Sunny Leone
Encyclopedia
Not to be confused with fellow pornographic actress Sunny Lane
Sunny Leone (born Karen Malhotra; May 13, 1981) is an Indo-Canadian
pornographic actress
, actress, businesswoman and model. She was named Penthouse
Pet of the Year in 2003 and was a contract star for Vivid Entertainment. Named by Maxim
as one of the 12 top porn stars in 2010, she has also played roles in independent mainstream films and television shows.
, Ontario
to Sikh Punjabi
parents from India. Her father was born in Tibet
and raised in Delhi
, while her mother (who died in 2008) was from a small town named Nahan
in Sirmaur
, Himachal Pradesh
. As a young girl, she was very athletic and played street hockey with the boys, enjoyed ice skating on a nearby frozen lake and drinking hot chocolate in front of a fire after playing in the snow all day.
Though she was raised as a Sikh
, her parents enrolled her in a Catholic school
, as it was felt to be unsafe for her to go to public school. There she had her first kiss at 11, lost her virginity to a basketball player at another school at 16, and discovered that she was bisexual
at 18. When she was 13, her family moved to Fort Gratiot
, Michigan
, then to Lake Forest, California
a year later, fulfilling her grandparents' dream that the family be together in one place. She graduated from high school in 1999 and enrolled in college.
, and later a tax and retirement firm.
While studying to be a pediatric
nurse in Orange County
, a classmate who was an exotic dancer
introduced Leone to John Stevens, an agent who in turn introduced her to Jay Allen, a photographer for Penthouse
magazine. When picking a name for her adult career, she has said that Sunny is her real name and Leone was picked by Bob Guccione
, former owner of Penthouse magazine. She posed for Penthouse magazine, and was named Penthouse Pet of the Month for the March 2001 issue, followed by a feature in the Holiday 2001 edition of Hustler
magazine as a Hustler Honey. She has appeared in other magazines including Cheri, Mystique Magazine, High Society
, Swank, AVN Online
, Leg World, Club International
and Lowrider
, while her online credits include ModFX Models, Suze Randall
, Ken Marcus
and Mac & Bumble. Her pictorial credits also include working with stars like Adriana Sage
, Jenna Jameson
, Jelena Jensen
and Aria Giovanni
.
In 2003, she was declared the Penthouse Pet of the Year and also starred in the video Penthouse Pets in Paradise alongside Tera Patrick
and Kyla Cole
. In 2005 Adam & Eve
appointed her as their West Coast Internet Sales Representative.
That same year, Leone signed a three-year contract with Vivid Entertainment
with which she transitioned into the world of hardcore pornography, stating that she would only do lesbian
scenes. Her first movie released was titled Sunny and was released in December 2005. Her next movie, Virtual Vivid Girl Sunny Leone, was the first interactive title for Leone, who was the first Vivid Girl to make such a movie. Taking only four days to film,
). She followed this with Sunny Loves Cher, which featured her first on-screen squirting
,and The Female Gardner co-starring Mikayla Mendez
and Daisy Marie
.
Leone's last two movies under her contract with Vivid were It's Sunny in Brazil, which was filmed in Brazil
. and The Sunny Experiment also starring Monique Alexander
and Brea Lynn. The movies were released in October and December 2007 respectively.
In May 2007, upon re-signing her contract with Vivid for another six films, Leone agreed to perform for the first time with men on camera, but exclusively with her fiancé, Matt Erikson. That summer she also received breast augmentation, and shot her first movie under the new contract titled Sunny Loves Matt. The movie led to her to be nominated for three (out of six) AVN awards in 2009 in addition to being a choice for Female Performer of the Year. She followed up her first boy-girl title with The Other Side of Sunny in October 2008, which would be the last time she would perform with Erikson.
In January 2008, Leone revealed that she was no longer exclusive to Erikson, and had done scenes with other actors, most notably Tommy Gunn
, Charles Dera, James Deen and Voodoo
. In August of that same year, she announced the launch of her own studio, Sunlust Pictures, with Daniel Weber as her partner. With her new venture Leone plans to write, direct and create her own brand of adult movies with Vivid Entertainment as her distributor. Her first independent production, The Dark Side of the Sun, was released in March 2009, and was debuted at the Erotic Heritage Museum in Las Vegas
. In June 2009, she held a casting call in Las Vegas for her second independent production titled Sunny Slumber Party (released September 2009).
No longer exclusive to Vivid, Leone has started working with other studios and performers since 2009. She has managed to leverage her online popularity by striking deals with firms like PPPcard, AdultPokerParty.com, Brickhouse, Flirt4Free, Totemcash and Imlive to sell and distribute her content over the internet and other media.She won the "Web Babe of the Year" at the 2008 Xbiz Awards
. Her websites and business interests are run under her banner company Leone L.L.C.
In addition to her film career, Leone has been part of the Vivid Comedy Tour, and has modeled for the Vivid Footwear
collection. Leone has also participated in events like the Vivid/ClubJenna
Lingerie Bowl
and Vivid's Hot Rod Night. Doc Johnson
launched a pocket pal in 2006 molded to her vagina
, and in 2008 released the Sunny Leone Exciter vibrator. Control MFG currently uses Leone's image along with other Vivid girls to market their line of skateboards. She is paired with Gab Ekoe, one of the Team Control riders. She also indicated that she plans to launch her own line of lingerie and other Sunny-branded products including a diamond jewelry line.
