Linda Lovelace (born Linda Susan Boreman; January 10, 1949 – April 22, 2002) was an American actress who became famous for her performance in the 1972 hardcore film Deep Throat. She later spoke out about the fact that her abusive husband, Chuck Traynor, had threatened and coerced her into participation, saying that "if you watch the movie, you are watching me get raped." In her autobiography Ordeal, she described what took place behind the scenes. She later became a born-again Christian and a spokeswoman for the anti-pornography movement.

Boreman was born on January 10, 1949, in The Bronx, New York, into a working-class family. She described her upbringing in an unhappy family, as the daughter of John Boreman, a police officer who was seldom home, and Dorothy Boreman (née Tragney), a waitress who was harsh, unloving, and domineering. She attended private Catholic schools, including Saint John the Baptist (Yonkers, New York) and Maria Regina High School. Linda was nicknamed "Miss Holy Holy" in high school because she kept her dates at a safe distance to avoid sexual activity. When Boreman was 16, her family moved to Davie, Florida, after her father retired from the New York City Police Department.

At the age of 20, she gave birth to her first child born out of wedlock, whom her mother tricked her into putting up for adoption. Shortly afterwards, she returned to New York City to live and go to computer school. There, she was in a car crash, sustaining injuries that were serious enough to require her to undergo a blood transfusion. The transfused blood had not been properly screened for hepatitis contamination, which caused her to need a liver transplant 18 years later.

While recovering at the home of her parents, Boreman became involved with Chuck Traynor. According to Boreman, Traynor was charming and attentive at first, then became violent and abusive. She said he forced her to move to New York, where he became her manager, pimp, and husband.

Allegedly coerced by Traynor, Boreman was soon performing as Linda Lovelace in hardcore "loops", short 8 mm silent films made for peep shows.

Boreman starred in a 1969 bestiality film titled Dogarama (also known as Dog 1, Dog Fucker and Dog-a-Rama). She later denied having appeared in the film until several of the original loops proved otherwise. In 2013, Larry Revene, the cameraman who actually shot the film, spoke about it for the first time, during which he asserted that Boreman was a willing participant and that no coercion took place. Porn star Eric Edwards, who was present for the shoot, has similarly claimed there was no obvious coercion going on and that Boreman appeared to be a cooperative performer.

In 1971, Boreman also starred in the golden shower film titled Piss Orgy.

In 1972, Boreman starred in Deep Throat, in which she performed deep-throating. The film achieved surprising and unprecedented popularity among mainstream audiences and even a review in the New York Times. It played several times daily for over ten years at theaters in the Pussycat Theater chain, where Boreman did promotions, including leaving her hand and footprints in the concrete sidewalk outside the Hollywood Pussycat. The movie later became one of the first, and highest-grossing, X-rated videotape releases. While Deep Throat grossed over $600 million, Boreman was paid only $1,250, which was later confiscated by her husband Traynor.