Ex porn star Sasha Grey is finally ready for her closeup. In her new photo book, , Grey turns her lens on her wild XXX-rated world, documenting her rise from porn ingénue to Hollywood multi-hyphenate. The raunchiest—and most bracingly intelligent—name in porn chats with Marlow Stern about losing her virginity, Charlie Sheen, and America’s problem with sex.
has long been one of the most enigmatic figures in porn. The adult-film goddess—to borrow from thelexicon—has been pushing industry boundaries ever since her debut performance mere months after turning 18, when she starred in a gangbang with the notoriously aggressive porn star Rocco Siffredi. A self-avowed feminist in an industry that’s often labeled misogynistic, she’s explored everything from bondage to water sports in an effort to gleefully subvert the male gaze, and society’s sexual hang-ups.
After graduating high school in 2005 at the age of 17, followed by a brief stint at junior college to study film and acting, Grey (real name: Marina Ann Hantzis) made a conscious decision to move to Los Angeles and star in porn. The name “Sasha” was taken from Sascha Konietzko of the German industrial band KMFDM, and “Grey” represents both Oscar Wilde’s novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, as well as the Kinsey scale of sexuality. The 23-year-old has since starred in 224 adult films, directing two, withdescribing her porn career as “distinguished both by the extremity of what she is willing to do and an unusual degree of intellectual seriousness about doing it.”
Grey gained mainstream recognition after starring as “Chelsea,” a high-class call girl in Steven Soderbergh’s experimental 2009 film, The Girlfriend Experience. She also starred as Vincent Chase’s girlfriend in a multi-episode ar