Philip Charles Toubus (April 17, 1949 – June 10, 2025), known professionally as Paul Thomas, was an American pornographic film actor and director. He was a member of the AVN Hall of Fame and the XRCO Hall of Fame.

Life and career

Thomas was born in Winnetka, Illinois, to an upper-middle-class family in 1949. His family moved to the nearby Village of Glencoe, Illinois where he attended Glencoe's Central School, played on the school's basketball team and graduated 8th grade in 1963. He then attended New Trier Township High School and graduated in 1967.

Although he claimed to have attended the University of Wisconsin at Madison on a basketball scholarship and studied political science, he turned to acting as a career.

Thomas started working in pornography in 1974. He met the porn producers the Mitchell Brothers while playing in a musical in San Francisco. He performed in several porn loops for them and, in 1976, appeared in his first porn feature, The Autobiography of a Flea. Following his release from prison, Thomas resumed his career and, in 1983, won the Adult Film Association of America Award for Best Actor in Virginia. He had a starring role in the 1985 film series Taboo American Style.

Thomas started directing porn films in 1985, and directed for Vivid Entertainment from 1986. , Thomas acted in over 500 films and directed nearly 300 films, winning seven Adult Video News Awards He died on June 10, 2025, at the age of 76.

Partial filmography

As actor

  • Jesus Christ Superstar (1973)
  • The Autobiography of a Flea (1976)
  • Babyface (1977)
  • Candy Stripers (1978)
  • Pretty Peaches (1978)
  • Dracula Sucks (1978)
  • The Ecstasy Girls (1979)
  • Virginia (1983)
  • Private Teacher (1983)
  • Taboo American Style 1: The Ruthless Beginning (1985)
  • It's My Body (1985)
  • Debbie Does Dallas Again (2007)

As director

  • Justine (1984)
  • Beauty and the Beast: Part II (1990)
  • Passages 1–4 (1991)
  • Twisted (1991)
  • Borderline (1995)
  • Bad Wives (1997)
  • Bobby Sox (1997)
  • Fade to Black (2002)
  • Heart of Darkness (2004)
  • Key Party (2005)
  • The Masseuse (2005)
  • The New Devil in Miss Jones (2005)

Awards

  • 1983 AFAA Award for Best Actor – Virginia
  • 1991 AVN Award for Best Director – Video – Beauty & the Beast 2
  • 1992 AVN Award – Reuben Sturman Memorial Award For Loyalty to the Adult Film Genre
  • 1994 AVN Award for Best Director, Film – Justine
  • 2008 XBIZ Award – Outstanding Achievement in Movie Production
  • 2013 XBIZ Award Nomination – 'Director of the Year – Feature Release' for Friends With Benefits
  • Porn Block of Fame

Literature

  • Nicolas Barbano: Verdens 25 hotteste pornostjerner (Rosinante, Denmark 1999); : Features a chapter on him.

References

  • Paul Thomas Interview 01/31/06, collider.com; accessed October 7, 2018.