Ronald Jeremy Hyatt was born in Queens, New York to a middle-class Jewish family; his father, Arnold, was a physicist and his mother a book editor who served in the O.S.S. during World War II, as she spoke fluent German and French. He had an uncle who was a gangster with mafia ties to Bugsy Siegel.

Jeremy attended Cardozo High School in Bayside, Queens, where former CIA director George Tenet and actor Reginald VelJohnson were classmates. He earned a bachelor's degree in education and theatre and a master's degree in special education from Queens College in New York. He taught special-education classes in the New York City area, and was a substitute teacher for regular classes.

Jeremy left the teaching profession (he called it his "ace in the hole") to pursue an acting career in New York City, and says he learned what it was like to make no money as an actor who "starved Off-Broadway." Jeremy posed for Playgirl after his then-girlfriend submitted his photo to the magazine, and subsequently moved into the adult film industry as a means to support himself.

He started using his first and middle name professionally in the adult industry, after his grandmother Rose was pestered by people calling her thinking they were contacting him. Rose...listed at that time as R. Hyatt in the phone book...was pestered at all hours by prospective suitors who’d seen Jeremy in Playgirl. "She had to move out of her apartment for a month," he confides. "My father told me, 'If you want to get into this naked, crazy business, so be it, but if you use the family name again, I’ll kill you.'"

Jeremy had his nickname "The Hedgehog" bestowed upon him by Bill Margold after an incident on the set of Olympic Fever, shot in 1979. Jeremy flew in from New York to shoot the movie, dressed in a T-shirt and shorts, expecting warm weather. During his motorcycle ride to the set, located near Lake Arrowhead in the California mountains, the weather deteriorated to blizzard conditions, which chilled him to the point of hypothermia. Upon arriving at the set, Jeremy was immediately whisked away to warm up in a hot shower. When he finished, his skin had taken on a pink hue from the temperature extremes, and the hairs on his body were standing on end. Margold's comment upon seeing Jeremy after the shower was, "You are a hedgehog, my friend. A walking, talking hedgehog." Contrary to popular belief, the nickname had nothing to do with Jeremy's (subsequent) weight gain, as he was quite physically fit at the time.

Jeremy is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records for "Most Appearances in Adult Films"; his entry on the Internet Adult Film Database lists more than 2,000 films in which he has performed, and an additional 281 films which he directed. By way of comparison, John Holmes...the next highest-ranked male star on the AVN Top 50 porn stars...has only 384 acting credits listed on the IAFD.

One joke that made the rounds within the industry at the time was "the kinkier acts some actresses would not perform were bestiality, sado-masochism and sex with Jeremy." However, he has since been recognized for his contributions to the adult industry by being inducted into both the AVN and XRCO Hall of Fame. Additionally, Jeremy's work earned him a spot on the Adult Star Path of Fame located in Edison, New Jersey. He saw a resurgence in popularity in the new millennium, as his star power combined with a desire from many actresses to work with men not aided by drugs like Viagra. Ron Jeremy has said that violent video games are worse than porn.

Film

Outside the adult film industry, Jeremy worked as a "special consultant" for the 1986 film 9½ Weeks. He also served as a consultant on the 1997 film Boogie Nights...which chronicled the emergence of the fictional porn star Dirk Diggler (Mark Wahlberg, loosely based on the life of porn star and former co-worker of Jeremy's, John Holmes)...and the movie The Chase, in which he has a small cameo as a news cameraman. He also appeared in the 1999 film The Boondock Saints, played a bartender in 2002's Spun, and also acted in 2003's cult film Zombiegeddon. He was an extra in Ghostbusters, played a male strip-club announcer in Detroit Rock City, and had a cameo in the film Killing Zoe and in the porn spoof, Orgazmo. In addition, he appeared in several productions released by Troma Entertainment, such as Terror Firmer, The Toxic Avenger IV: Citizen Toxie, and Poultrygeist.

He was the subject of a feature-length biographical documentary, The Legend of Ron Jeremy, released in 2001 and widely distributed on DVD by mainstream retailers. Within that same year, he is briefly seen on the Heavy Metal Band Fear Factory's DVD Digital Connectivity. In 2003, Jeremy appeared as himself in, and lent his name to, the comedy film Being Ron Jeremy, a parody of Being John Malkovich. Jeremy is a frequent interviewee in documentaries about the porn industry, or related subjects such as A Fuckumentary.

Jeremy is featured in the DVD extras of the 2005 film The Aristocrats, telling a poetic version of a joke he himself wrote.

He was featured in the music video "The Plot to Bomb the Panhandle" by A Day to Remember in 2007 off of their CD entitled For Those Who Have Heart.

In 2007, he appeared in the comedy film Finishing the Game as himself. Jeremy starred 2008 in the erotic horror film I am Virgin, which is released in 2010.

Jeremy has a cameo in High Voltage, playing himself as a protester angry at the low salaries porn stars get. He once again appears as himself in the 2009 release One-Eyed Monster, a horror film parody predicated on the premise that an alien force takes over Jeremy's penis and begins killing people in the woods. In an effort to uniquely promote the film, Ron Jeremy's penis started its own blog, and began to Twitter on April 2.

