Ona Zee

Before adult films, Zee modeled professionally for the Wilhelmina Agency in the 1970s, appearing in Cosmopolitan and commercials for J.C. Penney, Levi's, and Ultra Brite Toothpaste. She founded Ona Zee Pictures in 1990, directing and producing 67 films, including Strippers Inc. and the Ona's Doll House series. Her performances earned her three AVN Awards: Best Actress for Portrait of an Affair (1989) and Starlet (1992), and Best Supporting Actress for Secret Garden 1 & 2 (1993). She was inducted into the AVN Hall of Fame in 2000 and received the Hot d'Or d'Honneur that same year. Zee also advocated for performers' rights, forming a porn actors' union in the 1990s that collapsed due to lack of support.

Late in her career, Zee identified as pansexual and expressed a fetish for performing with transsexuals, which she did in at least one film. She created a line of videos catering to bondage, discipline, and fetish audiences, working in films where she dominated both men and women. She also crossed over into gay porn, one of the few mainstream female stars to do so, usually playing the wife of a closeted character and sometimes using a strap-on on the male performer. After retiring in 2003, she became a real estate agent for Coldwell Banker in Los Angeles under the name Ona Dawes and launched a jewelry line. Fans and contemporaries remember her fondly; AVN described her as "a mature star with unmatched depth," and Nina Hartley called her "a fierce advocate for performers' rights." As of July 2025, Zee, now 74, lives privately with no active social media presence, her legacy enduring through her Hall of Fame induction and her impact on the industry.