Whatever Happened to Kristara Barrington?

I commented on this entry on Asian porn stars that I wondered what happened to Kristara Barrington, who became one of the top Asian ladies on the adult scene during the videotape explosion of the mid-80s, which also marked the end of porn's "Golden Age" of 35mm productions.

Also billed as Kim Charoensuk, China Lee, Kimberly Wong, Mai Nguyen and a few other aliases, Kristara (the name she finally settled on and became best known by) was cast in roles that both did and did not, have to do with her ethnicity, which was believed to be at least part Korean. Her real name may very well be Kimberly, as that and "Kim" were what she was referred to by in the 1985 porn documentary Fallen Angels.

Over the past several years, the prevailing rumor is that she became veterinarian and has been practicing in Southern California. One claim was that she went to school and opened up her own veterinary clinic with money that she socked away while doing porn. If that's true, I doubt that she practices under the name "Kristara Barrington," a stage name I always wondered where she got from and why an Asian performer would choose. There is a Charoensuk Animal Hospital in Bangkok and Charoensuk was an early name she used. It can't be ruled out as her real name but it may have been a name she lifted from the vet hospital, assuming it was around in the early-80s, because she may have had had her sights set on a career in veterinary medicine before she started doing porn, but that's just pure speculation. There was also some speculation that when Kristara began her porn career in 1983, she was still underage, which may be true. While some of her bios (such as the one at the Internet Adult Film Database) state her date of birth as being November 22, 1963, other bios (such as the ones at IMDb and Wikipedia) state it as being November 22, 1965. Whether Kristara was underage when she started in the biz or not, after the Traci Lords scandal broke in 1986, some adult video distributors pulled her and a few other actresses' early videos from shelves as a "precaution."

Even though Kristara retired from the adult video industry in 1987, material that she had done prior to that continued to be released for a few years after her departure, giving the false impression that she was still active in porn beyond that point.

I'm sure her legacy will always live on. I just wish I knew whatever happened to her.

Oriental Jade was one of her better-known videos


She was often cast in "non-Asian" roles, as well

From the February 1984 issue of Hustler magazine. It must have (or at least should have) been one of Kristara's very first nude photo shoots because, taking into account her alleged November 1965 date of birth and when the issue hit the stands; she would have just barely been of legal age at the time of the shoot.

Her Wikipedia Entry
IMDb Listing

Never liked her.Serious over-acting...wonky face. I did however like Mei Ling from that era.Wicked curvy body...naturally sexy.Also
Linda Wong...a flat chested spinner who nonetheless always seemed to have little problem handling John Holmes like a champ.

I think is is hot, consittering how old she is now.

Wow, this is going back a ways...never cared for her but she was especially memorable in New Wave Hookers w/Traci Lords. Always heard she got caught up in the underage scare.

She was such an enthusiastic performer and I believe she is Korean heritage. I know they claimed she was.

I REALLY liked her, she was one of my favorites.

I just hope that whatever happened to her life that she is happy and not filled with regret. I wish her only good things.

A dynamite sexual performer. She was so hot and nasty!

STRIPES, although Linda Wong wasn't tall and busty, I wouldn't quite say she was a flat-chested spinner.

By the way....I wonder why the comment counter only reads 1 when there have been 4 comments here.

@ CEC32: noticed the same bug! weird... Doc?

Probably something to do with the massive DoS attack we had while I was sleeping last night - they were hitting us for eight hours straight! There's probably a few errors in the database as a result, which I'll have to try and sort out later.

I too never cared for her. Unappealing face and terribly distracting over-exaggerated acting. I suspect she is half Korean half white - not that there's anything wrong with that.

I too vastly preferred Mei Ling & Linda Wong, not to mention their successor Asia Carrera. Mei was fun, and had that certain primal animal attraction.

i vote for linda wong...i actually saw Mei Ling at the CES in Vegas years ago..she is about 70 now :) think about that luvjgirls :)

Linda Wong was my favorite Asian star from the Golden Age.
Sadly, a "whatever happened to" post couldn't be done on her because it's no mystrey what happened to her. She died of an accidental drug overdose in December of 1987.

Correction: name is "Mai Lin" not "Mei Ling". Her name has been ripped off many times. And she's 54 not 70. I'd still do her. Plenty of doable Asian chicks that age who still have it.

i overstated :) she actually still looks pretty hot...not milf but more like gilf ?:)

Shawnee Cates is my favorite...Running second would be Anisa

I like porn actresses as China Mai. What happende to her? Please can somebody tell me.

I also like Chelsea Lynx, what happend to her?

I also liked Mai Lin, Asia Carrera, Kitty Yung, Kristara Barrington too (I still have some videos with her!!!), Leilani Lei, Charmaine Star, Mimi Miyagi, Bamboo with her long nipples (I´ve a video of her as teeny pornstar) and I forgot of course some girls here!!!!!

Kristara had those super big areolas!!!!!

I wonder why so many Asian girl have such long nipples, when they are hard?

Stripes is waaay off the mark! Kristara was simply one of the best during the early 80's, hands down. Mai Lin can't even come close to touching that. Soft skin, beautiful aureolas, tall, she had it going on, definitely

Personally I think she left due to the question of her age, I can to an extent agree with the opinions here but every ones gota admit she had the puffiest nips around - Bio from wiki -


Kristara Barrington (born November 22, 1965) is a former pornographic actress of Eurasian ancestry. Her appearance allowed her to switch between playing Asian and European roles. Barrington was born in New Orleans, Louisiana to an American father and a Korean mother. She lived in Chicago before moving to Los Angeles.
In a San Diego Tribune interview Barrington told the San Diego Union-Tribune: "I don't feel like a prostitute. I'm an actress, I am paid for a job. Sure you're selling yourself, but people sell themselves for all kinds of businesses."

On October 4, 1986, the Los Angeles Times reported that as part of an investigation caused by underage pornographic actress Traci Lords having appeared in films, federal authorities subpoenaed five distributors - VCA Pictures, CBI, Caballero, Western Visuals and Paradise - to learn if Barrington, Ali Moore and Nikki Charm had starred in sexually explicit movies when underage. VCA attorney Mike Mayock told the Times that Barrington's early films were recalled only as a precaution, and that he had every confidence that she was 18 at the time of her first VCA film in 1983.

While I believe that she may have made a few movies when underage, she didn't get every movie she ever made pulled like Traci did--and when New Wave Hookers was re-released with the Traci Lords scenes excised, she was left in.

This is a clip of her getting made up for the "red carpet" premiere of New Wave Hookers--

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxgNvKq2SRc

As to her name--it was my understanding that she took the Barrington from the Chicago suburb, having lived in the area as noted in her Wiki entry.

I always loved Kristara myself--she had a really great body, with a good, natural bust. She had a really great seuxal appetite as well--I remember a scene from the movie Battle Of The Stars: East Vs. West (she was the East, while Heather Wayne was the West) and she offered to lick Tom Byron's asshole. She dove right in like it was covered in maple syrup--it was wondrous to behold. I aslo liked those Eighties hairstyles she wore--if there's such a thing as "do-me" hair, it's Eighties hair.

Wherever Kristara is, I hope she's healthy and happy.