Sasha Grey
Encyclopedia
Sasha Grey is an American former pornographic actress, who has since turned to mainstream acting, modeling and music.
Later in her adult film career, she was profiled by several popular culture magazines and television programs. She won several AVN Awards between 2007 and 2010, and has also been featured in music videos and advertising campaigns.
After her mainstream feature film debut as the lead in Steven Soderbergh
's The Girlfriend Experience
, she shifted her focus to acting, starring in the black comedy/horror film Smash Cut
as April Carson, as well as having a supporting role in season 7 of HBO's Entourage
. She has also appeared in independent films Quit, The Girl from the Naked Eye, Life, and Mark Pellington
's I Melt With You
.
She is a member of aTelecine, an industrial noise
band.
, California, to a working class family. Her mother worked for the state of California and her father is a Greek American
mechanic. Her parents divorced when she was 5 and subsequently she was raised by her mother, who remarried in 2000. She's stated that while her parents do not like everything she does, they get along.
Grey attended four high schools, among them Highlands High, before graduating, having been unhappy in each one, though she graduated a year early at 17. In autumn 2005, she attended junior college
and took classes in film, dance, and acting.
She waited tables at a steakhouse
through March 2006 and saved $7,000 for a move to Los Angeles.
, taken after the French New Wave
actress, before deciding on her present name. The name "Sasha" was taken from Sascha Konietzko
of the band KMFDM
, and "Grey" represents Oscar Wilde
’s novel The Picture of Dorian Gray
. Her first scene was an orgy
with Rocco Siffredi
for The Fashionistas 2 by John Stagliano
. Less than six months after entering the adult industry, Grey was featured in the November 2006 edition of Los Angeles
where she was flagged as a potential major star, perhaps the next Jenna Jameson
.
Less than a year after entering the industry, in January 2007, Grey was the recipient of awards for "Best Three Way Sex Scene" and "Best Group Scene" at the AVN
Adult Movie Awards. She was also nominated as "Best New Starlet", but lost to Naomi. Grey was named Pet of The Month for July 2007 and was photographed by fashion photographer Terry Richardson
. In 2008, she became the youngest person to win the AVN
"Female Performer of the Year" award as well as "Best Oral Sex Scene" for a scene.
In December 2006, Grey was interviewed on the syndicated entertainment industry news show The Insider
. In February 2007, she appeared on The Tyra Banks Show
, discussing teenagers in the sex industry. There was speculation that the show was heavily manipulated through editing, and did not include her defense of pornography as a career choice. The show was also criticized for twisting Grey's depiction to increase its dramatic value. Grey was profiled in the Rolling Stone
"Hot Issue" for the December 2008 edition.
Grey formerly represented herself in the adult industry through her own agency, L.A. Factory Girls. Grey has indicated particular appreciation for the work of Andrew Blake and Kimberly Kane
.
A. O. Scott
of The New York Times
described her pornographic career as "distinguished both by the extremity of what she is willing to do and an unusual degree of intellectual seriousness about doing it."
In 2011, she was named by CNBC
as one of the 12 most popular stars in porn. CNBC noted that, while she is no longer acting in porn films, her current mainstream roles have kept interest in her earlier porn work high, and several companies continue to release compilations of her earlier work.
On April 8, 2011, she officially announced her retirement from adult films on Facebook.
Grey was featured in the artwork for The Smashing Pumpkins
2007 album Zeitgeist
, and appears in their music video for "Superchrist
". Grey was also featured in the music video for the song "Birthday Girl" by The Roots
.
She has modeled for French fashion designer Max Azria
's ready to wear line Manoukian, Italian footwear brand Forfex for an international campaign, and American Apparel
. She's modeled for Richard Kern
as a part of Vice
magazine's anti-fashion layout, and appeared in a three-part VBS program, "Shot by Kern". She also appeared in Taschen
’s 25th anniversary reprint of Terry Richardson
’s Terryworld. Among other collaborations with Richardson, she has also appeared in Wives, Wheels, Weapons, a companion book to James Frey
's Bright Shiny Morning. She has also modeled for artists James Jean
, Frédéric Poincelet, Zak Smith
, and David Choe
.
In January 2010, Grey appeared nude in an ad campaign for PETA
advocating animal birth control
.
Grey has appeared in Playboy Magazine twice, once for a December 2009 pictorial, as well as the cover feature in October 2010.
with James Gunn, as well as a cameo role in Dick Rude
's independent film Quit, and stars in the 2009 Canadian low-budget black comedy/horror film Smash Cut
from the Ottawa-based Odessa
/Zed Filmworks. She plays a TV news personality who goes undercover as an actress in a horror film production, only to discover her older sister's murderer.
In March 2010, Grey was cast as an anti-sex Christian in the horror film Hallows, directed by Richard O'Sullivan
.
