How I became a porn star
Statuesque Ava tells Vickie Scullard how she found her niche in blue movies business
THE adult movie industry is a big business, with its own star names.
One such star is Ava Koxxx, a former model from Salford, who went into the business on a whim six years ago and now shoots for companies in the US, Europe and the UK, as well as developing her own enterprises.
Now Ava, 34, has lifted the lid on what it’s like to work in the controversial industry – and what it takes to succeed in it.
At a statuesque 6ft 2ins, Ava has built a devoting following of fans who like tall women and ‘milfs.’
“I am niche – you either like me or you don’t,” explained Ava. “I’m not your typical five foot seven blonde, big boobs. I’m six foot two.
“If people like tall girls, you’ve got them for life. I’m a bit like Marmite, they either love me or they hate me.”
Ava’s broad Manchester accent has proved an asset as well – as it sounds exotic to foreign audiences.
It also proved useful when she starred in a blue spoof of her hometown soap – dubbed ‘Whoronation Street.’
“I’ve always like sex – it massively intrigues me,” Ava said.
“(But) I’ve never really watched loads of porn. I was having sex with a guy and he loved porn so we used to watch it together.
“I thought, I could well do that. So I woke up the next morning and I thought, right, Google, how do I become a porn star?”
With the help of a friend, who had contacts in the industry, Ava set up social media accounts with a photo of herself – and within 24 hours she was contacted by a site called DDF.
“They messaged me and said, do you want to fly over to Budapest? So I flew over 12 hours later, no (health) certs, turned up on set with condoms, not a clue what was going on,” she explained.
“They had to take me to the clinic, get my tests done, and then I did my first scene.
“I’ll never forget the guy who owned the company (who) is called Dennis de Franco. He came in, he said, Ava, how long have you been filming for? And I said, this is my first scene.
“He said, baby, you are going to be a star.”
“I get recognised quite a lot”, she said. “Once I was in a club quite recently and a couple stood around me. The woman kept looking over and I thought, ‘oh no what’s going on here? I thought, I’m in for it here!’ She came over and said ‘me and my husband watch your pornos.’ I said, ‘oh right, thanks.’ I didn’t know what to say next. I was sweating. She said, ‘we have learnt so much.’ “There’s been the odd time on the bread aisle minding my own business and I saw these three guys out the corner of my eye walking past and I heard them say dead loud – ‘there’s that girl from Fake Taxi!’ “There was an old woman who looked at me as if to say, what’s Fake Taxi? I threw the bread down and ran off.”
An entrepreneur as well as a performer, Ava takes pride in her work and the success it has brought her – refusing to be stigmatised by other people’s perceptions of it.
“With me and my mum and my family, you know, at first they were a bit like ‘oh no, what is she up to?,’ but now they see the life that I live and they see I have built a business, I’ve built a company, I’ve built a brand.
And when it comes to criticism? “I just think, I don’t care. It’s not nice when people say things like that but then on the other hand are they putting food on my table? No.”
Ava runs her own thriving business, Exclusive Erotic Events, where she hosts sex parties, and is a brand ambassador of Killergram (think social media influencer for porn), as well as starring in productions all over the world.
Describing the working day of an adult movie actress, she said: “On a typical day you’ll go on set and sign your model release forms, you’ll show everyone your certs and IDs,” she explained. “After that you’ll do your acting for the scene, which I’m terrible at. Once they cast me as a character with no lines and I was buzzing.
“But then in other scenes they’ll give me a proper full script. Once we did a scene called ‘Whoronation Street,’ which was a spoof of Coronation Street.
“I got this proper big script and it took so long for me to do it, but thankfully I got through it in the end.” But it’s not as straightforward as having sex – there are a lot of elements to the role, such as ‘sex stills.’
“So it’s a busy day. The easiest bit is the sex at the end”, she said.
Though she’s adamant her experience has been positive, Ava doesn’t shy away from the reality of the industry’s exploitative, dangerous side. She says that ‘sharks’ – people who try and make extra money by pressurising young, new performers into doing scenes they may be uncomfortable doing early on in their career – are rife.
“You’ve just got to be very aware of sharks, because there are a lot of sharks in the porn industry,” said Ava. “Directors and producers will try and sell you a dream, and these girls are young and impressionable. They’re not going to be a massive star in the next six months – it’s not gonna happen. They will say to you, girls, shoot a scene doing this, this and that. Don’t – I hold out for everything. Hold out for the most amount of money for an exclusive for a company that’s going to boost you as well.”
Ava has also witnessed the devastating toll that bad experiences of the industry can take on performers’ mental health.
“I knew a girl who started in the industry, really pretty girl, quite shy”, she said. “This producer says, do this scene – and I am talking extreme. More than hardcore. She did the scene and about two weeks later she was trolled badly for it.
“This is because it wasn’t shot well, no good angles, it just wasn’t a good scene, I saw her go from up here to down here. It’s sad. Mental health is massive in porn. Three girls I know have taken their lives.”
After several years working for other companies across the world, such as Brazzers, Ava now produces her own adult movies and has also run a webcam service.
She casts and looks after her own girls and male performers, aka ‘studs,’ and has production and admin staff.
“When you work for a company, they’ll call you, you’ll go and do your scene and then you’ll come home. Whereas with me, I do all my own shows now,” she explained.
“I don’t have any regrets over any scenes that I have done in the past because from the very start I’ve always only worked for the best companies in the world,” said Ava.
“In terms of performing, as long as I have an audience, I’ll perform.”
Once we did a scene called ‘Whoronation Street’
Porn actress Ava Koxxx