Gay Pornstars: The Best Known Names in the Industry

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Gay pornstars are performers who appear in films made for a gay audience. Some dozens of names are known internationally, alongside a growing number of performers who work for themselves through platforms such as OnlyFans.

This guide collects the most searched names with a source and a date. It adds short profiles of the performers who shaped the scene. It also explains what gay for pay means and where the money in this industry actually comes from. Every claim here rests on a public source, and where the sourcing is thin, it says so.

The most searched gay pornstars right now

Pornhub publishes a review of its most searched performers every December. For 2025 the list is headed by Tyler Wu, followed by Malik Delgaty, Sandro Jenner, Rhyheim Shabazz and Jkab Ethan Dale.

The year before looked different. In 2024 Malik Delgaty held first place for the second year running, ahead of Tyler Wu, Hunnypaint, Cade Maddox and Rhyheim Shabazz. A single year reshuffled 3 of the top 5 positions.

For comparison, the 2023 list that circulated as a reference for a long time:

• Malik Delgaty
• Joey Mills
• Cade Maddox
• Jake Andrich
• Zilv Gudel
• Tyler Wu
• Reno Gold
• Felix Fox
• Rhyheim Shabazz
• Dan Benson

Of those 10 names, only Tyler Wu and Rhyheim Shabazz were still in the top 5 two years later. Any list like this is worth reading together with its year.

The best known names in the industry

These 14 performers have either shaped the industry over years or currently sit at the top of the search rankings. Each profile rests on publicly available sources and states only what can be verified. Where a birth year is missing, no reliable source was found.

Malik Delgaty

The Canadian, born in 2000 and legally named Justin Lesage, has been active since 2020. He was the most searched performer on Pornhub from 2022 to 2024 and dropped to second place in 2025. He describes himself as heterosexual and says he had never been attracted to men before working on camera. That makes him the best known current example of gay for pay.

Tyler Wu

Tyler Wu has been working since the early 2010s and has filmed for Men.com, Raging Stallion and Falcon Studios. In 2025 he took the top spot on the Pornhub review from Malik Delgaty. In the 2 years before that he placed second and sixth. He now also directs on individual productions. No reliable birth year is publicly documented.

Rhyheim Shabazz

Rhyheim Shabazz, born in 1981, founded his own studio in 2023 and has produced largely independently since. He has held a front position every year since: ninth in 2023, fifth in 2024 and fourth in 2025. Along with Tyler Wu he is the only performer from the 2023 list who stayed there.

François Sagat

François Sagat, born in 1979, is regarded as the best known French performer in the industry. He stepped away from the business in 2013 and returned in 2017, filming again for Men.com among others. He also works as an actor outside the industry, most recently in a 2026 film role. He is recognisable by his tattoos, and despite the impression his presence gives, he performs mostly as a bottom.

Brent Corrigan

Brent Corrigan, born in 1986 and legally named Sean Paul Lockhart, began his career in 2004. He is one of the best known names of the 2000s. His early years at Cobra Video later became the subject of a legal dispute over the rights to his stage name, settled out of court in 2007. After a severe seizure in February 2023 he had to relearn walking and eating, and withdrew from public life for around 3 years. He returned in October 2025 and described himself as recovered.

Johnny Rapid

Johnny Rapid, born in 1992, has been active since 2010 and made his name primarily through hardcore scenes for Men.com. He entered the industry at 18, and his first scene for Men.com was filmed in November 2011. He won several industry awards during his career, including a Cybersocket Award in 2014. He announced his retirement on Twitter in 2020 and then kept working.

Cade Maddox

Cade Maddox, born in 1988 and legally named Jared Wayne Fagan, has filmed since the 2010s and signed an exclusive deal with Men.com in 2024. He won multiple GayVN Awards in 2025. In the Pornhub reviews he placed third in 2023 and fourth in 2024.

Joey Mills

Joey Mills, born in 1998, has appeared near the top of the Pornhub review for years, placing second in 2023 and seventh in 2024. Alongside his work on camera he now appears in television projects, including a series for OUTtv in 2026.

Enzo Rimenez

The Frenchman from Tarbes has filmed since 2008, first for European studios such as Cazzo and Menoboy. After a break he returned in 2016 through Men At Play and has worked mainly for Men.com since. He is known for his hardcore blowjob scenes. No birth year is publicly documented, and the body measurements that circulate come from studio profiles.

Andy Star

Andy Star, born in 1986, comes from Brazil and has worked out of Spain since 2015, for Kristen Bjorn, Fuckermate, Lucas Entertainment and Men.com among others. Alongside his camera work he models and promotes clubs. In his films he performs in both roles, often in scenes with several partners.