Grey was cast for the seventh season of the HBO show Entourage
, where she played a fictionalized version of herself. Her character was Vincent Chase
's new girlfriend in a multi-episode arc.
Grey also appeared in Eminem
's music video for "Space Bound
", released on June 27, 2011. Grey plays the role of Eminem's girlfriend whom Eminem strangles only to realize she is just a figment of his imagination.
Grey played the lead role, "Chelsea", an escort girl who is paid to act as the clients' girlfriend, in Academy Award-winning director Steven Soderbergh
's film The Girlfriend Experience
. Soderbergh cast her after reading the article profiling her in Los Angeles magazine, commenting that "She's kind of a new breed, I think. She doesn't really fit the typical mold of someone who goes into the adult film business. ... I'd never heard anybody talk about the business the way that she talked about it." In having Grey prepare for her role in The Girlfriend Experience, Soderbergh asked her to watch Godard's Vivre sa vie and Pierrot le fou
. Vivre sa vie concerns prostitution, while the relationship portrayed in Pierrot le fou was suggested as a model for the dynamic between Chelsea and her boyfriend and clients. Grey and Soderbergh also interviewed two escorts, and borrowed character traits and behavior from them. Critics had mixed assessments of Grey's performance.
Sasha Grey co-stars alongside Thomas Jane
, Carla Gugino
, Jeremy Piven
, and Rob Lowe
in the thriller I Melt With You
which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2011.
Grey has a lead role in the Indonesian film Shrouded Corpse Bathing While Hip-Shaking. The film premiered in Indonesia on April 28, 2011.
Grey also has a lead role in the French film "Life". The film was released on DVD in France on August 10.
collaboration, called aTelecine, with Pablo St. Francis. Their first EP
, aVigillant Carpark, was released by New York label Pendu Sound in 7 inch vinyl only. They have since added members, Anthony D' Juan and Ian C. She also contributed vocals to the Current 93
album Aleph at Hallucinatory Mountain
. Narnack Records
lists her as a guest artist on Repentance
, the 54th studio album by Grammy-winning reggae icon Lee "Scratch" Perry, though Perry himself has denied her involvement.
She also regularly performs as a DJ in the USA and Canada. aTelecine released their first LP ...And Six Dark Hours Pass, in 2010, and in November 2010 followed it up with the LP A Cassette Tape Culture. She has also been featured in Eminem
's music video for "Space Bound
".
aTelecine's first album
, The Falcon and the Pod, was released on August 9th, 2011. The album is the band's first full length release, and the first of a planned trilogy.
She was reported in a Rolling Stone interview in 2009 as being engaged to filmmaker Ian Cinnamon.
In February 2010, Grey stated in a PETA
interview that she supported animal birth control.
Grey identifies as bisexual. She is also a strong advocate for gay rights and same sex marriage.
. Although her involvement in such activity was first denied by school officials, it was uncovered later on that in fact Grey had read books to children and that her name did not appear on the guests list as Sasha Grey, but as her real name Marina Hantzis. Some parents were upset that a former pornographic actress would read to their children as part of an education program; Grey responded to the controversy: "I believe education is a universal right. I committed to this program with the understanding that people would have their own opinions about what I have done, who I am and what I represent." Grey also appeared on the American talk show The View where she defended her involvement and also explained that one of the reasons why she became a pornographic actress was "to stop the stigma and stop the stereotypes against the adult film industry".
Later in her adult film career, she was profiled by several popular culture magazines and television programs. She won several AVN Awards between 2007 and 2010, and has also been featured in music videos and advertising campaigns.
After her mainstream feature film debut as the lead in Steven Soderbergh
Steven Soderbergh
Steven Andrew Soderbergh is an American film producer, screenwriter, cinematographer, editor, and an Academy Award-winning film director. He is best known for directing commercial Hollywood films like Erin Brockovich, Traffic, and the remake of Ocean's Eleven, but he has also directed smaller less...
's The Girlfriend Experience
The Girlfriend Experience
The Girlfriend Experience is a 2009 experimental drama film shot in New York City. It is directed by Steven Soderbergh and stars then-active porn star Sasha Grey. A rough cut was screened at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2009. The film has also been made available on Amazon Video on Demand...
, she shifted her focus to acting, starring in the black comedy/horror film Smash Cut
Smash Cut
Smash Cut is a 2009 Canadian slasher film released by Odessa Filmworks and Zed Filmworks, distributed by Imagination Worldwide LLC. Lee Demarbre directs this film, which is produced by Robert Menzies.-Plot:...
as April Carson, as well as having a supporting role in season 7 of HBO's Entourage
Entourage (TV series)
Entourage is an American comedy-drama television series that premiered on HBO on July 18, 2004 and concluded on September 11, 2011, after eight seasons...