In September 2009, an iPhone
application consisting of a collection of non-nude photos, some videos and a porn star-penned blog was approved by Apple for sale in the iTunes store, making it the first officially sanctioned application featuring a porn star. By February 2010, the app had been removed by Apple from the store.
Leone was voted #13 (up from #41 in 2007) on Genesis
magazine's "Top 100 Porn stars" list, #34 on Desiclubs.com's Top 50 Coolest Desis of 2004, and one of the "40 under 40" ranking on AVN Online magazine. In 2010, she was named by Maxim
as one of the 12 top female stars in porn.
on MTV India
. She has also had a cameo in the film The Girl Next Door, performed in Ja Rule
's video "Livin It Up" and a video for Kidd Skilly. Other credits include E!
's "Wild On!" and the Sundance Film Festival's 'After Dark.' Leone was a contestant in the second season of the Fox reality show My Bare Lady 2: Open For Business
, in which a group of adult actresses were given classes and training on how to pitch investment ideas and competed for success in the business world. In addition to filming her scene for Debbie Does Dallas in 2007, Leone was also part of a Showtime documentary of the same name detailing the production of the movie and the personal lives of its stars.
She has indicated that for the right price she would seriously consider a career in Bollywood
. She has been courted by Indian directors in the past but has felt uncomfortable with the roles that she would have played. Director Mohit Suri
is rumored to have asked Leone to play the lead role in his movie Kalyug
, but instead cast Deepal Shaw
as he could not afford her $1 million acting fee. She has mentioned that Aamir Khan
is her favorite Bollywood Actor, and that over 60% of her fans are from South Asia.
In 2008, Leone announced that she would be starring in a mainstream action adventure movie titled Pirates Blood, which was shot in Oman
. The shooting was completed in two weeks and was to be released in winter 2008. Leone also landed a role in Middle Men, producer Chris Mallick's indie feature about the birth of the online porn industry set for wide theatrical release in 2009. She has mentioned that she will be appearing in an upcoming Will Ferrell movie scheduled to be released in 2010.
She appeared in the film The Virginity Hit
playing a version of herself, where she is hired to take the virginity of the lead character.
Leone has made appearances at events such as the 2002 SEMA
International Auto Salon, the 2002 Extreme Autofest Pomona and the 2006 World Series of Poker
in Las Vegas. Sunny has also been the hostess at events in clubs like the Mansion in Miami and the Highlands in Hollywood.
In 2005, she was mentioned in Forbes
magazine for a story on Vivid Entertainment. Leone has also been featured in mainstream publications like FHM
, Front
and Jane
magazine. In 2007, along with the other Vivid Girls, she was seen in a 48' high holiday Billboard in Times Square
at W. 48th Street and Seventh Avenue
. Leone is also one of the Penthouse Pets who appears in the PlayStation Portable
game Pocket Pool
. She was also featured in a coffee table book
titled Naked Ambition: An R Rated Look at an X Rated Industry
by Micheal Grecco.
In 2004, she was part of "No More Bush Girls", in which she and several other popular adult actresses shaved off their pubic hair
in protest of the Bush presidency. In May 2008, she shot a promotional video for Declare Yourself
, a nonprofit, nonpartisan voter registration campaign targeting 18-to-29-year-olds. She indicated that Barack Obama
would be her choice in the 2008 U.S. election, primarily because she felt he was more business friendly to the adult industry than his opponent John McCain
. She also released a public service announcement on behalf of the ASACP, reminding adult webmasters to protect their sites from children by having an RTA label on it.
Leone has a strong interest in health and fitness, and has been featured in several mainstream fitness publications. Leone has modeled fitness clothing for the sports brand Fantasy Fitness and shared that she keeps her body in shape by working out as much as she can despite her busy schedule and as quoted in Men's Fitness
magazine, "I try to eat very healthy – lots of vegetables, drinking my milk every day."
In 2011, she participated in the Indian reality series Bigg Boss
, entering the house on day 49. However she refused to divulge her 'porn star' status and replied to a poser from actress, and fellow house-mate, Pooja Bedi
that she was a model and a TV star in America for the last ten years or so. It was reported that she has caused a stir in the larger populace with her Twitter
feed gaining 8,000 new followers in just 2 days and Google
saying searches for her experienced a "breakout".
, watching The Simpsons
and the Discovery Channel
. She used to play on a women's soccer league team in California. Her favorite holiday destination is Hawaii, and her favorite cuisine is Italian.
In separate interviews, she has stated that in ten years' time she would like to be married and have started a family, and probably retire from the industry by the time she is 30. Leone was engaged to Matt Erikson, a vice-president of marketing at Playboy Enterprises
. She currently resides in Hollywood, California
with her cat and drives an Audi A5
.
In 2010, Leone's father died of cancer, which he had been first diagnosed with in 1999. In 2011, Leone along with Monique Alexander
and Keni Styles ran in the Rock n’ Roll Los Angeles Half-Marathon
to raise money for the American Cancer Society
.
