Stoya
Encyclopedia
Stoya is an American pornographic actress
and model. The stage name
"Stoya" was her nickname before appearing in adult films, and is the shortened version of her family's last name.
She was an exclusive contract performer for Digital Playground
and is regarded as the first alt porn contract girl. Stoya is AVN
's 2009 Best New Starlet.
to a Serbian
father and a Scottish
mother. As a child, she wanted to become a dancer and started attending dance lessons at the age of three. She was home-schooled
and got her high-school diploma before the age of sixteen.
Because her father worked in IT, Stoya had access to a lot of electronics and gaming equipment, which she says developed her love for technology.
"I was three when I was using DOS
. My mom taught me how to read, and my dad taught me how to navigate DOS", she has said.
At a later age, Stoya moved to Delaware
, where she spent a semester at Delaware College of Art & Design
, but dropped out because of her problem with authority.
After relocating to Philadelphia, she attended a summer program at UArts. Some of her jobs in Philadelphia included being a secretary, flier distributor, and a go-go dancer. Stoya appeared in several music videos for bands that, according to her, "no one will ever hear of."
In May 2009, Stoya said she would be moving from Philadelphia and relocating to Los Angeles in the fall of that year.
scene for a DVD they were putting out.
Stoya claims that she discovered pornography through an interest in BDSM and via fetish newsgroups on the internet. She states that few adult films interested her, and prefers those with artistic and fetish themes.
Stoya was featured in two DVD productions for Razordolls and made a non-sex, cameo appearance
in two Vivid Alt titles before being contacted by Digital Playground
with the proposition to perform in a hardcore
, lesbian scene with Sophia Santi. The scene in question never happened, but in August 2007, she met with several Digital Playground representatives and was asked if she would star in a pornographic movie
with male talent. After careful consideration, Stoya agreed.
In October 2007, Digital Playground signed her to an exclusive, three-year contract. The first scene she shot for them was for Stoya Video Nasty (promoted on the DVD box as the first film featuring her engaging in heterosexual intercourse) but her first movie released by the company was Jack's POV 9.
Stoya stated that exploring her sexuality on camera has been a fun adventure.
In 2009, Stoya appeared in her first mainstream crossover as Kamikazi Shegun 5000 in the award winning 48 Hour Film Project "The Kingpin of Pain".
being among her favorite genres.
Stoya acknowledges the importance of social networking in her career; she's active on MySpace
, Twitter
, various internet forums, and maintains her blog at XCritic.com.
She reads science fiction but has said she is tired of answering questions about her favorites, which include William Gibson
and Anne McCaffrey
.
In June 2009, she was reported to be dating Marilyn Manson
but they later broke up due to his touring schedule.
Pornographic actor
A pornographic actor/actress or a porn star is a person who appears in pornographic film. Most actors appear nude in films...
and model. The stage name
Stage name
A stage name, also called a showbiz name or screen name, is a pseudonym used by performers and entertainers such as actors, wrestlers, comedians, and musicians.-Motivation to use a stage name:...
"Stoya" was her nickname before appearing in adult films, and is the shortened version of her family's last name.
She was an exclusive contract performer for Digital Playground
Digital Playground
thumb|right|250px|Digital Playground's 2010 Contract Girls at the [[AVN Adult Entertainment Expo]] at the [[Sands Expo]], [[Las Vegas, Nevada|Las Vegas]] on January 7, 2010...
and is regarded as the first alt porn contract girl. Stoya is 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...
's 2009 Best New Starlet.
Early life
Stoya was born in Wilmington, North CarolinaWilmington, North Carolina
Wilmington is a port city in and is the county seat of New Hanover County, North Carolina, United States. The population is 106,476 according to the 2010 Census, making it the eighth most populous city in the state of North Carolina...
to a Serbian
Serbs
The Serbs are a South Slavic ethnic group of the Balkans and southern Central Europe. Serbs are located mainly in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and form a sizable minority in Croatia, the Republic of Macedonia and Slovenia. Likewise, Serbs are an officially recognized minority in...
father and a Scottish
Scottish people
The Scottish people , or Scots, are a nation and ethnic group native to Scotland. Historically they emerged from an amalgamation of the Picts and Gaels, incorporating neighbouring Britons to the south as well as invading Germanic peoples such as the Anglo-Saxons and the Norse.In modern use,...
mother. As a child, she wanted to become a dancer and started attending dance lessons at the age of three. She was home-schooled
Homeschooling
Homeschooling or homeschool is the education of children at home, typically by parents but sometimes by tutors, rather than in other formal settings of public or private school...
and got her high-school diploma before the age of sixteen.
Because her father worked in IT, Stoya had access to a lot of electronics and gaming equipment, which she says developed her love for technology.
"I was three when I was using DOS
DOS
DOS, short for "Disk Operating System", is an acronym for several closely related operating systems that dominated the IBM PC compatible market between 1981 and 1995, or until about 2000 if one includes the partially DOS-based Microsoft Windows versions 95, 98, and Millennium Edition.Related...
. My mom taught me how to read, and my dad taught me how to navigate DOS", she has said.
At a later age, Stoya moved to Delaware
Delaware
Delaware is a U.S. state located on the Atlantic Coast in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It is bordered to the south and west by Maryland, and to the north by Pennsylvania...
, where she spent a semester at Delaware College of Art & Design
Delaware College of Art & Design
The Delaware College of Art and Design was founded in 1997 through a partnership between the Pratt Institute and the Corcoran College of Art and Design. DCAD’s mission is to educate talented and committed students to become art makers, idea generators, problem solvers, and visual communicators who...