. She has also appeared in independent films Quit, The Girl from the Naked Eye, Life, and Mark Pellington
Mark Pellington
-Life and career:Pellington was born in Baltimore, Maryland. He directed The Mothman Prophecies, a 2002 film starring Richard Gere dealing with mysterious deaths foretold by a strange red-eyed flying creature, Mothman, as well as Arlington Road in 1999 starring Tim Robbins and Jeff Bridges....
's I Melt With You
I Melt with You (film)
I Melt with You is a 2011 American thriller film directed by Mark Pellington. It completed filming in September 2010. It premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2011.-Plot:...
.
She is a member of aTelecine, an industrial noise
Industrial music
Industrial music is a style of experimental music that draws on transgressive and provocative themes. The term was coined in the mid-1970s with the founding of Industrial Records by the band Throbbing Gristle, and the creation of the slogan "industrial music for industrial people". In general, the...
band.
Early life
Grey was born and raised in North HighlandsNorth Highlands, California
North Highlands is a census-designated place in Sacramento County, California, United States. It is part of the Sacramento–Arden-Arcade–Roseville Metropolitan Statistical Area...
, California, to a working class family. Her mother worked for the state of California and her father is a Greek American
Greek American
Greek Americans are Americans of Greek descent also described as Hellenic descent. According to the 2007 U.S. Census Bureau estimation, there were 1,380,088 people of Greek ancestry in the United States, while the State Department mentions that around 3,000,000 Americans claim to be of Greek descent...
mechanic. Her parents divorced when she was 5 and subsequently she was raised by her mother, who remarried in 2000. She's stated that while her parents do not like everything she does, they get along.
Grey attended four high schools, among them Highlands High, before graduating, having been unhappy in each one, though she graduated a year early at 17. In autumn 2005, she attended junior college
Junior college
The term junior college refers to different educational institutions in different countries.-India:In India, most states provide schooling through 12th grade...
and took classes in film, dance, and acting.
She waited tables at a steakhouse
Steakhouse
A steakhouse is a restaurant that specializes in beef steaks. The same type of restaurant is also known as a chophouse.The steakhouse started in the USA in the late 19th century as a development of traditional inns and bars....
through March 2006 and saved $7,000 for a move to Los Angeles.
Adult films
In May 2006 Grey moved to Los Angeles and started her career in adult films just after turning 18. Originally she toyed with the name Anna KarinaAnna Karina
Anna Karina is a Danish film actress, director, and screenwriter who has spent most of her working life in France. Karina is known as a muse of the director, Jean-Luc Godard, one of the pioneers of the French New Wave...
, taken after the French New Wave
French New Wave
The New Wave was a blanket term coined by critics for a group of French filmmakers of the late 1950s and 1960s, influenced by Italian Neorealism and classical Hollywood cinema. Although never a formally organized movement, the New Wave filmmakers were linked by their self-conscious rejection of...
actress, before deciding on her present name. The name "Sasha" was taken from Sascha Konietzko
Sascha Konietzko
Sascha Konietzko , also known as Sascha K and Käpt'n K, is a German musician and producer. He is the founder, frontman, and "anchor" of industrial rock band KMFDM. Konietzko jokingly purports himself to be the father of industrial rock...
of the band KMFDM
KMFDM
KMFDM is an industrial band led by German multi-instrumentalist Sascha Konietzko, who founded the group in 1984 as a performance art project...
, and "Grey" represents Oscar Wilde
Oscar Wilde
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish writer and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s...
’s novel The Picture of Dorian Gray
The Picture of Dorian Gray
The Picture of Dorian Gray is the only published novel by Oscar Wilde, appearing as the lead story in Lippincott's Monthly Magazine on 20 June 1890, printed as the July 1890 issue of this magazine...
. Her first scene was an orgy
Orgy
In modern usage, an orgy is a sex party where guests engage in promiscuous or multifarious sexual activity or group sex. An orgy is similar to debauchery, which refers to excessive indulgence in sensual pleasures....
with Rocco Siffredi
Rocco Siffredi
Rocco Siffredi is the stage name of an Italian pornographic actor, director and producer of pornographic movies, famous for his rough sex scenes...
for The Fashionistas 2 by John Stagliano
John Stagliano
John Allen Stagliano , also known as Buttman, is an American entrepreneur, pornographic actor, producer and director, who founded and owns the Evil Angel pornographic film studio.-Early life and career:...
