Nicholas Anthony Iacono Jr., also known as Joey Stefano, was born on January 1, 1968, in Chester, Pennsylvania, to middle-class parents. He was the middle child, with an older sister named Linda and a younger sister named Tina. At the age of 15, Iacono dropped out of high school, around the same time his father passed away, and began experimenting with drugs and engaging in "street hustling".
In 1989, at the age of 21, Iacono moved to Los Angeles, where he quickly became involved in the rapidly expanding world of gay videos. Standing at 5'11" and weighing 165 pounds, his good looks and pleasing physique soon made him a porn star. By some accounts, he earned as much as $100,000 in 1990, making as much as $1,500 for a single sex scene.
Iacono's career was marked by his unique role-playing, as he almost always played the "bottom" in sex scenes, which was uncommon in the industry at the time. However, he did not handle his finances well and lacked long-range plans for his career, often accepting whatever offers came his way. As his career began to fade, his drug habit continued, and he eventually tested positive for HIV in late 1990.
In an attempt to revive his career, Iacono began touring the country, dancing and stripping at gay nightclubs, and offering himself as a paid escort. He eventually returned to Los Angeles, where he was found dead on November 26, 1994, at the age of 26, in a Hollywood Boulevard motel room, due to an accidental overdose of a mixture of cocaine, morphine, heroin, and ketamine.
Iacono is buried next to his father in Immaculate Heart Cemetery in Philadelphia. A biography of his life, titled "Wonder Bread and Ecstasy", was published in 1996 by Charles Isherwood.
