Of course he did. That’s why it was outside the quotation marks in my post.
“What? And give up show business?”
Lest anyone question my premise, a quick & dirty Google shows
Porn star: 25M+ hits
Porn actor: 400K+ hits
Porn actress: 500K+ hits
Not proof positive but a general indicator of usage.
A little off-topic, but this reminds me of the time I was in Target with my mom, and we passed the board game version of Pawn Stars. I said, “Hey, don’t you watch this?” My mother, who is Miss Malaprop herself, yells “Brandon, I NEVER watch that!” and got flushed in the face. So, that awkward moment was brought to you by porn stars, I guess.
Not all porn actors are called stars, for every porn “star” you know about there are tens of thousands of girls who don’t even get a name. If their name is known they are stars, it’s not complicated.
I’ll never tell, but I’ve known a few porn “stars” who have been known to, like stars, twinkle.
“Porn ingenue” only garners 372,000 results.
Don’t flakes of high end cocaine twinkle and sparkle?
Pornstars, fueled by cocaine.
Being able to expand into a red giant must be useful.
Another vote for title inflation in general, nothing specific to porn.
We’re watching Hill Street Blues now and near the end they started the practice of listing after the main title sequence the “guest stars” and then the “also starring”. And they were far from the first.
So for many decades just having a non-trivial role in a movie or TV show entitled you to be a “star”.
This lead eventually to the label “superstar”. I.e., those that were actually quite famous. But soon everybody was a superstar and the term has faded in most regards. (But “supermodel”, for example still hangs on.)
The reason is chivalry.
“Porn scholar” got 2.86m results. This is the exact same number as “squid porn.”
I smell something fishy about this.
The recognizable faces in adult movies are the “stars”. They help sell the videos.
I rented all of Marilyn Chambers films because I liked her. She brought a little better acting to her roles and she was very sexy. 
Veronica Hart was the same. I saw most of her films. She played a similar character in nearly all her movies. She had been badly burned in her early modeling days. That shoulder and arm were always kept covered with costumes.
I haven’t kept up with the adult industry. The focus on huge, plastic boobs and perfect features leaves me bored and uninterested.
I’d assume little has changed in marketing. Certain actors have a loyal fan base. Their name on the box drives rentals and sales.
Very well put.
I came in here with a fairly negative opinion of the, every porn actor is a pornstar, concept.
You just sold me on the idea. BAM 100% converted.
One other good reason: The ones who aren’t “stars” are fluffers at best. There’s no grey areas.
When the porn stars align, is not dead which eternal lies.
There’s a porn market segment for that, surely.
I’m at work, so I can’t look now, but isn’t/wasn’t there a line of clothing branded “Porn Star”?
Stormy Daniels was a star, as porn performers go. She was a contract girl, director, in all the relevant halls of fame, award winner, etc. Did mainstream TV and movie crossover appearances, received media coverage for political ambitions long before The Donald stuff. A known name and face (and other parts) to any casual porn viewer for most of the 2000s, not quite on the same level as a Jenna Jameson but no one was (for various reasons).
I agree, though, that non-stars are almost always referred to as “porn stars.”
I think it’s a combination of “star” being easier to say than something longer like “adult entertainment performer” and calling 99% of them “actors” would be laughable, plus the fact that there was a time when any porn performer you actually knew the name of would plausibly qualify as a “star.”
Yes, for example refer to articles about the death of Billy Glide, a veteran performer that anyone who watched porn from around 2000-2014 probably saw in many scenes but never had the name recognition of a Ron Jeremy (referred to as a porn star, usually) or John Holmes.
Or Jennifer Capriati’s ex boyfriend (“Did she attempt suicide over porn star ex?”) or just about any reference to a male pron performer.