. Less than six months after entering the adult industry, Grey was featured in the November 2006 edition of Los Angeles
Los Angeles (magazine)
Los Angeles magazine is a monthly regional magazine of national stature. Published by Emmis Communications and produced monthly since the spring of 1961, LA Magazine is a combination of award-winning feature writing, investigative reporting, service journalism, and design, the definitive resource...
where she was flagged as a potential major star, perhaps the next Jenna Jameson
Jenna Jameson
Jenna Jameson is an American entrepreneur and former pornographic actress, who has been called the world's most famous adult-entertainment performer and "The Queen of Porn."...
.
Less than a year after entering the industry, in January 2007, Grey was the recipient of awards for "Best Three Way Sex Scene" and "Best Group Scene" at the AVN
AVN (magazine)
Adult Video News is an American trade journal that covers the adult video industry. The New York Times notes that AVN is to pornographic films what Billboard is to records...
Adult Movie Awards. She was also nominated as "Best New Starlet", but lost to Naomi. Grey was named Pet of The Month for July 2007 and was photographed by fashion photographer Terry Richardson
Terry Richardson
Terrence "Terry" Richardson is an American fashion photographer.-Early life:Richardson was born in New York City, the son of Bob Richardson, a fashion photographer who struggled with schizophrenia and drug abuse...
. In 2008, she became the youngest person to win the AVN
AVN (magazine)
Adult Video News is an American trade journal that covers the adult video industry. The New York Times notes that AVN is to pornographic films what Billboard is to records...
"Female Performer of the Year" award as well as "Best Oral Sex Scene" for a scene.
In December 2006, Grey was interviewed on the syndicated entertainment industry news show The Insider
The Insider (TV series)
The Insider is an American tabloid television news program covering events and celebrities. It debuted on September 13, 2004 as a spinoff of Entertainment Tonight and started as a popular segment that took viewers "behind closed doors" and gave them "inside" information...
. In February 2007, she appeared on The Tyra Banks Show
The Tyra Banks Show
The Tyra Banks Show, also known as and shortened to Tyra or The Tyra Show, is an American talk show hosted by Tyra Banks. The last new episode aired on Friday, May 28, 2010.-2005-2009: Syndication:...
, discussing teenagers in the sex industry. There was speculation that the show was heavily manipulated through editing, and did not include her defense of pornography as a career choice. The show was also criticized for twisting Grey's depiction to increase its dramatic value. Grey was profiled in the Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
"Hot Issue" for the December 2008 edition.
Grey formerly represented herself in the adult industry through her own agency, L.A. Factory Girls. Grey has indicated particular appreciation for the work of Andrew Blake and Kimberly Kane
Kimberly Kane
Kimberly Kane is an American pornographic actress and director.She was engaged to the porn director Jack the Zipper for over two years, but they separated in 2006...
.
A. O. Scott
A. O. Scott
Anthony Oliver Scott, known as A. O. Scott , is an American journalist and critic. He is a chief film critic for The New York Times, along with Manohla Dargis.-Background and education:...
of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
described her pornographic career as "distinguished both by the extremity of what she is willing to do and an unusual degree of intellectual seriousness about doing it."
In 2011, she was named by CNBC
CNBC
CNBC is a satellite and cable television business news channel in the U.S., owned and operated by NBCUniversal. The network and its international spinoffs cover business headlines and provide live coverage of financial markets. The combined reach of CNBC and its siblings is 390 million viewers...
as one of the 12 most popular stars in porn. CNBC noted that, while she is no longer acting in porn films, her current mainstream roles have kept interest in her earlier porn work high, and several companies continue to release compilations of her earlier work.
On April 8, 2011, she officially announced her retirement from adult films on Facebook.
Modeling
The Smashing Pumpkins
The Smashing Pumpkins are an American alternative rock band that formed in Chicago, Illinois in 1988. Formed by Billy Corgan frontman and James Iha , the band has included Jimmy Chamberlin , D'arcy Wretzky , and currently includes Jeff Schroeder Mike Byrne , and Nicole Fiorentino The Smashing...
2007 album Zeitgeist
Zeitgeist (The Smashing Pumpkins album)
Zeitgeist is the seventh album by American alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins, released on July 10, 2007 in the United States and Canada. It was the first album The Smashing Pumpkins released after their 2000 disbandment and 2005 reunion. The album was produced by Roy Thomas Baker, Billy...
, and appears in their music video for "Superchrist
Superchrist
"Superchrist" is a 2008 song by The Smashing Pumpkins.-History:The song originated during the sessions for Zeitgeist, but, according to Billy Corgan, "We didn't feel we understood the song and thought playing it on tour would help us sort it out". The band first performed the song on July 24,...
". Grey was also featured in the music video for the song "Birthday Girl" by The Roots
The Roots
The Roots is an American hip hop/neo soul band formed in 1987 by Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter and Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They are famed for beginning with a jazzy, eclectic approach to hip hop which still includes live instrumentals...
.
