Steve Hatcher is a rare person in the industry who uses his real name and it symbolizes his open approach. Names matter. By using a pseudonym, the overwhelming number of persons in the industry show that they are ashamed of what they do. Steve ain't.

"I use my real name because I don't want to lead two lives. Be who you are and do what you do."

Born in 1967, Steve has slept with over a thousand women in his life and has almost a thousand flicks under his belt after five years in porn. He smokes constantly.

Like many performers, he's gone in and out of the biz. He used to perform under the name Jake Williams.

Hatcher's quiet, retiring, courteous, sensitive to other people's needs, grateful for his success, humble, open, professional, unpretentious and frequently on the lookout to help others. I've spent hours around him on porn sets and never seen him unnecessarily speak ill of others or strike up an attitude. Of Steve's many good traits, most refreshing is his gratitude.

After a troubled childhood, he's found his niche. Steve remembers those who helped him along the way such as Jim South, Ron Sullivan, Ron Jeremy, Jamie Gillis, Paul Thomas and other older actors.

Adult Video News (AVN) twice nominated Steve as Male Performer of the Year. "I've been fortunate to have big reviewers in my corner," says Steve. "People like Gene Ross (AVN editor), Michael Louis Albo (HEVG editor), Wally Wharton and others helped me get whatever acclaim I've received and that's kept me working for good companies.

"Other Generation Xers like my roommate Sean Ryder, Rick Masters and Dave Hardman haven't yet received the recognition they deserve. And it may be a while until they do. But these guys are the workhorses of the industry."

Steve grew up in the San Fernando Valley as the only child of a policeman and waitress. "Cop kids and preacher kids are the worst," said Steve, the cop kid to me, the preacher's kid.

Hatcher's parents loved and disciplined him, but he was a brat and in and out of drug rehabilitation from age 14 to 17, when he joined the army.

He lost his virginity at 13 at Lake Mead in Nevada, and he proceeded to tell everyone about his conquest. Over the next four years, Steve seduced about 100 females, most of them also in drug rehab.

"Many girls giving up drugs turn to sex."

Just before joining the army, Steve delivered sandwiches for a deli and one of his regular stops was porn powerhouse VCA.

After leaving the army, Steve, at age 23, called VCA to inquire about getting into porn. They referred him to talent agent Jim South, and on his first day in South's office, while waiting for his Polaroid to develop, Steve encountered director Ron Sullivan who hired him on the spot.

In his first scene, Steve did Melanie Moore up the ass for Jim Enright's Caught From Behind Series.

"Ron Jeremy and Nina Hartley were on the set. Before my scene, I asked Ron how to stop myself from coming if I got overly excited and he told me to look at the cameraman's shoes. After my scene, Nina Hartley came over and stroked my dick twice. "That's a fine f---able dick you've got there," she said. "You'll go far in this business."

Steve's dick gets thicker as it extends, and the eight inch length when erect curves up, making it ideal to penetrate assholes. "My cock is easier on girls [assholes]. It curves up like the anus and rubs them in the right place. And I'm gentle. I don't hurt them unless they want to be hurt.

"I've always had a fetish for anal sex. There's something about a beautiful woman who loves to take a cock in her ass that drives me crazy."

Steve first married at age 19 and he divorced eight months later. Then he married ex-performer Chanelle, a petite brunette, when he was 24. Director Paul Norman and his wife Tori Welles threw the reception.

After three years of marriage, Steve and Chanelle separated.

Steve's suffered from depression all his life and it gets particularly bad after the break up of a relationship. He frequently deals with the doldrums through using illegal drugs.

Steve attempted suicide in the summer of 1994, then took time off from porn to clean up from drugs and alcohol.

One of a dozen men who work constantly in X-rated flicks, Steve earns between $250 and $550 per scene.

To keep himself from coming, he now bites his lower lip. "Most guys hurt themselves to stop from coming. I remember a scene with two other guys and we had to slap each other around because the girls were so hot.

"Successful performing before the camera depends on having the right mindset. You have to get into a zone... create whatever thoughts you need to get hard...be they about an ex-wife you can't stand but she still turns you on...or the girl you're with..."

Steve has long hair and rides a motorcycle. He lives fast like other single high-testosterone males.

At age 29, he's found some peace. "I've found my niche. My relationship with my parents is better than it's ever been. They're glad that I'm earning a legal living. My dad's retired and my folks now live in Florida."

Steve once wished to be an actor but now he's happy to "be a big fish in a small pond. My financial status is fine. I'm not greedy. I get to do things that Keanu Reeves and Sylvester Stallone wish that they could do. And these guys are big fans of us, only they can't admit it or Hardcopy would be up their ass in a minute."

In his first year in porn, Steve Hatcher surrounded himself with persons in the industry, but now he mainly hangs out with persons outside porn. "No one brings the office home with them 24 hours a day."

One morning in May 1996, Steve sat around on a porn set with several performers discussing a proposed California tax on X-rated videos. He said he wouldn't object if the money went to a good cause.

Attracted to tiny women, Hatcher's girlfriend since early 1996 is a 5'2" blonde, born around 1976, who appears to weigh 60 pounds and looks 12 years of age. She performs under the name Little Cinderella and like Steve, struggles with a troubled past. She appears in the 1997 mainstream movie Boogie Nights as the illicit interest of the Colonel.