Jim South

Who is Jim South?

Jim South is a recruiter and agent in America’s pornography industry.

South sold insurance in Dallas for a few years and moved to Los Angeles in 1968. He opened a fashion modeling agency first, then formed the World Modeling Talent Agency in Sherman Oaks, California in 1976. The agency represented many performers and models who worked in adult movies and magazines.

World Modeling has represented adult stars such as Shauna Grant, Marc Wallice, Ginger Lynn, Gina Ryder, Savannah, Katie Gold. and Christy Canyon. The agency became infamous for unknowingly representing a then underaged Traci Lords. Through South's agency, 15-year-old Lords started nude modeling under the stage name Kristie Elizabeth Nussman. Lords became the September 1984 Penthouse "Pet of the Month", for which she earned $5000, and first performed in pornographic movies in October 1984.

Following the May 1986 revelation that most of Lords' porn work was illegal, South was arrested on March 4, 1987, and was among those later charged by the U.S. government with pandering and child pornography. The charges were eventually dismissed after the discovery that the government had issued Lords a passport under the name Kristi Nussman.