A Star Is Porn
We told you in last month’s issue that San Diego was ranked as having the second-most attractive citizens in the country. That Travel + Leisure poll got us wondering: What do our good looking people do with all that hotness?
Guess what - a number of our glamorous gals make a living doing. Doing pornographic films, that is.
Yes, porn stars walk among us in San Diego. They live in Escondido, Temecula and coastal North County. They have kids, work at Starbucks and shop at Petco.
One popular actress who gets paid to have sex on film got a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry at San Diego State University.
So who are these ladies, why did they get into this industry and how do they maintain a “normal” life when not wrapped up in their work?
Meet blonde bombshell Riley Steele, who last year won four AVN Awards (the porn version of the Oscars, sponsored by industry publication Adult Video News); 2013 Penthouse Pet of the Year Nicole Aniston; and Mika Tan, one of the most liked performers in porn.
Tan works as a dominatrix and fetish model. She also holds down a desk job at a local corporate office. She says there’s nothing in the water that makes San Diego a good place for aspiring porn stars, but there is something in the air.
“The climate makes it easy to wear as little as possible,” says Tan, who earned the biochem degree at SDSU in the mid-’90s. “Plus, there are no L.A. people to irritate you.”
Tan lives in Los Angeles but considers San Diego her hometown. She says San Diego was instrumental in propelling her porn career.
“I met Dennis Hof [owner of Nevada’s famed Moonlight Bunny Ranch Brothel] while I was in school,” she says with a laugh. “He was running a time-share operation downtown as well, and he asked me if I wanted to perform.”
A porn career was the goal for Escondido native Riley Steele. She dreamed of being a sex star back when she was a teen.
“I always knew I would do something like this, even when I was working at Starbucks,” she says. “I admired Carmen Electra and Pam Anderson and wanted to be one of them - desired and sexually empowered.”
Now 25, Steele decided to take the plunge when she was 19 and applied at Digital Playground studios, headquartered in Van Nuys. She was put under contract that first day and was cast in Pirates 2, an adult film blockbuster.
Since then, Steele’s star has risen. Kid Rock even names her in his song, “Rock Bottom Blues.”
“I remember seeing [Kid Rock] at Qualcomm and wanting to dance in one of the cages on stage,” says Steele, who recently bought a home in coastal North County.
“Living here allows me to stay true to who I am,” she says. “I’m laidback, chill and I go with the flow.”
Sometimes her fans spot her around San Diego. “I was just recognized in Petco while I was buying a scratching post,” she says.
Being recognized in public is something that is starting to happen to Nicole Aniston, who was born in Escondido and now makes her home in Temecula.
“I’ve been out with friends, and when I go to the bathroom, the waiter will ask, ‘Is that Nicole Aniston?’” she says.
Unlike Steele, Aniston didn’t get into the porn biz for the fame, rather, for the money.
“I ran out of money, had a child and had serious financial issues,” she says. “The opportunity was handed to me on a silver platter. I got to stay in my home without going on food stamps.”
The money turned out to be as good as she expected. What surprises Aniston is at how much she enjoys having sex for a living.
“I absolutely needed to get in this business to discover myself and my sexuality,” she says. “I had a stigma about porn, and if I hadn’t had such a pleasant experience my first time, I wouldn’t have done it again.”
She’s had her share of strange experiences, though.
“I had sex on the street for one scene,” she says. “We drove around the shittiest part of L.A. and got butt-ass naked in a car wash.”
Still, Aniston credits porn with helping her avoid getting into bad relationships.
“Before I got into porn, I was single after being in a long relationship,” she says. “Doing porn, I didn’t have pent-up sexual frustration. So I was able to figure out what I want in a relationship and what I will not tolerate. In my private life, I’ve never had a one-night stand.”
T and A
Tips and Advice from sexperts
Our friendly neighborhood porn stars couldn’t help but offer some professional insight.
“I hope people don’t expect women who aren’t in the business to perform like the girls on camera,” says Nicole Aniston.
Mika Tan would disagree.
“I tell women, if they want their men to stay away from women like me, then they need to be more like me,” she says. “On the other hand, I could suggest that people do something kinky on Valentine’s Day. But that would just be one day. If you really want to enhance your love life, treat every day like Valentine’s Day.”