Lisa Marie Abato

Abato worked in the adult film industry for over two years, performing in 200 films.[2][3] During the early 1990s period of the AIDS endemic, Abato moved away from traditional pornography and into specialized films, which did not require intercourse, including BDSM films.[2] Abato participated in the Adult Video Boxing Championships in October 1992, fighting Laurie Pike.[4] In December 1992, she retired from the adult film industry.[2][3]

After retiring, Abato founded the Holly Ryder Foundation, an organization that funds research around runaways. In 1993, the organization donated $250,000 to the University of California, Los Angeles to research runaways in the sex industry.[2] Abato also became an anti-pornography activist, defining the industry as a crime that is linked to drug trafficking and money laundering.[5] She created a political action committee, the Holly Ryder Commission with the goal of ending the pornography industry in California.[3] She began collecting signatures for a ballot measure banning the sale of pornography in California and changing the definition of pornographic films to forms of prostitution, which she wanted to appear on the ballot for the November 1994 elections.[2][3] Abato's efforts have been opposed by pro-free speech advocates.[3] She funded her efforts with an inheritance from her grandmother.[2]

As of 1993, Abato was studying to be a stockbroker.[3]

• Holly Ryder at IMDb
• Holly Ryder at the Internet Adult Film Database
• Holly Ryder at the Adult Film Database