Laura Gemser
Career
Born in Surabaya, in what was then the Dutch East Indies, Gemser broke through in the Italian softcore feature Amore libero – Free Love (1974) at 24, then was cast the following year as the lead in Black Emanuelle (1975) — a rival, unofficial answer to the French Emmanuelle franchise, built around a photojournalist character rather than Kristel’s. She reprised the role across a long run of Italian-produced sequels and spin-offs through the late 1970s and early 1980s, and took a small role in the mainstream disaster drama Voyage of the Damned (1976) alongside Faye Dunaway and Max von Sydow. She was also involved with the 1990 cult film Troll 2, though sources disagree on the nature of that credit — as costume designer, as a cast member under the name Moira Chen, or both. She left acting for costume design in the 1990s and has given very few public interviews since.
Signature: She built and sustained a rival Emanuelle franchise to Kristel’s for most of a decade — proof the format was a genre, not one film’s accident.
Index score — The Pornstar Ranked Performer Index v3.0
Scores are normalised within a single ranking's field, so this breakdown is Laura Gemser's placement inside The Best Soft Porn Stars, Ranked — the largest field she appears in. Her rank on each of the other 1 ranking below was computed against that ranking's own field and is not the same measurement.
Best known for
Beyond performing
- Costume design (post-retirement)
Mainstream credits
- Voyage of the Damned (1976)
Official links
Appears in
Also ranked on
Ranked alongside
Sources and verification2 sources
- Full credit count
- Current status — no interviews found post-2000
- Troll 2 (1990) credit disputed: English Wikipedia’s filmography table lists her as cast (uncited); Italian Wikipedia states she worked as costume designer on the film and does not list her as an actress. Her “Moira Chen” acting credit could not be independently confirmed.
