Stryker is primarily known as a performer in gay pornography films, although Jamie Loves Jeff was one of the biggest selling heterosexual adult movies of all time for its producer, Vivid Entertainment.

Jeff Stryker worked as a stripper and delivered balloon-o-grams before a local photographer sent shots of him to gay adult film director John Travis in California. At age 13, he was sent to military school by his parents, who got a divorce while he was away. His father was a car salesman and his mother was a nurse. Jeff Stryker grew up in Springfield, Illinois.