A 2008 Eye Weekly
article reported that "Leone does her best to maintain a link to Sikh traditions, even if more in theory than in practice. But she's unlikely to disavow her career path due to religion." and that Leone said "Girls will leave the industry claiming that they found God. Well, the fact is, God has always been with them the entire time." In a 2010 interview, she said "It’s a community-based religion. You walk into a temple and you’re greeted with the utmost respect... But, just like any religion it doesn’t want you to shoot adult material. I mean, I grew up going to temple every Sunday. When my parents found out they knew my personality which was very independent. Even if they tried to stop me or tried to steer me the right way they would have lost their daughter. I’m too headstrong. And it wasn’t a plan. It just happened and my career and everything just kept getting bigger and bigger."
Sunny Lane
Not to be confused with fellow pornographic actress Sunny LeoneSunny Lane is an American pornographic actress and nude model.-Biography:Her parents are Shelby and Mike, who worked in air-freight...
Sunny Leone (born Karen Malhotra; May 13, 1981) is an Indo-Canadian
Indo-Canadians
Indo-Canadians are Canadians whose origins trace back to India. The terms East Indian and South Asian are used to distinguish people of ancestral origin from India, from the First Nations peoples of Canada who are often referred to as Indian, and from the people of the Caribbean, who are sometimes...
pornographic actress
Pornographic actor
A pornographic actor/actress or a porn star is a person who appears in pornographic film. Most actors appear nude in films...
, actress, businesswoman and model. She was named Penthouse
Penthouse (magazine)
Penthouse, a men's magazine founded by Bob Guccione, combines urban lifestyle articles and softcore pornographic pictorials that, in the 1990s, evolved into hardcore. Penthouse is owned by FriendFinder Network. formerly known as General Media, Inc. whose parent company was Penthouse International...
Pet of the Year in 2003 and was a contract star for Vivid Entertainment. Named by Maxim
Maxim (magazine)
Maxim is an international men's magazine based in the United Kingdom and known for its pictorials featuring popular actresses, singers, and female models, sometimes pictured dressed, often pictured scantily dressed but not fully nude....
as one of the 12 top porn stars in 2010, she has also played roles in independent mainstream films and television shows.
Early life
Leone was born Karen Malhotra in SarniaSarnia, Ontario
Sarnia is a city in Southern Ontario, Canada . It is the largest city on Lake Huron and is located where the upper Great Lakes empty into the St. Clair River....
, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
to Sikh Punjabi
Punjabi people
The Punjabi people , ਪੰਜਾਬੀ ), also Panjabi people, are an Indo-Aryan group from South Asia. They are the second largest of the many ethnic groups in South Asia. They originate in the Punjab region, which has been been the location of some of the oldest civilizations in the world including, the...
parents from India. Her father was born in Tibet
Tibet
Tibet is a plateau region in Asia, north-east of the Himalayas. It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people as well as some other ethnic groups such as Monpas, Qiang, and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han and Hui people...
and raised in Delhi
Delhi
Delhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census...
, while her mother (who died in 2008) was from a small town named Nahan
Nahan
Nahan नाहन is a town in Himachal Pradesh in India and is the headquarters of the Sirmaur District.- Geography :Nahan is located at . It has an average elevation of 920 metre- Demographics :...
in Sirmaur
Sirmaur district
Sirmour is the most south-eastern district of Himachal Pradesh, India. It is largely mountainous and rural, with 90% of its population living in villages...
, Himachal Pradesh
Himachal Pradesh
Himachal Pradesh is a state in Northern India. It is spread over , and is bordered by the Indian states of Jammu and Kashmir on the north, Punjab on the west and south-west, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh on the south, Uttarakhand on the south-east and by the Tibet Autonomous Region on the east...
. As a young girl, she was very athletic and played street hockey with the boys, enjoyed ice skating on a nearby frozen lake and drinking hot chocolate in front of a fire after playing in the snow all day.
Though she was raised as a Sikh
Sikh
A Sikh is a follower of Sikhism. It primarily originated in the 15th century in the Punjab region of South Asia. The term "Sikh" has its origin in Sanskrit term शिष्य , meaning "disciple, student" or शिक्ष , meaning "instruction"...
, her parents enrolled her in a Catholic school
Catholic school
Catholic schools are maintained parochial schools or education ministries of the Catholic Church. the Church operates the world's largest non-governmental school system...
, as it was felt to be unsafe for her to go to public school. There she had her first kiss at 11, lost her virginity to a basketball player at another school at 16, and discovered that she was bisexual
Bisexuality
Bisexuality is sexual behavior or an orientation involving physical or romantic attraction to both males and females, especially with regard to men and women. It is one of the three main classifications of sexual orientation, along with a heterosexual and a homosexual orientation, all a part of the...
at 18. When she was 13, her family moved to Fort Gratiot
Fort Gratiot
Fort Gratiot was an American stockade fort in Fort Gratiot, Michigan, in Saint Clair County, Michigan.The Army constructed Fort Gratiot in 1814 as an outpost to guard the juncture of the Saint Clair River and Lake Huron. The fort took the name of the engineer supervising its construction, Charles...
, Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
, then to Lake Forest, California
Lake Forest, California
Lake Forest is a city in Orange County, California. The population was 77,264 at the 2010 census.Lake Forest incorporated as a city on December 20, 1991. Prior to a vote of the residents in that year, the community had formerly been known as El Toro since the 1880s...
a year later, fulfilling her grandparents' dream that the family be together in one place. She graduated from high school in 1999 and enrolled in college.
