegers).
In the later stages of her career in the industry, Ona and one of her closest friends, Nina Hartley, jointly appeared on The Oprah Winfrey show to discuss the position of women in the adult industry and how they are seen by others. The show proved to be a boost for her reputation as she visibily stood up to those in the audience who challenged her on issues such as free choice when it comes to actions in films, freedom of speech, the abuse of women in the industry and how they felt about what they were doing. Throughout this time she appeared in many videos, for some of the biggest producers in the business (including, but not limited to: VCA, Vivid Video (also known as Vivid Entertainment), Ona Zee (her own production company set up with her husband in 1990, After her first marriage ended, Ona was married to Frank from 1987 until to 1999 - she continued the company after the separation), Hollywood and Atlas). Ona's retirement from the industry came in 2003 when she stopped directing along with acting.
With a career spanning over twenty years, Ona has distinguished herself from many of her contemporaries in a number of ways. She is almost always put within the top-20 of many fans and critics alike when it comes to naming some of their favourite porn actresses from the late eighties and early nineties. One of the main reasons for this is the number of unique traits that Ona possesses (which make her attractive, to both companies when looking for sales figures and to fans when looking for an enjoyable performance to view), some the most widely quoted are listed below, along with other key factors about her success while performing.
With performances in just under 300 videos along with working as a director on over 50 more titles, there is a wide choice for those who try to establish which of them are her most notable. Below is a list compiled via fan favourite ratings, sales figures and other factors (such as some of the most famous, or infamous co-stars in the history of porn) which make them some of biggest videos of Ona's career.
Ona was previously listed on the infamous Exotica-2000 website (also known as the New York Elites agency), which was an escort agency with over 50 pornstars on the books than got shut down by the FBI in 2005. A media circus ensued, fueled by facts such as proceeds totalling as much as $5.5 million being found in the company credit-card processing account, as well knowledge that a lot more money than this was being transferred between clients, pornstars and the agency in cash. Ona was joined in the listings of the site by some of the biggest names in the industry, both at the time and from the past eras (actresses as Chasey Lain, Lisa Sparxxx and Cytherea among many) including co-stars that she is friends off-screen with and has many many appearances on screen with, such as Tracey Adams and Nina Hartley. Once the national attention from this event subsided, many of the stars who were seen to be on the site continued escorting after laying low for periods of time. The escort agency Sophie's Dream Girls (SophiesDreamGirls.com) now claims to have Ona on their rosta, describing her as "undeniably sexy and exquisitely hot". Her rate per hour is listed on the site is $1400 and shows availability only in the Los Angeles area (where Ona was born and raised). The pricing shown would agree with the average rates that Exotica-2000 were charging before they were shut down. More information and contact forms for Ona as an escort can be reached by visiting her agency site, however we can accept no responsibility and can make no guarantees about the time or money spent with Ona as we simply are providing information.
Up until mid-September 2006, Ona (or at least associates of hers) operated her official website at the domain name OnaZee.com, however it then expired due to it not being renewed and was dropped from the registry of .com domain names, administrated by ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers). After this happened, it was bought by the domain drop auctioneers Snapnames.com and was sold to a new company (the amount for which is undisclosed due to it being a private auction), which means that Ona no longer has her own official website. It is unknown whether the website address she previously used will be developed, or if Ona will decide to create a new official site. Prior to the deletion (although perhaps not available in the months running up to it) the site contained an archive of pictures of Ona along with a newsletter and a contact address for those wishing to join her fanclub or contact her. It is unknown whether the address still functions as her fanclub (although some fan and filmography websites claim it does).
Outside of her official site, content featuring Ona is rare and any that is distributed on the net is most usually licensed content from one of the many videos that she has appeared in. It is due to this that hardly any sites contain sections dedicated to Ona herself, and many (such as Pornstar Classics) make note of her when she is in a scene or video that they are releasing to members, but have no full section focused on her. It is for this reason that many people have said Ona is underrated when compared to some of her contemporary stars of the era who still have large audiences in both the video market and on the internet. For comparison, in mid-2006 "Ona Zee" was searched for on the internet search engine Overture 3000 times, compared to, for example Christy Canyon, who was searched for over 55,000 times.
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