Dhruv Trivedi
‘Pam & Tommy’ follows the surreal series of events surrounding the leak of actress Pamela Anderson and rockstar Tommy Lee’s infamous sex tape. After their disgruntled carpenter Rand (Seth Rogen) steals the couple’s safe and finds the private recording inside, he decides to profit from it. Of course, what he doesn’t realize is just how popular the video will get.
The story is intriguing and sees the confluence of celebrity culture, pornography, and the (then) novel internet. Rand also has connections in the porn industry, which he uses to begin marketing copies of the video. A character named Austin Moore also appears in the narrative. Who is he? And is he a real porn star? Let’s find out.
Who is Austin Moore in Pam & Tommy?
Austin Moore is actually Rand. The carpenter befriends an adult film actress named Erica and seems to have a soft spot for her. She eventually convinces one of her directors to let Rand star in a few scenes with her, and our hero starts a career in the adult film industry. Austin Moore seems to be the alias adopted by Rand when he appears in pornographic films, which is also why Uncle Miltie refers to him as Austin early on in the series.
Rand’s adult-film industry contacts prove crucial to the story as he uses them (specifically Uncle Miltie) to begin making copies of the stolen tape. In a way, being both Rand the electrician and Austin Moore the adult industry actor seemingly places our hero in a unique position to steal the tape and also have the contacts to market it. Unfortunately, things don’t really go how Rand imagines them to.
Is Austin Moore a Real Porn Star?
Yes, Austin Moore is a real porn star and is the pseudonym Rand Gauthier employed during his career as an adult film actor. As briefly hinted on the show, Rand got his start in the porn industry because of his girlfriend, Erica, who reportedly convinced directors that her boyfriend had experience being an adult film actor (which he didn’t, initially). It is seemingly around the late 1980s or early 1990s that Rand adopted the name Austin Moore. Under the alias, he reportedly performed in at least 75 adult videos — including ‘Miracle on 69th Street’ (1992) and ‘Big Boob Bikini Bash’ (1995) — in a career that spanned about a decade.
Rand was seemingly quite familiar with the local porn industry in LA and spent time helping out on sets. In a 2014 interview, he revealed that he didn’t really enjoy working in front of the camera, especially the idea of him “performing” in front of a group of men. He also found having to climax on cue to be stressful, especially with a room full of people waiting to go on break. Thus, Rand preferred to stick to jobs that kept him behind the camera.
According to some reports, he met pornographic producer and director Milton Ingley early on in his (Rand’s) career and even helped out in his studio. Milton and Rand became good friends, and the latter seemingly trusted the former enough to bring the explosive stolen tape to him. As is well known and is also depicted in the miniseries, Rand and Milton then partnered up to sell black market copies of the tape online.
Rand also got married to Erica, but they separated after a few years. He then reportedly dated adult film actresses like Wendy Whoppers and Stacey Valentine. Eventually, Rand left the adult film industry and returned to working as an electrician. However, the name Austin Moore still brings back memories of his days of working in the adult film industry and getting embroiled in one of the most famous sex-tape scandals in history.
Read More: Is Sebastian Stan’s Penis Real or Fake in Pam and Tommy?
