The Picture of Sasha Grey5

by Damon Martin

She’s been featured in Rolling Stone. She’s a featured guest star in the seventh season of the hit HBO series “Entourage.” She was the lead actress in the film “The Girlfriend Experience” directed by Academy Award winning director Steven Soderbergh.

To hear those accolades just about any Hollywood actress would take those jobs, and that level of career success. Those credits aren’t for just any actress in Hollywood, they are about porn star turned mainstream success story Sasha Grey.

Now unlike some former porn stars, who will shun their pasts spent naked in front of the camera, Sasha Grey doesn’t shy away from it at all. She’s not ashamed of the work she’s done, and she’s not afraid to tell people what she wants in life. She is however a crossover sensation that’s continuing to push forward in the “mainstream” film world, while pushing sexual boundaries with her work in adult film.

Grey got the name “Sasha” from from Sascha Konietzko from the band KMFDM, and her last name is a combination of the Oscar Wilde classic “The Picture of Dorian Gray” and the Kinsey Scale of Sexuality. Again, not what you’d expect from a porn star, but she’s proof positive along with many others evolving in the adult industry, that you can’t simply pigeon-hole them into a simple box and expect them to fit.

During a 2009 interview with Rolling Stone magazine, Grey said very candidly that she wasn’t abused when she was younger, and she’s not doing porn as a way to rebel against her parents or any of the other cliché reasons people say all porn stars must have had to get involved in the adult film industry.

“I am a pervert,” Grey said. “If I am working out any issues through porn, it’s anger at society for not being open about sex.”

While the adult industry has taken on a much more mainstream life of its own, there’s still that sense that it’s something dirty that can’t be talked about. Grey’s crossover into mainstream print and film seems to show that it’s okay to be a fan of hers, whether you can openly admit which work of hers you’re a fan of.

Beyond her time spent in front of the camera, Grey is also an avid film fanatic, she plays guitar and sings in a band, she loves art, and seems to be burning the candle at both ends when it comes to her career.

She’s been working on an autobiography and a philosophy book about sex. Not to mention she was just cast in another feature film titled “I Melt With You”, which features “A” list actors like Jeremy Piven, Thomas Jane and Rob Lowe. Grey has also started her own adult film company, and as of late in 2009 said she had no plans to leave that industry either.

Grey recently debuted in a new commercial for “Virgin Mobile” cell phones, and according to producers on “Entourage”, she could be a pivotal player in the rest of this season and into the final season of the show before they produce a feature length film.

In the show, Grey portrays herself, or at least the writer’s version of her. She plays a love interest for the lead character on the show, Vincent Chase, as played by Adrian Grenier, and debuted in episode 5 of season seven, and will be sticking around for the foreseeable future.

The story that Grey is portraying on the show is mirrored by the relationship developed in the 1990’s between actor Charlie Sheen and porn star girlfriend Ginger Lynn. Show creator Doug Ellin made the storyline specifically for Grey, who he was impressed by after she was cast in “The Girlfriend Experience” by Soderbergh.

He’s stated that if she had turned down the role, the show would have moved on and left that particular storyline behind. It must take a pretty special actress to have that kind of effect on a Hollywood producer for having starred in only one major role prior to that, and she was not only on the top of the list. She was the list.

When mainstream writers talk about porn stars, at least in America, it’s usually the same hush-hush demeanor that covers most subject matters around sex. It’s something everyone loves, something everyone wants and craves, but no one should talk openly about it. Sasha Grey seems to be blurring those lines, and making a whole new category for herself.

Sasha Grey isn’t the typical porn star, or the typical actress. She’s an enigma who seems to live her life by her own rules, and doesn’t let anyone tell her different. Oh and by the way, she’s done all this and she’s just a shade past 22 years of age.

The book about Sasha Grey hasn’t been written yet, because the story isn’t nearly finished. She’s accomplished only a sliver of what her talent can achieve, and that’s a special thing that many others can learn from. Do what you love, and then find new things you love and do those, too.

She’s not just a porn star. She’s not just a Hollywood actress. She’s not a porn star trying to be a Hollywood actress. She’s Sasha Grey, and that may be the gold standard for what she’s about to achieve.