Reuters

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Montreal actress part of HIV scare

LOS ANGELES — Worried adult-film actors crowded into the industry's health clinic in Los Angeles for HIV testing on Friday as word spread that two performers — one a Canadian — tested positive this week. Despite the outbreak and pleas by advocates for a 60-day production moratorium while testing continues on 47 quarantined actors, it appeared that about half of the city's pornographic-film production houses will ignore the warnings.

Actor Darren James tested positive for HIV last Monday in screening conducted routinely on the industry's 1,200 regular actors. Montreal native Lara Roxx, who did a sex scene with James and another actor on March 22, tested positive on Thursday.

Roxx's agent said he tried to discourage her from going to Los Angeles, where the industry is based. Roxx had done small roles in two films and had a lot to learn. "She was not completely ready," said Daniel Perreault of Eromodel Group of Montreal. "I said, 'Wait and I will take care of you when it is time.' " But the young woman, who saw in the porn industry a way to become a movie star, ignored his warnings.

— Reuters