Career
Before working in the porn industry, she first worked at a German bakery, a Jiffy LubeJiffy Lube
Jiffy Lube is a chain of over 2,000 businesses in North America offering oil changes and other automotive services. The company is based in Houston, Texas, and is a subsidiary of Shell Oil.-History:...
, and later a tax and retirement firm.
While studying to be a pediatric
Pediatrics
Pediatrics or paediatrics is the branch of medicine that deals with the medical care of infants, children, and adolescents. A medical practitioner who specializes in this area is known as a pediatrician or paediatrician...
nurse in Orange County
Orange County, California
Orange County is a county in the U.S. state of California. Its county seat is Santa Ana. As of the 2010 census, its population was 3,010,232, up from 2,846,293 at the 2000 census, making it the third most populous county in California, behind Los Angeles County and San Diego County...
, a classmate who was an exotic dancer
Exotic dancer
The terms exotic dancer and exotic dance can have different meanings in different parts of the world and depending on context. In the erotic sense, "exotic dance" is a often used to refer to practitioners of striptease...
introduced Leone to John Stevens, an agent who in turn introduced her to Jay Allen, a photographer for Penthouse
Penthouse (magazine)
Penthouse, a men's magazine founded by Bob Guccione, combines urban lifestyle articles and softcore pornographic pictorials that, in the 1990s, evolved into hardcore. Penthouse is owned by FriendFinder Network. formerly known as General Media, Inc. whose parent company was Penthouse International...
magazine. When picking a name for her adult career, she has said that Sunny is her real name and Leone was picked by Bob Guccione
Bob Guccione
Bob Guccione was the founder and publisher of the adult magazine Penthouse. He resigned from his publisher position in November 2003.-Early life:...
, former owner of Penthouse magazine. She posed for Penthouse magazine, and was named Penthouse Pet of the Month for the March 2001 issue, followed by a feature in the Holiday 2001 edition of Hustler
Hustler
Hustler is a monthly pornographic magazine aimed at men and published in the United States. It was first published in 1974 by Larry Flynt. It was a step forward from the Hustler Newsletter which was cheap advertising for his strip club businesses at the time. The magazine grew from a shaky start to...
magazine as a Hustler Honey. She has appeared in other magazines including Cheri, Mystique Magazine, High Society
High Society (magazine)
High Society is a U.S. pornographic magazine. In addition to hardcore pictorials of nude models, it also has feature articles and occasional celebrity pictorials.-History:High Society was first published in May 1976....
, Swank, AVN Online
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...
, Leg World, Club International
Club International
Club International is a United Kingdom-based magazine that depicts softcore pornographic pictures of women. It is a sister magazine of American magazine Club. Club International was founded in 1972 and is published every four weeks, making thirteen issues per year...
and Lowrider
Lowrider Magazine
Lowrider Magazine is a monthly magazine about cars, focusing almost exclusively on the style known as a lowrider. The magazine has also released a series of videos available on DVD. It was founded in 1977 with the first issue coming out of San Jose, California.- External links :*...
, while her online credits include ModFX Models, Suze Randall
Suze Randall
Suze Randall is an English model, photographer, and pornographer. She has been one of the world's leading erotic photographers for more than 35 years....
, Ken Marcus
Ken Marcus
Ken Marcus is an American photographer, known for his glamour photography with Penthouse and Playboy magazines. For over 30 years he has produced hundreds of centerfolds, editorials, album covers, and advertisements. His work is shown in galleries, published in books and magazines...
and Mac & Bumble. Her pictorial credits also include working with stars like Adriana Sage
Adriana Sage
Adriana Sage is a Mexican-American pornographic actress and model.- Early life :Sage was born in Mexico, but was raised in San Diego, California...
, 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."...
, Jelena Jensen
Jelena Jensen
__notoc__Jelena Jensen is an American pornographic actress.-Early years:Jelena Jensen was born in Los Angeles, California...
and Aria Giovanni
Aria Giovanni
Aria Giovanni is an American pornographic actress and model who was Penthouse magazine's Pet for the month of September 2000. She has modeled in a range of photographic styles and has also had roles in television shows.-Biography:...
.
In 2003, she was declared the Penthouse Pet of the Year and also starred in the video Penthouse Pets in Paradise alongside Tera Patrick
Tera Patrick
Linda Ann Hopkins, better known as Tera Patrick is a former American pornographic actress.-Early life:Tera Patrick was born Linda Ann Hopkins in Great Falls, Montana. While at Boise State, Patrick earned an AAS degree in nursing and a BS in Biology.-Career:Patrick moved to New York City and her...
and Kyla Cole
Kyla Cole
Kyla Cole is a Slovak glamour model, Penthouse Pet and former television presenter.- Early life :Kyla Cole was born in Prešov, Czechoslovakia , and was her parents' first-born child....
. In 2005 Adam & Eve
Adam & Eve (business)
Adam & Eve is a marketer of adult products that sells sex toys and produces pornographic films, as well as funding non-profit social marketing organizations that address issues such as population growth, disease control and sex education in developing countries. In 2006 it was described by Reuters...
appointed her as their West Coast Internet Sales Representative.
