Ron Hightower


Ronald Hightower is an American adult-mainstream director who began his career as a pornographic actor. He has also directed music videos for various hip-hop recording artists, particularly rappers.

Early life and career

Born in Los Angeles, Hightower entered the adult entertainment world in New York City after working as an exotic dancer in the early 1990s. His good looks and muscular physique soon caught the eye of West Coast studio executives who recognized his potential as a top sex star, and they wasted no time in tempting him with better and more prominent roles.

Career in adult films

Arriving at the San Fernando Valley-based porn scene at a time when there were very few black men in the business who were actual celebrities, Hightower rapidly gained popularity as a natural born performer who always pleased his female co-stars, and his early appearances in productions like White Men Can't Hump and the Dark Alleys series were well received by many fans of black themed and interracial erotica. He also displayed much talent as a hard-working director early on in his career and began directing his first of many movies almost immediately after he had begun performing, starting with Dark Alleys 8.
Hightower had often made public his frustration with what he felt were stereotypical depictions of black men in pornography, and at the risk of jeopardizing his career he would take the opportunity during interviews to expose the restrictions that were placed by studio heads at the time on black actors whose female partners were white. Like his contemporary and friendly rival, Sean Michaels, he worked hard to eliminate negative stereotypes of African Americans in the business and also to break new ground for them.

Directorial career

In 1996 Hightower retired from performing sex in front of the cameras to become a full-time adult film director, later to pursue work for mainstream productions. By 1997, he was dubbed by one book as the "king of the black porno market".

Music videos

As a mainstream director, Hightower has produced and directed music
videos for such recording artists such as Above The Law, Gang Starr, New Child, and Tupac Shakur, for whom he directed the music video 'How Do U Want It'.