, but dropped out because of her problem with authority.
After relocating to Philadelphia, she attended a summer program at UArts. Some of her jobs in Philadelphia included being a secretary, flier distributor, and a go-go dancer. Stoya appeared in several music videos for bands that, according to her, "no one will ever hear of."
In May 2009, Stoya said she would be moving from Philadelphia and relocating to Los Angeles in the fall of that year.
Movie career
Stoya began posing for a friend of hers. That eventually led her to modeling and working for alt-erotic websites. One of the websites she had worked for asked if she was willing to do a softcoreSoftcore
Softcore pornography is a form of filmic or photographic pornography or erotica that is less sexually explicit than hardcore pornography. It is intended to tickle and arouse men and women. Softcore pornography depicts nude and semi-nude performers engaging in casual social nudity or non-graphic...
scene for a DVD they were putting out.
Stoya claims that she discovered pornography through an interest in BDSM and via fetish newsgroups on the internet. She states that few adult films interested her, and prefers those with artistic and fetish themes.
Stoya was featured in two DVD productions for Razordolls and made a non-sex, cameo appearance
Cameo appearance
A cameo role or cameo appearance is a brief appearance of a known person in a work of the performing arts, such as plays, films, video games and television...
in two Vivid Alt titles before being contacted by Digital Playground
Digital Playground
thumb|right|250px|Digital Playground's 2010 Contract Girls at the [[AVN Adult Entertainment Expo]] at the [[Sands Expo]], [[Las Vegas, Nevada|Las Vegas]] on January 7, 2010...
with the proposition to perform in a hardcore
Hardcore pornography
Hardcore pornography is a form of pornography that features explicit sexual acts. The term was coined in the second half of the 20th century to distinguish it from softcore pornography. It usually takes the form of photographs, often displayed in magazines or on the Internet, or films. It can also...
, lesbian scene with Sophia Santi. The scene in question never happened, but in August 2007, she met with several Digital Playground representatives and was asked if she would star in a pornographic movie
Hardcore pornography
Hardcore pornography is a form of pornography that features explicit sexual acts. The term was coined in the second half of the 20th century to distinguish it from softcore pornography. It usually takes the form of photographs, often displayed in magazines or on the Internet, or films. It can also...
with male talent. After careful consideration, Stoya agreed.
In October 2007, Digital Playground signed her to an exclusive, three-year contract. The first scene she shot for them was for Stoya Video Nasty (promoted on the DVD box as the first film featuring her engaging in heterosexual intercourse) but her first movie released by the company was Jack's POV 9.
Stoya stated that exploring her sexuality on camera has been a fun adventure.
In 2009, Stoya appeared in her first mainstream crossover as Kamikazi Shegun 5000 in the award winning 48 Hour Film Project "The Kingpin of Pain".
Personal life
Stoya enjoys art and one of her hobbies is creating clothes which she wears in her scenes and during erotic conventions. She likes reading, with sci fi and fantasyFantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
being among her favorite genres.
Stoya acknowledges the importance of social networking in her career; she's active on MySpace
MySpace
Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
, various internet forums, and maintains her blog at XCritic.com.
She reads science fiction but has said she is tired of answering questions about her favorites, which include William Gibson
William Gibson
William Gibson is an American-Canadian science fiction author.William Gibson may also refer to:-Association football:*Will Gibson , Scottish footballer...
and Anne McCaffrey
Anne McCaffrey
Anne Inez McCaffrey was an American-born Irish writer, best known for her Dragonriders of Pern series. Over the course of her 46 year career she won a Hugo Award and a Nebula Award...
.
In June 2009, she was reported to be dating Marilyn Manson
Marilyn Manson
Marilyn Manson may refer to:* Marilyn Manson , an American rock musician* Marilyn Manson , the American rock band led by the singer of the same name...
but they later broke up due to his touring schedule.
Awards
- 2008 Eroticline AwardsEroticline AwardsThe Eroticline Award is a prize awarded in the adult film industry, which has been presented yearly since 2005 as part of the "Venus" festival, an international trade festival of the erotic. They are the successors to the Venus Awards, which were presented until 2004...
- Best US Newcomer - 2009 AVN AwardsAVN AwardsThe AVN Awards are movie awards sponsored and presented by the American adult video industry trade magazine AVN to honor exceptional performance in various aspects of the creation and marketing of American pornographic movies. They are called the "Oscars of porn"...
: Best New Starlet - 2009 AVN AwardsAVN AwardsThe AVN Awards are movie awards sponsored and presented by the American adult video industry trade magazine AVN to honor exceptional performance in various aspects of the creation and marketing of American pornographic movies. They are called the "Oscars of porn"...
: Best All-Girl Group Sex Scene (CheerleadersCheerleaders (2008 film)Cheerleaders is an American pornographic film, released in 2008 by Digital Playground. It won 4 AVN awards and was nominated for 5 others.-Cast:* Jesse Jane Jesse, head cheerleader* Adrianna Lynn Adrianna, cheerleader #2...
) - 2009 XBIZXBIZXBIZ is an American publisher of business news and business information for the adult entertainment industry.In addition to its flagship website, XBIZ publishes two monthly trade magazines, hosts winter and summer exhibition & industry conferences, and facilitates networking among adult online...
Award - New Starlet of the Year - 2009 XRCO Award - New Starlet
External links
- Official Website
- Blog at XCritic
- Podcast Interview at Adult DVD Talk
- "From Barbie Doll to Razordoll: The Sexual Shift in Porn" by Lauren Mayberry, The Skinny, July 30, 2009.