That same year, Leone signed a three-year contract with Vivid Entertainment
Vivid Entertainment
Vivid Entertainment Group is an adult video producer, featuring a catalog of VHS and DVD titles and internet content. In 2006 it was described by Reuters as one of the handful of studios that dominate the U.S. porn industry....
with which she transitioned into the world of hardcore pornography, stating that she would only do lesbian
Lesbian
Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...
scenes. Her first movie released was titled Sunny and was released in December 2005. Her next movie, Virtual Vivid Girl Sunny Leone, was the first interactive title for Leone, who was the first Vivid Girl to make such a movie. Taking only four days to film,
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
). She followed this with Sunny Loves Cher, which featured her first on-screen squirting
Female ejaculation
Female ejaculation refers to the expulsion of noticeable amounts of clear fluid by human females from the paraurethral ducts through and around the urethra during or before an orgasm...
,and The Female Gardner co-starring Mikayla Mendez
Mikayla Mendez
Mikayla Mendez is an American pornographic actress. She began appearing in adult films in around 2003 while at the age of about 23, and has since appeared in over 120 movies...
and Daisy Marie
Daisy Marie
Daisy Marie is a Mexican American pornographic actress and nude model.- Biography :Marie was born in Glendale, California but grew up mainly in Salem, Oregon, but also spent time with family in Zacatecas, Mexico. She began her career in pornography in 2002, a day after her 18th birthday...
.
Leone's last two movies under her contract with Vivid were It's Sunny in Brazil, which was filmed in Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
. and The Sunny Experiment also starring Monique Alexander
Monique Alexander
Monique Alexander is an American pornographic actress and nude model.-Career:Alexander began working in the adult industry as a stripper in Sacramento when she was 18, to supplement her daytime earnings as a receptionist. She appeared in several adult magazines with her first photo shoot being...
and Brea Lynn. The movies were released in October and December 2007 respectively.
In May 2007, upon re-signing her contract with Vivid for another six films, Leone agreed to perform for the first time with men on camera, but exclusively with her fiancé, Matt Erikson. That summer she also received breast augmentation, and shot her first movie under the new contract titled Sunny Loves Matt. The movie led to her to be nominated for three (out of six) AVN awards in 2009 in addition to being a choice for Female Performer of the Year. She followed up her first boy-girl title with The Other Side of Sunny in October 2008, which would be the last time she would perform with Erikson.
In January 2008, Leone revealed that she was no longer exclusive to Erikson, and had done scenes with other actors, most notably Tommy Gunn
Tommy Gunn (porn actor)
Tommy Gunn is the stage name of a male American pornographic actor.-Biography:Beginning his career in pornographic films in 2004, Gunn was soon recognized as the 2005 AVN Best Male Newcomer award...
, Charles Dera, James Deen and Voodoo
Alexandre Boisvert
Voodoo is a French Canadian pornographic actor.Voodoo entered the adult industry in 1999, and went on to appear in close to 500 hardcore and softcore pornographic films. He also worked at the Skydive Taft, a skydiving club, as a skydiving instructor...
. In August of that same year, she announced the launch of her own studio, Sunlust Pictures, with Daniel Weber as her partner. With her new venture Leone plans to write, direct and create her own brand of adult movies with Vivid Entertainment as her distributor. Her first independent production, The Dark Side of the Sun, was released in March 2009, and was debuted at the Erotic Heritage Museum in Las Vegas
Las Vegas metropolitan area
The Las Vegas Valley is the heart of the Las Vegas-Paradise, NV MSA also known as the Las Vegas–Paradise–Henderson MSA which includes all of Clark County, Nevada, and is a metropolitan area in the southern part of the U.S. state of Nevada. The Valley is defined by the Las Vegas Valley landform, a ...
. In June 2009, she held a casting call in Las Vegas for her second independent production titled Sunny Slumber Party (released September 2009).
No longer exclusive to Vivid, Leone has started working with other studios and performers since 2009. She has managed to leverage her online popularity by striking deals with firms like PPPcard, AdultPokerParty.com, Brickhouse, Flirt4Free, Totemcash and Imlive to sell and distribute her content over the internet and other media.She won the "Web Babe of the Year" at the 2008 Xbiz Awards
XBIZ Award
XBIZ 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...
. Her websites and business interests are run under her banner company Leone L.L.C.
In addition to her film career, Leone has been part of the Vivid Comedy Tour, and has modeled for the Vivid Footwear
collection. Leone has also participated in events like the Vivid/ClubJenna
ClubJenna
ClubJenna, Inc. is a multi-media adult entertainment company based in Scottsdale, Arizona. It was founded in 2000 by adult film actress Jenna Jameson, and Jay Grdina, who performed as an adult film actor under the name Justin Sterling and today is president of ClubJenna, Inc...
Lingerie Bowl
Lingerie Bowl
The Lingerie Bowl is an annual Super Bowl halftime alternative shown on pay-per-view TV. It features a game of full-contact American football with female athletes playing seven-on-seven tackle football. Lingerie Bowl I aired during Super Bowl XXXVIII in 2004 with Team Euphoria losing to the Team...
and Vivid's Hot Rod Night. Doc Johnson
Reuben Sturman
Reuben Sturman was an American pornographer and businessman from Ohio. He was featured as a subject in Eric Schlosser's 2003 book on underground economies Reefer Madness: Sex, Drugs, and Cheap Labor in the American Black Market....
launched a pocket pal in 2006 molded to her vagina
Vagina
The vagina is a fibromuscular tubular tract leading from the uterus to the exterior of the body in female placental mammals and marsupials, or to the cloaca in female birds, monotremes, and some reptiles. Female insects and other invertebrates also have a vagina, which is the terminal part of the...