She has modeled for French fashion designer Max Azria
Max Azria
Max Azria is a French fashion designer of Tunisian Jewish descent who founded the contemporary women's clothing brand BCBGMAXAZRIA. Azria is also the designer, chairman and CEO of BCBGMAXAZRIAGROUP, a global fashion house that encompasses over 20 brands...
's ready to wear line Manoukian, Italian footwear brand Forfex for an international campaign, and American Apparel
American Apparel
American Apparel is a clothing manufacturer in the United States. It is a vertically integrated clothing manufacturer, wholesaler, and retailer that also performs its own design, advertising, and marketing...
. She's modeled for Richard Kern
Richard Kern
Richard Kern is a New York underground filmmaker, writer and photographer. He first came to underground prominence as part of the underground cultural explosion in the East Village of New York City in the 1980s, with erotic and experimental films featuring underground personalities of the time...
as a part of Vice
Vice (magazine)
VICE is a free magazine and media conglomerate founded in Montreal, Quebec and currently based in New York City.Vice is available in 27 countries...
magazine's anti-fashion layout, and appeared in a three-part VBS program, "Shot by Kern". She also appeared in Taschen
Taschen
Taschen is an art book publisher founded in 1980 by Benedikt Taschen in Cologne, Germany. It began as Taschen Comics publishing Benedikt's extensive comic collection...
’s 25th anniversary reprint of Terry Richardson
Terry Richardson
Terrence "Terry" Richardson is an American fashion photographer.-Early life:Richardson was born in New York City, the son of Bob Richardson, a fashion photographer who struggled with schizophrenia and drug abuse...
’s Terryworld. Among other collaborations with Richardson, she has also appeared in Wives, Wheels, Weapons, a companion book to James Frey
James Frey
James Christopher Frey is an American writer. His books A Million Little Pieces and My Friend Leonard , as well as Bright Shiny Morning , were bestsellers...
's Bright Shiny Morning. She has also modeled for artists James Jean
James Jean
James Jean is a Taiwanese-American visual artist, known for both his commercial work and fine art gallery work. He is known in the American comics industry as a cover artist for various books published by DC Comics, as well as for his work for Prada, ESPN and Atlantic Records...
, Frédéric Poincelet, Zak Smith
Zak Smith
Zak Smith, also known as Zak Sabbath, is an American artist and alternative porn star. He was born in Syracuse, New York in 1976, and grew up in Washington, D.C. After receiving a BFA from Cooper Union in 1998, he studied at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture and went on to receive an...
, and David Choe
David Choe
David Choe is an American painter, muralist, graffiti artist and graphic novelist of Korean descent. He achieved art world success with his "dirty style" figure paintings—raw, frenetic works which combine themes of desire, degradation, and exaltation...
.
In January 2010, Grey appeared nude in an ad campaign for PETA
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is an American animal rights organization based in Norfolk, Virginia, and led by Ingrid Newkirk, its international president. A non-profit corporation with 300 employees and two million members and supporters, it claims to be the largest animal rights...
advocating animal birth control
Neutering
Neutering, from the Latin neuter , is the removal of an animal's reproductive organ, either all of it or a considerably large part. The process is often used in reference to males whereas spaying is often reserved for females. Colloquially, both terms are often referred to as fixing...
.
Grey has appeared in Playboy Magazine twice, once for a December 2009 pictorial, as well as the cover feature in October 2010.
Acting
Grey appeared in an episode of James Gunn's PG PornJames Gunn's PG Porn
James Gunn's PG Porn is a web series created by brothers James Gunn, Brian Gunn, and Sean Gunn. It consists of a series of pornography spoofs, with a humorous event occurring just before the supposed commencement of pornographic sexual acts. Each episode pairs a mainstream actor with a pornographic...
with James Gunn, as well as a cameo role in Dick Rude
Dick Rude
Dick Rude is a writer, director, and actor known for his appearance in and contributions to many Alex Cox films. He has directed the music videos "Catholic School Girls Rule" and "Universally Speaking" for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, as well as their live concert DVD, Off the Map.His most recent...
's independent film Quit, and stars in the 2009 Canadian low-budget black comedy/horror film Smash Cut
Smash Cut
Smash Cut is a 2009 Canadian slasher film released by Odessa Filmworks and Zed Filmworks, distributed by Imagination Worldwide LLC. Lee Demarbre directs this film, which is produced by Robert Menzies.-Plot:...
from the Ottawa-based Odessa
Odessa
Odessa or Odesa is the administrative center of the Odessa Oblast located in southern Ukraine. The city is a major seaport located on the northwest shore of the Black Sea and the fourth largest city in Ukraine with a population of 1,029,000 .The predecessor of Odessa, a small Tatar settlement,...
