Cornwall, Ontario – Pierre Fitch has a star cut in the hair on the back of his head that matches the ones in his eyes, symbolic of his rise through the ranks of the gay porn industry, one scene at a time.

“I have a star to be a star,” he says, sipping vodka and OJ at a Cornwall pub.

Fitch (not his real name. It’s actually taken from the clothing line Abercrombie and Fitch) is making waves in an industry that many people would rather see relegated to the shadows rather than the front page, but that doesn’t seem to bother him.

When asked why he does it, Fitch doesn’t mince words on the subject – you can nearly hear the ringing of the cash registers.

“It’s money. Money and porn. I like to be known, and to be famous is good. Why not do it?” Fitch asks.

Gay porn stars can make several thousand dollars per sex scene.

In an interview with the Standard-Freeholder Fitch is joined by Montreal boyfriend Marc-Andre and sister Sylvie, a college student who still lives in Cornwall.

Fitch and Marc-Andre can’t keep their hands off each other, which catches the bartender’s attention. Cornwall, after all, is by most accounts “a straight town”, as Fitch puts it.

Though he was only 12 when he left, Fitch says he didn’t know a single homosexual while growing up in the Seaway City, although he was aware of a gay parade, he says. Fitch and company laugh at the thought of returning to Cornwall to sign autographs for porn fans.

“I’d show up and there’d be like two cars,” he says laughing, then translates the joke in French for Marc-Andre. One of the differences between Montreal Fitch and boyhood Pierre from Cornwall is that he gets paid now. His first sexual experience took place at a local group home of 14 guys.

Now, Fitch corrals young models to do the same, and much much more, while capturing it all on digital video.

At 26, he’s moved on quickly from what he describes as being trapped in a big studio contract with Falcon (although he received GayVN nods for best actor and best sex scene) to running his own show and crafting the image of a sporty tattooed stud in a red ball cap.

“I learned cameras, computers, servers, everything on my own,” he says. “I have five computers. Now, I’m an electronics freak. I buy every new gadget that comes out.”

He operates several websites, such as the popular Pierre Fitch Online, and releases DVDs. Each production costs between $5,000 to $10,000.

Fitch even writes a blog where he keeps diehard fans in the loop of what a pornstar’s life is really like – a life where he gained 40 lbs. of muscle to increase his appeal.

But he has a life outside of adult-film making – a love life.

Fitch met Marc-Andre on Valentine’s Day during a shoot for one of Fitch’s films, and even shot a scene together. But now Marc-Andre is semi-retired as an act of devotion to their relationship.

“It’s my boyfriend, I’m very jealous,” Marc-Andre says in French. “I don’t want to see my boyfriend with another guy.”

He says he’s not in love with pornstar Pierre Fitch, he’s in love with Pierre the person. Fitch defends his career: “It’s like going to work. I’m not going to love the model. With (Marc-Andre) we make love, with the porn it’s just bing bang,” he explains.

Fitch is in Cornwall this week to visit his parents, whom his sister says are more accepting than supportive of his choices. She describes them as “very traditional.”

Fitch’s parents, alongside Sylvie, learned he was gay and a pornstar all in the same day. He explained that his significant other at the time – Chris – was really Christopher, not Christine, and he’d already begun working with a gay film company based in Toronto. This article, Sylvie added, will be a surprise for a number of extended family members in Cornwall who haven’t spoken to Pierre in years.

“There’s cousins, aunts, schoolpeople. It will be a shock,” she said.

When Fitch sees the City of Cornwall sign now, a sadness washes over him.

His younger brother died here last year in tragic circumstances that Fitch won’t get into. It’s one more part of Pierre’s life that remains a mystery. He won’t open up about how he ended up on his own at age 12, nor the six years before he decided to do porn, when he mostly lived in Ottawa.

He says he’s never heard of the Cornwall Public Inquiry, but insists he’s never been molested during any period of his life.

These days, Fitch and Marc-Andre spend a lot of time decorating their upscale Montreal apartment, which Marc-Andre describes as “modern chique and everything’s made of wood.”

Like millions of other boys – straight and gay – they’re looking forward to playing the new Grand Theft Auto video game released this week. Fitch says he sometimes grows tired of porn. He never watches his own work, unless it’s in fast-forward to see how the editor placed the shots together. But he plans to stay in porn for the long haul.

“It’s a lifetime. Eventually I’ll shoot people (on camera), unless I win the lottery,” he says. “When I get to 40, I just want to become lazy.”