Stoya

Stoya (born She began her porn career in 2007 in the alt porn scene, and since 2009 has also worked in non-pornographic media, including the 2016 lesbian fantasy series Dagger Kiss. Since 2019, she has co-written the sex column "How to Do It" for Slate under the byline Jessica Stoya.

Early life Stoya was born in Wilmington, North Carolina to a Scottish father and a Serbian mother. She was named Jessica after Jessica Savitch. Because her father worked in IT, Stoya had access to electronics and gaming equipment, through which she developed her love of 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." which eventually led her to modelling and working for alt-erotic websites. She chose her stage name based on a shortened version of her grandmother's Serbian maiden name Stoya is regarded as the company's first alt porn contract girl. The first scene that 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.

In 2012, Stoya was named by CNBC as one of the 12 most popular pornographic film actresses.

Even though Stoya was under exclusive contract with Digital Playground, Evil Angel director John Stagliano received "special permission" in 2013 to cast her in the sequel to the adult film series Voracious. In 2014, she left Digital Playground and focused her career on directing. She financed and directed her first film in February 2014. On March 4, 2014, Stoya and Kayden Kross created the pay-per-scene pornographic website TRENCHCOATx. In addition to running the site, Stoya performed in and also directed some of the films. In 2018, Stoya launched the website zerospaces.com with her business partner, comedian Mitcz Marzoni.

Mainstream acting

In 2009, Stoya appeared in her first non-erotic film project as Kamikazi Shegun 5000 in the award-winning 48 Hour Film Project short film "The Kingpin of Pain".

Stoya appears as a main cast member in the 2016 lesbian fantasy series Dagger Kiss.

In February 2018, Stoya starred in the Serbian sci-fi film A.I. Rising (also known as Ederlezi Rising) in the role of the android, Nimani, on a space mission with a cosmonaut played by Slovenian actor Sebastian Cavazza. The two become romantically entwined when the cosmonaut starts to believe there might be something human inside his android companion.

Stoya has acted in two of Dean Haspiel Off Broadway stage plays: Harakiri Kane (Die! Die, Again!) (2017) and The Last Bar at the End of the World (2018).

Writing Stoya has written sex advice columns for Slate, Vice, The Verge, and Refinery29. For her Slate column, "How To Do It", she uses the byline Jessica Stoya. She has published pieces in The New York Times, New Statesman, Esquire, and The Guardian, as well as an article in Porn Studies, a peer-reviewed academic journal. She published her first book in 2018, entitled Philosophy, Pussycats, and Porn, a collection of personal and critical essays.

Personal life Stoya has acknowledged the importance of social networking in her career; and various Internet forums.

In June 2009, she was reported to be dating Marilyn Manson, but they later broke up due to Manson's touring schedule. Afterwards, she dated pornographic film actor James Deen for several years. In 2015, Stoya publicly accused Deen of raping her, writing on Twitter:

Deen denied Stoya's allegations, calling them "false and defamatory". Following Stoya's tweet, eight other women went public with assault allegations against Deen, while Stoya herself became a target of online harassment. Several adult film studios severed ties with Deen, and the website The Frisky terminated his column.

Selected publications

Awards 2008 Eroticline Award – Best U.S. Newcomer 2009 AVN Award – Best New Starlet 2009 AVN Award – Best All-Girl Group Sex Scene – Cheerleaders 2009 XRCO Award – New Starlet 2012 AVN Award – Hottest Sex Scene (Fan Award) – Babysitters 2 2014 XBIZ Award – Best Scene - Feature Movie – Code of Honor 2018 FEST Beograd – Best Actress – Ederlezi Rising 2019 XBIZ Award – Best Actress - All-Girl Release – Talk Derby to Me