/Zed Filmworks. She plays a TV news personality who goes undercover as an actress in a horror film production, only to discover her older sister's murderer.
In March 2010, Grey was cast as an anti-sex Christian in the horror film Hallows, directed by Richard O'Sullivan
Richard O'Sullivan (film maker)
Richard O'Sullivan is an American screenwriter, director, actor, producer, cinematographer, film editor, radio personality, and founder of Lost Colony Entertainment.-Film:...
.
Grey was cast for the seventh season of the HBO show Entourage
Entourage (TV series)
Entourage is an American comedy-drama television series that premiered on HBO on July 18, 2004 and concluded on September 11, 2011, after eight seasons...
, where she played a fictionalized version of herself. Her character was Vincent Chase
Vincent Chase
Vincent "Vince" Chase is a fictional character on the comedy-drama television series Entourage. He is played by Adrian Grenier.-Personal life:...
's new girlfriend in a multi-episode arc.
Grey also appeared in Eminem
Eminem
Marshall Bruce Mathers III , better known by his stage name Eminem or his alter ego Slim Shady, is an American rapper, record producer, songwriter and actor. Eminem's popularity brought his group project, D12, to mainstream recognition...
's music video for "Space Bound
Space Bound
"Space Bound" is a song by American rapper Eminem from his seventh studio album, Recovery. In February 2011, "Space Bound" was announced to be released as the fourth single from Recovery. The song is produced by American hip-hop producer Jim Jonsin. "Space Bound" features interpolations of "Drive"...
", released on June 27, 2011. Grey plays the role of Eminem's girlfriend whom Eminem strangles only to realize she is just a figment of his imagination.
Grey played the lead role, "Chelsea", an escort girl who is paid to act as the clients' girlfriend, in Academy Award-winning director Steven Soderbergh
Steven Soderbergh
Steven Andrew Soderbergh is an American film producer, screenwriter, cinematographer, editor, and an Academy Award-winning film director. He is best known for directing commercial Hollywood films like Erin Brockovich, Traffic, and the remake of Ocean's Eleven, but he has also directed smaller less...
's film The Girlfriend Experience
The Girlfriend Experience
The Girlfriend Experience is a 2009 experimental drama film shot in New York City. It is directed by Steven Soderbergh and stars then-active porn star Sasha Grey. A rough cut was screened at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2009. The film has also been made available on Amazon Video on Demand...
. Soderbergh cast her after reading the article profiling her in Los Angeles magazine, commenting that "She's kind of a new breed, I think. She doesn't really fit the typical mold of someone who goes into the adult film business. ... I'd never heard anybody talk about the business the way that she talked about it." In having Grey prepare for her role in The Girlfriend Experience, Soderbergh asked her to watch Godard's Vivre sa vie and Pierrot le fou
Pierrot le fou
Pierrot le fou is a 1965 French film directed by Jean-Luc Godard, starring Anna Karina and Jean-Paul Belmondo. The film is based on Obsession, a novel by Lionel White. It was Jean-Luc Godard's tenth feature film, released between Alphaville and Masculin, féminin...
. Vivre sa vie concerns prostitution, while the relationship portrayed in Pierrot le fou was suggested as a model for the dynamic between Chelsea and her boyfriend and clients. Grey and Soderbergh also interviewed two escorts, and borrowed character traits and behavior from them. Critics had mixed assessments of Grey's performance.
Sasha Grey co-stars alongside Thomas Jane
Thomas Jane
Thomas Jane is an American actor known for his roles in the 1999 film Deep Blue Sea, the 2001 TV film 61*, the 2004 film The Punisher and the 2007 Stephen King adaptation The Mist...
, Carla Gugino
Carla Gugino
Carla Gugino is an American actress known for her roles of Sally Jupiter in Watchmen, Dr. Vera Gorski in Sucker Punch, Lucille in Sin City, Amanda Daniels in seasons 3, 5 and 7 of Entourage, Ingrid Cortez in the Spy Kids film trilogy, and as the lead characters of the television series Karen Sisco...
, Jeremy Piven
Jeremy Piven
Jeremy Samuel Piven is an American film producer and actor best known for his role as Ari Gold in the television series Entourage for which he has won three Emmy Awards as well as several other nominations for Best Supporting Actor....
, and Rob Lowe
Rob Lowe
Robert Hepler "Rob" Lowe is an American actor. Lowe came to prominence after appearing in films such as The Outsiders, Oxford Blues, About Last Night..., St. Elmo's Fire, and Wayne's World. On television, Lowe is known for his role as Sam Seaborn on The West Wing and his role as Senator Robert...
in the thriller I Melt With You
I Melt with You (film)
I Melt with You is a 2011 American thriller film directed by Mark Pellington. It completed filming in September 2010. It premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2011.-Plot:...
which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2011.