Devin Franco

Devin Franco, born in 1989 and legally named Jesse Tanner Morris, comes from New Mexico and has filmed since the late 2010s. By his own account he got into porn because he loves sex and pornography and wanted to travel. He is known for group scenes and for fetish productions.

Mathieu Ferhati

The Parisian now describes himself as a former performer. Since September 2020 he has spoken publicly about his infection with HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) and has campaigned against serophobia, meaning the exclusion of people living with HIV. He is one of the few performers who use their visibility for advocacy work.

Reno Gold

Reno Gold works mainly as an independent creator rather than for studios and ranks among the highest earning accounts on OnlyFans, according to reports in Attitude and Interview Magazine. He placed seventh in the 2023 Pornhub review. He stands for a shift that has been reshaping the industry for years, in which reach comes from platforms rather than studio contracts. How that model works is covered in the OnlyFans guide.

Dan Benson

Dan Benson was known as a child actor in the Disney series Wizards of Waverly Place and has produced content for a gay audience on OnlyFans since 2022. He placed tenth in the 2023 Pornhub review. He describes himself as straight and says he is comfortable making content for gay men. By his own account that decision cost him a return to the show’s reboot.

What gay for pay means

Gay for pay is the term for performers who understand themselves as heterosexual and still appear in films made for a gay audience. It describes a working arrangement rather than a person. Malik Delgaty and Dan Benson have both stated publicly that this applies to them.

How the industry handles it has changed. The label used to be a selling point that studios promoted actively. Today performers speak more openly and with more nuance, and some revise their earlier self-description. Johnny Rapid was long cited as an example of gay for pay and described himself differently in 2024.

For viewers the term carries one practical lesson: it is no reliable information about a person. What somebody does on camera says nothing about their private life, and the reverse holds too.

Where the money actually comes from

Reliable earnings figures barely exist, because studios publish no fees and platform income stays private. Any net worth figure you find for a performer almost certainly comes from an aggregator website with no source behind it.

What is documented is a structural shift. For decades income came from studio contracts and scene fees, with a small number of exclusive performers earning well and everyone else paid per scene. Since roughly 2020 the centre of gravity has moved to subscription platforms, where performers keep a share of what their audience pays directly.

Reno Gold and Dan Benson are the clearest examples: both built their income around their own accounts rather than around studio work. Studio contracts still exist, and Cade Maddox signed one as recently as 2024, but they are no longer the only route.

What the job actually involves

A single scene is built over hours and from 3 or 4 camera angles. What ends up on screen has correspondingly little to do with how a set works. How performers stay hard through all of it is covered in the piece on porn actors on set.

Preparation is the other gap. The comparison between anal hygiene in porn and in reality shows how much stays invisible in the finished film. And anyone who notices that watching takes up more room than they want can find a starting point in the piece on porn addiction.

Frequently asked questions about gay pornstars

These 6 questions come up most often around gay pornstars. They cover the current rankings, what gay for pay means, how earnings actually work and how long a career in this industry tends to last.

Who is the most famous gay pornstar?

It depends on the measure. By search volume, Tyler Wu headed the Pornhub review in 2025, and Malik Delgaty held the top spot for the 2 years before that. By recognition beyond the industry, the names usually given are François Sagat and Brent Corrigan, both active since the 2000s.

Who was the most searched gay porn actor in 2025?

Tyler Wu. He replaced Malik Delgaty, who topped the list in 2023 and 2024. The remaining top places went to Sandro Jenner, Rhyheim Shabazz and Jkab Ethan Dale. The source is Pornhub’s annual review, published each December. Note that it measures searches on one platform, so it captures visibility rather than the industry as a whole.

What does gay for pay mean?

Gay for pay is the term for performers who understand themselves as heterosexual and still work in films made for a gay audience. It describes a working arrangement and says nothing reliable about a person’s private life. Malik Delgaty and Dan Benson have both described themselves this way publicly.

Which gay pornstars earn the most?

No verifiable ranking exists, because studios publish no fees and platform earnings are private. Reno Gold is reported by Attitude and Interview Magazine to be among the highest earning accounts on OnlyFans. Net worth figures circulating on aggregator sites have no source behind them and are worth ignoring.

Why do the rankings change so fast?

Because they measure search queries rather than quality or fame. One viral clip or a studio move shifts the numbers noticeably. Of the 10 names in the 2023 review, only 2 were still in the top 5 by 2025. Reading any such list together with its year of collection is the safest approach.

How long does a career in gay porn last?

There is no typical length. François Sagat has been visible since the 2000s with a 4-year break in between, while other performers appear for 2 or 3 years and disappear. What has changed is the exit: performers who built an audience on their own platforms take it with them when they stop filming for studios.