Biography

Raven, born Rachel Vickers on July 31, 1964, is a retired American adult film actress known for her work in the 1980s to mid-1990s. She was a teen model in Los Angeles when she tagged along with her friend, Debbie Northrup, who was doing her first scene in an adult movie for moral support. The director saw the tall, stunning brunette and begged her to consider being in the movie. In a 1993 interview with AVN reflecting on her 10 years in the industry, Raven said she was offered three times what everyone else made. "I had zero intentions of ever doing anything like that. I had never done nude modeling, stripped, or anything. It was an all-girl flick called Sappho Sextet, and for my first scene ever, I had to have sex with my best friend Debbie in her first scene, too. We both were 19 and just the day before were hanging out at the mall being typical teenage girls, and now we were going down on each other in front of a crew of men. I think I had sex with two other girls that day, and I never did anything like that in my life. But I made almost $1,000, so I was hooked". She quit modeling and began performing under aliases like Nellie Marie Vickers, Raven St. James, and Vicky Vickers, per IMDb and everipedia.org. She appeared in approximately 218 films, including Taboo American Style (1985, parts 1–4), as well as Catalina Five-0 (1990), Jailhouse Girls (1984), and Wild Attraction (1992) with Rocco Siffredi, per IAFD and m.theclassicporn.com. Raven achieved her greatest enduring popularity with her spot-on wicked portrayal of the bitchy, selfish, and manipulative teenage seductress Nina Sutherland in the well-regarded "Taboo American Style" series. Many of her 1980s roles would have her playing the bratty daughter or rich, snobby ice princess. She took a brief hiatus from porn in 1989 but returned with a vengeance in 1990 at the age of 26 after getting her breasts enhanced to a D cup. Gone was the bratty daughter from the 1980s, and now Raven was a sultry porn goddess with a more mature and bombshell appearance. This is the Raven that more modern audiences are likely familiar with. Raven was popular with foreign directors and she made a number of adult movies from 1990-1994 in Italy, Spain, and France with her dialogue dubbed over. In a memorable scene from one of these movies, she takes Italian porn stud Rocco Siffredi's massive cock up her ass while she looks visibly in discomfort. She then does an ass-to-mouth and blows him to orgasm. Raven did very few anal scenes in her long career. Fans praised her as “a dark-haired beauty with raw passion,” highlighting her Taboo American Style role (comment: “Raven’s Nina was unforgettable,” user: retrofan64). A 2024 X post called her “a 80s icon whose Catalina Five-0 scenes with Zara Whites are dazzling” (@RetroPornFan). Porn legends Jamie Gillis, Joey Silvera, TT Boy, and Randy Spears have all said she was the most beautiful woman they have worked with. Porn icon Nina Hartley has also said that Raven was the most stunning woman she had ever seen, cementing her as one of the great beauties in porn history. Known for her statuesque 5’9” frame, brunette hair, surgically enhanced 36D breasts (post-1990), and intense lesbian and oral scenes, she took a hiatus in the late 1980s before returning in 1990 with a more dynamic on-screen presence, per IMDb. Raven also worked as a second unit director on five films, directed one, and served in the camera department for one, per IMDb. Raven retired from the adult film industry in 1994 at the age of 30. She planned to come back and continue filming in 1995, and even had movies lined up, but never did. Actor and director Joey Silvera said he tried reaching her to be in a movie he was filming in 1995, but she never returned his call and seemed to have left her apartment in Los Angeles without a trace. Raven would later suffer from schizophrenia and end up homeless for 4 years in Santa Monica after stopping her meds. She would get help and medication for her illness and became an advocate for the homeless under the name Vikki Vickers, where she appeared in several YouTube videos telling her story. She doesn't talk about her porn past, and it's unclear if she suffered from any mental issues while in porn or if it had anything to do with her deteriorating mental state. Awards & Honors: Raven (Rachel Vickers) 🏆 Award Wins & Honors 1985 – Her feature Taboo American Style Part 2 earned the XRCO Award for Best Film, marking her breakout in the industry. 🥇 Award Nominations No individual performer awards or major nominations are publicly documented under her name. 🌟 Legacy & Recognition Raven rose to fame in the mid‑1980s through her role in the Taboo American Style series, becoming one of the golden age’s most recognizable performers. She retired at her peak, briefly returned in the early 1990s for a few final years, and then retired again—leaving behind a reputation defined by sultry presence, memorable roles, and a respected place in classic adult film history.