Grey has a lead role in the Indonesian film Shrouded Corpse Bathing While Hip-Shaking. The film premiered in Indonesia on April 28, 2011.
Grey also has a lead role in the French film "Life". The film was released on DVD in France on August 10.
Music
In 2008, Grey began an industrial musicIndustrial music
Industrial music is a style of experimental music that draws on transgressive and provocative themes. The term was coined in the mid-1970s with the founding of Industrial Records by the band Throbbing Gristle, and the creation of the slogan "industrial music for industrial people". In general, the...
collaboration, called aTelecine, with Pablo St. Francis. Their first EP
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
, aVigillant Carpark, was released by New York label Pendu Sound in 7 inch vinyl only. They have since added members, Anthony D' Juan and Ian C. She also contributed vocals to the Current 93
Current 93
Current 93 is an eclectic British experimental music group, working since the early 1980s in folk-based musical forms. The band was founded in 1982 by David Tibet .-Background:Tibet has been the only constant in the group, though Steven Stapleton has appeared on...
album Aleph at Hallucinatory Mountain
Aleph at Hallucinatory Mountain
Aleph at Hallucinatory Mountain is a studio album by British experimental band Current 93, released in May 2009 on Coptic Cat Records.After collaborating with Om on a split EP, there is a notably heavy sound on this record, citing doom metal and stoner rock as an influence...
. Narnack Records
Narnack Records
Narnack Records is an independent record label founded in 2002. The label developed in NYC & Brooklyn’s underground music scene, quickly becoming known for its ability for developing new artists, but also working with established bands like The Fall and The Slits...
lists her as a guest artist on Repentance
Repentance (2008 album)
Repentance is the title of the fifty-fourth studio album by Jamaican musician and record producer Lee "Scratch" Perry. It was released on August 19, 2008...
, the 54th studio album by Grammy-winning reggae icon Lee "Scratch" Perry, though Perry himself has denied her involvement.
She also regularly performs as a DJ in the USA and Canada. aTelecine released their first LP ...And Six Dark Hours Pass, in 2010, and in November 2010 followed it up with the LP A Cassette Tape Culture. She has also been featured in Eminem
Eminem
Marshall Bruce Mathers III , better known by his stage name Eminem or his alter ego Slim Shady, is an American rapper, record producer, songwriter and actor. Eminem's popularity brought his group project, D12, to mainstream recognition...
's music video for "Space Bound
Space Bound
"Space Bound" is a song by American rapper Eminem from his seventh studio album, Recovery. In February 2011, "Space Bound" was announced to be released as the fourth single from Recovery. The song is produced by American hip-hop producer Jim Jonsin. "Space Bound" features interpolations of "Drive"...
".
aTelecine's first album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
, The Falcon and the Pod, was released on August 9th, 2011. The album is the band's first full length release, and the first of a planned trilogy.
Personal life
Since 2006, she has been developing an autobiographical documentary, illustrating her experiences from the age of 18 to 21.She was reported in a Rolling Stone interview in 2009 as being engaged to filmmaker Ian Cinnamon.
In February 2010, Grey stated in a PETA
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is an American animal rights organization based in Norfolk, Virginia, and led by Ingrid Newkirk, its international president. A non-profit corporation with 300 employees and two million members and supporters, it claims to be the largest animal rights...
interview that she supported animal birth control.
Grey identifies as bisexual. She is also a strong advocate for gay rights and same sex marriage.
Controversies
In November 2011 Grey participated in the Guest Reading Program at Emerson Elementary School in Compton, CaliforniaCompton, California
Compton is a city in southern Los Angeles County, California, United States, southeast of downtown Los Angeles. The city of Compton is one of the oldest cities in the county and on May 11, 1888, was the eighth city to incorporate. The city is considered part of the South side by residents of Los...
. Although her involvement in such activity was first denied by school officials, it was uncovered later on that in fact Grey had read books to children and that her name did not appear on the guests list as Sasha Grey, but as her real name Marina Hantzis. Some parents were upset that a former pornographic actress would read to their children as part of an education program; Grey responded to the controversy: "I believe education is a universal right. I committed to this program with the understanding that people would have their own opinions about what I have done, who I am and what I represent." Grey also appeared on the American talk show The View where she defended her involvement and also explained that one of the reasons why she became a pornographic actress was "to stop the stigma and stop the stereotypes against the adult film industry".