Television

Jeremy appeared in the second season of The Surreal Life, during which he developed a close friendship with Tammy Faye Bakker, and the ninth season of Fame Games, in which he finished second to Traci Bingham on the season finale, which aired on 25 March 2007. Jeremy also appeared in a segment on Comedy Central's Chappelle's Show. Additionally, he made appearances on Penn and Teller's Bullshit! in episodes regarding penis enlargement and circumcision. In 2005, he appeared on the UK reality TV show, The Farm.

Jeremy is part of a running gag on ESPN's Jim Rome Is Burning and Premiere Radio Networks' The Jim Rome Show. Rome, who normally despises the porn industry, has a new-found respect for Jeremy for recording a program bumper saying, "This is Ron Jeremy, head coach of the Miami Heat, and you're watching Jim Rome Is Burning." The bumper is a reference to Jeremy's striking resemblance to former Miami Heat and current Orlando Magic head coach Stan Van Gundy.

Jeremy was seen in the Robot Chicken episode, "A Piece of the Action", which was voiced by Michael Benyaer. In this episode, he and several others parody The Surreal Life and Lord of the Rings. The segment lampoons his penis size by having his character unseat a knight on horseback using nothing but his erect penis. Jeremy appeared as himself in the 2001 Family Guy episode "Brian Does Hollywood", in which he is a presenter at the "Woody Awards" for which Brian Griffin is a nominee.

Comedian Kathy Griffin went on a date with him in the third season of her reality show, My Life on the D-List.

In 2003, Jeremy appeared on The Frank Skinner Show on British TV, and performed a duet ("I Got You Babe") with former Cabinet minister Mo Mowlam.

Jeremy appeared on Chappelle's Show as himself in a spoof called "What if the Internet was a real place?", in which he asks Dave Chappelle if he would like to see some of his films.

Jeremy also appeared as a guest commentator on the Fox Network's late-night news and comedy talk show Red Eye w/ Greg Gutfeld in 2007.

In the "Super Karate Monkey Death Car" episode of Newsradio, Jeremy can be seen sitting in the audience at Jimmy James's reading, along with Brian Posehn.

Jeremy appeared in Tosh.o as the falling prom girl's date.

Jeremy appeared on No Reservations, as himself, in Bourdain's "Food Porn" (Season 5) and "Food Porn 2" (Season 6) episodes.

Jeremy appeared on Silent Library in 2010. In the show, he was the "Mystery Creature" that was concealed underneath a sheet in a cage, the contestant has to feed him carrots while being blindfolded.

Music

Jeremy has appeared in videos by Sublime, Mercury Rev, Moby, Kid Rock, Everclear, Sam Kinison, Guns N' Roses, Mad Yellow Sun, Los Umbrellos, XXX Rottweiler Hundar (Icelandic), the Radioactive Chickenheads, A Day To Remember, Escape The Fate, Christina Linhardt, Necro and Flight of the Conchords. In addition, he released a rap single called "Freak Of The Week" which stayed on the Billboard charts for twenty-seven weeks; a music video for this was also produced.

Video games

Ron Jeremy was featured as a playable character in the Celebrity Deathmatch video game.

He also appears as a fairy in the game Magna Cum Laude, in which he gives tips and advice to the main character.

Ron Jeremy also stars in Bonetown as the king of Bonetown and sex god.

Ron Jeremy is also slated to appear in the upcoming video game Postal III as Raul Chomo, the mayor of the fictional town of Catharsis, Arizona.

Video

Jeremy appeared in a series of viral video spoofs for video sharing website Heavy.com. The videos lampooned include Britney Spears, lonelygirl15, Little Superstar and others.

Ron Jeremy is the voice of himself in a viral video on Atom Films entitled "Titans of Justice". The video casts him, along with an entourage, as a porn star by day and superhero by night.

Jeremy can also be seen in the viral video "Porn Star Insurance" for The Glorious Internet.

In addition, Ron appeared on an episode of Gorgeous Tiny Chicken Machine Show, titled "Pamous Movie Star".

In January 2009, Jeremy made an appearance with David Faustino (Bud Bundy from Married with Children) in an episode of Faustino's show Star-ving, which airs on Crackle, as does the Gorgeous Tiny Chicken Machine Show.

In June 2009, he did a cameo in the music video "10 Miles Wide" by Escape The Fate, along with Dennis Hof and other adult video performers.

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As a further indication of his crossover celebrity status, Jeremy has posed in an advertisement for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) to raise awareness of the overpopulation of domesticated animals. In the poster, he lies partially nude on a bed, a pair of handcuffs on his wrists. Poking fun at his notoriety, the title of the advertisement exclaims, "Too much sex can be a bad thing. Spay and neuter your cats and dogs."

Books

Jeremy released his memoir, titled Ron Jeremy: The Hardest (Working) Man in Showbiz, in February 2007. The book was published by Harper Collins.

Public speaking

In 2005, Jeremy made headlines when he was invited to address the Oxford Union. According to the Union’s librarian, Vladimir Bermant, "Ron is the biggest and apparently the best in the business, so I'm sure he'll have some fascinating stories to tell." His speech defending pornography was well-received.

In 2006, Jeremy began a series of debates on pornography opposing Pastor Craig Gross, founder of anti-pornography website XXXchurch.com, visiting various U.S. and Canada college campuses as part of the "Porn Debate Tour."

Businesses

In June 2009, Jeremy opened Club Sesso, an upscale swingers nightclub located in downtown Portland, Oregon.