, and in 2008 released the Sunny Leone Exciter vibrator. Control MFG currently uses Leone's image along with other Vivid girls to market their line of skateboards. She is paired with Gab Ekoe, one of the Team Control riders. She also indicated that she plans to launch her own line of lingerie and other Sunny-branded products including a diamond jewelry line.
In September 2009, an iPhone
IPhone
The iPhone is a line of Internet and multimedia-enabled smartphones marketed by Apple Inc. The first iPhone was unveiled by Steve Jobs, then CEO of Apple, on January 9, 2007, and released on June 29, 2007...
application consisting of a collection of non-nude photos, some videos and a porn star-penned blog was approved by Apple for sale in the iTunes store, making it the first officially sanctioned application featuring a porn star. By February 2010, the app had been removed by Apple from the store.
Leone was voted #13 (up from #41 in 2007) on Genesis
Genesis (magazine)
Genesis is a men's pornographic magazine which began publication in 1973. It exclusively features female stars of the adult film industry. Billing itself as "The Home of Porn's Hottest Stars", Genesis features pictorials, exclusive columns by adult film stars, interviews, feature articles, movie...
magazine's "Top 100 Porn stars" list, #34 on Desiclubs.com's Top 50 Coolest Desis of 2004, and one of the "40 under 40" ranking on AVN Online magazine. In 2010, she was named by Maxim
Maxim (magazine)
Maxim is an international men's magazine based in the United Kingdom and known for its pictorials featuring popular actresses, singers, and female models, sometimes pictured dressed, often pictured scantily dressed but not fully nude....
as one of the 12 top female stars in porn.
Mainstream appearances
Leone's first mainstream appearance was in 2005, when she was a red carpet reporter for the MTV AwardsMTV Video Music Awards
An MTV Video Music Award , is an award presented by the cable channel MTV to honor the best in music videos...
on MTV India
MTV India
MTV India is the Indian version of MTV , a channel specialising in music and youth culture programming. It was launched in 1996 and is now part of the Viacom 18 Media Pvt. Ltd based in Mumbai. . "MTV India" is one of the oldest Music Television Networks in Asia...
. She has also had a cameo in the film The Girl Next Door, performed in Ja Rule
Ja Rule
Jeffrey Atkins , better known by his stage name Ja Rule, is an American rapper, singer, and actor.Born in Hollis, Queens, he began his career in the group Cash Money Click and debuted in 1999 with Venni Vetti Vecci and its single "Holla Holla"...
's video "Livin It Up" and a video for Kidd Skilly. Other credits include E!
E!
E! Entertainment Television is an American basic cable and satellite television network, owned by NBCUniversal. It features entertainment-related programming, reality television, feature films and occasionally series and specials unrelated to the entertainment industry.E! has an audience reach of...
's "Wild On!" and the Sundance Film Festival's 'After Dark.' Leone was a contestant in the second season of the Fox reality show My Bare Lady 2: Open For Business
My Bare Lady
My Bare Lady is a 2006 United Kingdom-based reality TV show that aired on the Fox Reality Channel. The series followed four American female porn stars as they took acting lessons and performed in scenes from classic drama alongside British actors in London's West End...
, in which a group of adult actresses were given classes and training on how to pitch investment ideas and competed for success in the business world. In addition to filming her scene for Debbie Does Dallas in 2007, Leone was also part of a Showtime documentary of the same name detailing the production of the movie and the personal lives of its stars.
She has indicated that for the right price she would seriously consider a career in Bollywood
Bollywood
Bollywood is the informal term popularly used for the Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai , Maharashtra, India. The term is often incorrectly used to refer to the whole of Indian cinema; it is only a part of the total Indian film industry, which includes other production centers producing...
. She has been courted by Indian directors in the past but has felt uncomfortable with the roles that she would have played. Director Mohit Suri
Mohit Suri
Mohit Suri, is an Indian film director, most known for his films, like Kalyug and Awarapan .He is member of the Bhatt family...
is rumored to have asked Leone to play the lead role in his movie Kalyug
Kalyug (2005 film)
Kalyug is a Bollywood film based on the pornographic film industry. The film was directed by Mohit Suri, and produced by Mahesh Bhatt. It introduces actor Kunal Khemu, as his debut film as an adult actor. It also stars Emraan Hashmi, Smilie Suri and Amrita Singh. The film released on December 9 2005...
, but instead cast Deepal Shaw
Deepal Shaw
Deepal Shaw , is an Indian actress, model who works in Bollywood movies.-Early life:Shaw was born and raised in Mumbai, Maharashtra, to parents originally from Uttar Pradesh. She studied in D.P.Y.A. High School, Dadar. Her mother was born in Lucknow, while her father was born in Ayodhya...
as he could not afford her $1 million acting fee. She has mentioned that Aamir Khan
Aamir Khan
Aamir Hussain Khan is an Indian film actor, director and producer who has established himself as one of the leading actors of Hindi cinema....
is her favorite Bollywood Actor, and that over 60% of her fans are from South Asia.
In 2008, Leone announced that she would be starring in a mainstream action adventure movie titled Pirates Blood, which was shot in Oman
Oman
Oman , officially called the Sultanate of Oman , is an Arab state in southwest Asia on the southeast coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by the United Arab Emirates to the northwest, Saudi Arabia to the west, and Yemen to the southwest. The coast is formed by the Arabian Sea on the...