Partial filmography
| Year | Film | Role | | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Homo Erectus | Cavegirl | |
| 2008 | Pirates II: Stagnetti's Revenge Pirates II: Stagnetti's Revenge Pirates II: Stagnetti's Revenge is the 2008 American sequel to the 2005 pornographic film Pirates.Again written and directed by Joone, it stars Belladonna, Sasha Grey, Jenna Haze, and Ben English, as well as Tommy Gunn, Jesse Jane, Steven St. Croix, and Evan Stone, who reprise their roles from the... |
Maria | |
| 2009 | Chelsea/ Christine Brown | ||
| 2009 | James Gunn's PG Porn James Gunn's PG Porn James Gunn's PG Porn is a web series created by brothers James Gunn, Brian Gunn, and Sean Gunn. It consists of a series of pornography spoofs, with a humorous event occurring just before the supposed commencement of pornographic sexual acts. Each episode pairs a mainstream actor with a pornographic... |
Tricia Scrotey | 1 episode of web series Web series A web series is a series of episodes released on the Internet or also by mobile or cellular phone, and part of the newly emerging medium called web television. A single instance of a web series program is called an episode .While the popularity of web series is continuing to rise, the concept... |
| 2009 | Smash Cut Smash Cut Smash Cut is a 2009 Canadian slasher film released by Odessa Filmworks and Zed Filmworks, distributed by Imagination Worldwide LLC. Lee Demarbre directs this film, which is produced by Robert Menzies.-Plot:... |
April Carson | |
| 2009 | 9to5 – Days in Porn | Herself | Documentary about the porn industry |
| 2010 | Quit | Mini Mart Clerk No.2 | |
| 2010 | Malice in Lalaland | Malice | |
| 2010 | Lena | Post-production | |
| 2010 | Entourage Entourage (TV series) Entourage is an American comedy-drama television series that premiered on HBO on July 18, 2004 and concluded on September 11, 2011, after eight seasons... |
Fictionalized version of herself | 6 episodes |
| 2011 | I Melt With You I Melt with You (film) I Melt with You is a 2011 American thriller film directed by Mark Pellington. It completed filming in September 2010. It premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2011.-Plot:... |
Raven | Post-production |
| 2011 | Saints Row: The Third (video game) | Viola DeWynter | voice/video game |
Awards
- 2007 AVN Award for Best Three-Way Sex Scene – Fuck Slaves (with Sandra RomainSandra RomainSandra Romain is a Romanian pornographic actress. She became well known for her aggressive and domineering approach to sexuality in her films...
and Manuel FerraraManuel FerraraManuel Ferrara is a prolific French pornographic actor and adult film director.Ferrara was originally a protégé of Rocco Siffredi, and had an award winning acting career, making his American acting debut in John Stagliano’s Fashionistas. In 2002 he appeared in Snoop Dogg's Hustlaz: Diary of a Pimp...
) - 2007 AVN Award for Best Group Sex Scene (Video) – Fashionistas Safado: The Challenge
- 2007 XRCO Award for Best New Starlet
- 2007 Adultcon Top 20 Adult Actresses
- 2008 AVN Award for Best Oral Sex Scene, Video – Babysitters
- 2008 AVN Award for Female Performer of the Year
- 2008 XRCO Award for Female Performer of the Year
- 2009 XRCO Award for Mainstream Adult Favorite
- 2009 Genesis Number One Pornstar of The Year
- 2010 AVN Award for Best Anal Sex Scene – Anal Cavity Search 6
- 2010 AVN Award for Best Oral Sex Scene – Throat: A Cautionary Tale
- 2010 AVN Award for The Jenna Jameson Crossover Star of the Year
- 2010 XBIZ AwardXBIZ AwardXBIZ Awards are given annually to honor "individuals, companies, performers and products that play an essential part in the growth and success of adult entertainment". Organized by the adult industry trade magazine XBIZ, the awards were first given in 2003...
for Crossover Star of the Year - 2010 XRCO Award for Mainstream Adult Media Favorite
- 2010 F.A.M.E. Award – Favorite Oral Starlet
External links
Interviews
- Sasha Grey at Anthem Online
- Steven Soderbergh on Sasha Grey
- Everhip interview with Sasha Grey about making The Girlfriend Experience
- HustlerWorld interview: Sasha Grey Pt. 1, (2008). Larry Flynt Publications.
- HustlerWorld interview: Sasha Grey Pt. 2, (2008). Larry Flynt Publications.
- Sasha Grey: Porn's biggest new star talks to Bizarre about puke-sex, BDSM and why she loves her butthole (2008). Interview with Chris Nieratko. Bizarre, Dennis Publishing Limited.
- Sasha Grey Interview (2006). Interview with Ray Dark. Porn Valley News.
- Sasha Grey: Dawn of Porn Star (2006). Interview with Brandon Stosuy. Fanzine.
- Sasha Grey: Sasha's Grey's Anatomy (2006). Adult DVD Talk. Audio interview.
- Inside Sasha Grey (2006). XRentDVD – 24-7 Internet, Inc.
- Sasha Grey interview for Filmmaker Magazine (2009)