. The shooting was completed in two weeks and was to be released in winter 2008. Leone also landed a role in Middle Men, producer Chris Mallick's indie feature about the birth of the online porn industry set for wide theatrical release in 2009. She has mentioned that she will be appearing in an upcoming Will Ferrell movie scheduled to be released in 2010.
She appeared in the film The Virginity Hit
The Virginity Hit
The Virginity Hit is a 2010 comedy film produced by Adam McKay and Will Ferrell, and directed by Huck Botko and Andrew Gurland. It stars Matt Bennett, Zack Pearlman, Jacob Davich, Justin Kline and Nicole Weaver....
playing a version of herself, where she is hired to take the virginity of the lead character.
Leone has made appearances at events such as the 2002 SEMA
SEMA
Specialty Equipment Market Association of the automobile aftermarket was formed in 1963 by Roy Richter, Ed Iskenderian, Willie Garner, Bob Hedman, John Bartlett, Phil Weiand, Jr., Al Segal, Dean Moon, and Vic Edelbrock, Jr...
International Auto Salon, the 2002 Extreme Autofest Pomona and the 2006 World Series of Poker
World Series of Poker
The World Series of Poker is a world-renowned series of poker tournaments held annually in Las Vegas and, since 2005, sponsored by Harrah's Entertainment...
in Las Vegas. Sunny has also been the hostess at events in clubs like the Mansion in Miami and the Highlands in Hollywood.
In 2005, she was mentioned in Forbes
Forbes
Forbes is an American publishing and media company. Its flagship publication, the Forbes magazine, is published biweekly. Its primary competitors in the national business magazine category are Fortune, which is also published biweekly, and Business Week...
magazine for a story on Vivid Entertainment. Leone has also been featured in mainstream publications like FHM
FHM
FHM, originally published as For Him Magazine, is an international monthly men's lifestyle magazine.- History :The magazine began publication in 1985 in the United Kingdom under the name For Him and changed its title to FHM in 1994 when Emap Consumer Media bought the magazine, although the full For...
, Front
Front (magazine)
Front was first published by Cabal Communications in 1998, it was created to rival IPC's publication Loaded, catering to a demographic of 16- to 25-year-old males. It began as part of the British "lads' mag" genre of magazines though the covers rejects this description with the statement "Front is...
and Jane
Jane (magazine)
Jane was an American magazine created to appeal to the women who grew up reading Sassy Magazine, both of which had Jane Pratt as founding editor. Its original target audience was aged 18–34, and was designed to appeal to women who are irreverent...
magazine. In 2007, along with the other Vivid Girls, she was seen in a 48' high holiday Billboard in Times Square
Times Square
Times Square is a major commercial intersection in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, at the junction of Broadway and Seventh Avenue and stretching from West 42nd to West 47th Streets...
at W. 48th Street and Seventh Avenue
Seventh Avenue (Manhattan)
Seventh Avenue, known as Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard north of Central Park, is a thoroughfare on the West Side of the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It is southbound below Central Park and a two-way street north of the park....
. Leone is also one of the Penthouse Pets who appears in the PlayStation Portable
PlayStation Portable
The is a handheld game console manufactured and marketed by Sony Corporation Development of the console was announced during E3 2003, and it was unveiled on , 2004, at a Sony press conference before E3 2004...
game Pocket Pool
Pocket Pool
Pocket Pool is a game released for the PlayStation Portable gaming system, developed by Hyper-Devbox Japan and published by both Conspiracy Entertainment and Eidos...
. She was also featured in a coffee table book
Coffee table book
A coffee table book is a hardcover book that is intended to sit on a coffee table or similar surface in an area where guests sit and are entertained, thus inspiring conversation or alleviating boredom. They tend to be oversized and of heavy construction, since there is no pressing need for...
titled Naked Ambition: An R Rated Look at an X Rated Industry
Naked Ambition: An R Rated Look at an X Rated Industry
Naked Ambition: An R Rated Look at an X Rated Industry isthe third portrait photography book by American photographer Michael Grecco. It is published by Rock Out Books . The book contains over 200 photographs of actors, filmmakers and personalities in the world of adult entertainment...
by Micheal Grecco.
In 2004, she was part of "No More Bush Girls", in which she and several other popular adult actresses shaved off their pubic hair
Pubic hair
Pubic hair is hair in the frontal genital area, the crotch, and sometimes at the top of the inside of the legs; these areas form the pubic region....
in protest of the Bush presidency. In May 2008, she shot a promotional video for Declare Yourself
Declare Yourself
Declare Yourself is a campaign initiated during the 2004 United States presidential elections to encourage young people to register to vote. It began as the "Declaration of Independence Road Trip", a 50-city cross-country tour of a rare Dunlap broadside of the Declaration of Independence lasting ...
, a nonprofit, nonpartisan voter registration campaign targeting 18-to-29-year-olds. She indicated that Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
would be her choice in the 2008 U.S. election, primarily because she felt he was more business friendly to the adult industry than his opponent John McCain
John McCain
John Sidney McCain III is the senior United States Senator from Arizona. He was the Republican nominee for president in the 2008 United States election....
. She also released a public service announcement on behalf of the ASACP, reminding adult webmasters to protect their sites from children by having an RTA label on it.
Leone has a strong interest in health and fitness, and has been featured in several mainstream fitness publications. Leone has modeled fitness clothing for the sports brand Fantasy Fitness and shared that she keeps her body in shape by working out as much as she can despite her busy schedule and as quoted in Men's Fitness
Men's Fitness
Men's Fitness is a men's magazine published by American Media, Inc and founded in the United States in 1987. The premier issue featured Michael Pare from the television series The Greatest American Hero....
magazine, "I try to eat very healthy – lots of vegetables, drinking my milk every day."
In 2011, she participated in the Indian reality series Bigg Boss
Bigg Boss (season 5)
Bigg Boss 5 in 2011 is the fifth season of the Indian reality TV show Bigg Boss, which aired on Colors from 2 October 2011 to 7 January 2012 with Sanjay Dutt as the host...
, entering the house on day 49. However she refused to divulge her 'porn star' status and replied to a poser from actress, and fellow house-mate, Pooja Bedi
Pooja Bedi
Pooja Bedi is a former Bollywood actress and currently a television talk show host. She is the daughter of actor Kabir Bedi. She has also participated in Bigg Boss 5 and was voted out on 26th of November.-Biography:...
that she was a model and a TV star in America for the last ten years or so. It was reported that she has caused a stir in the larger populace with her Twitter
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...
feed gaining 8,000 new followers in just 2 days and Google
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
saying searches for her experienced a "breakout".
Personal life
In June 2006, Leone became an American citizen, but plans to remain a dual citizen of Canada. Although bisexual, she has stated that she prefers men. In her spare time she enjoys abstract paintings, horse riding, reading, playing World of WarcraftWorld of Warcraft
World of Warcraft is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game by Blizzard Entertainment. It is the fourth released game set in the fantasy Warcraft universe, which was first introduced by Warcraft: Orcs & Humans in 1994...
, watching The Simpsons
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
and the Discovery Channel
Discovery Channel
Discovery Channel is an American satellite and cable specialty channel , founded by John Hendricks and distributed by Discovery Communications. It is a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav...
. She used to play on a women's soccer league team in California. Her favorite holiday destination is Hawaii, and her favorite cuisine is Italian.
In separate interviews, she has stated that in ten years' time she would like to be married and have started a family, and probably retire from the industry by the time she is 30. Leone was engaged to Matt Erikson, a vice-president of marketing at Playboy Enterprises
Playboy Enterprises
Playboy Enterprises, Inc. is a privately held global media and lifestyle company founded by Hugh Marston Hefner to manage the Playboy magazine empire. Its programming and content are available worldwide on television networks, Websites, mobile platforms and radio...
. She currently resides in Hollywood, California
Hollywood, Los Angeles, California
Hollywood is a famous district in Los Angeles, California, United States situated west-northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Due to its fame and cultural identity as the historical center of movie studios and movie stars, the word Hollywood is often used as a metonym of American cinema...
with her cat and drives an Audi A5
Audi A5
The Audi A5 is a coupé produced by the German automobile manufacturer Audi since 2007. It is the coupé, cabriolet, and five-door fastback versions of the fourth generation Audi A4 saloon and estate models....
.
In 2010, Leone's father died of cancer, which he had been first diagnosed with in 1999. In 2011, Leone along with Monique Alexander
Monique Alexander
Monique Alexander is an American pornographic actress and nude model.-Career:Alexander began working in the adult industry as a stripper in Sacramento when she was 18, to supplement her daytime earnings as a receptionist. She appeared in several adult magazines with her first photo shoot being...
and Keni Styles ran in the Rock n’ Roll Los Angeles Half-Marathon
Rock 'n' Roll Marathon Series
The Rock 'n' Roll Marathon Series is a collection of road running events owned and operated by Competitor Group, Inc. The series is known for lining race routes with live bands, cheerleaders and themed water stations.-Events:...
to raise money for the American Cancer Society
American Cancer Society
The American Cancer Society is the "nationwide community-based voluntary health organization" dedicated, in their own words, "to eliminating cancer as a major health problem by preventing cancer, saving lives, and diminishing suffering from cancer, through research, education, advocacy, and...
.
A 2008 Eye Weekly
Eye Weekly
Eye Weekly was a free weekly newspaper published in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was owned by Torstar, the parent company of the Toronto Star, and was published by their Star Media Group until its final issue on May 5, 2011. The following week, Torstar launched a successor publication, The Grid.-...
article reported that "Leone does her best to maintain a link to Sikh traditions, even if more in theory than in practice. But she's unlikely to disavow her career path due to religion." and that Leone said "Girls will leave the industry claiming that they found God. Well, the fact is, God has always been with them the entire time." In a 2010 interview, she said "It’s a community-based religion. You walk into a temple and you’re greeted with the utmost respect... But, just like any religion it doesn’t want you to shoot adult material. I mean, I grew up going to temple every Sunday. When my parents found out they knew my personality which was very independent. Even if they tried to stop me or tried to steer me the right way they would have lost their daughter. I’m too headstrong. And it wasn’t a plan. It just happened and my career and everything just kept getting bigger and bigger."
Awards
- 2008 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...
- Web Babe of the Year - 2010 AVN Award - Best All-Girl Group Sex Scene
- 2010 AVN Award - Web Starlet of the Year
- 2010 F.A.M.E. Award – Favorite Breasts