Sasha Grey, born Marina Ann Hantzis on March 14, 1988 in Sacramento, California is an award winning American pornographic actress who has since turned to mainstream acting, modeling and music.

Sasha Grey was born and raised in Sacramento, California to a working class family.  Grey has Greek, Irish, English and Polish heritage.  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 has stated that while her parents do not like everything she does, they get along.

She attended four high schools among them is Highlands High in North Highlands, California where she held a 3.8 grade average but was later home schooled.  She had her first sexual experience at the age of 16.  In autumn 2005, she attended junior college and took classes in film, dance, and acting.  In 2005, she decided to become an adult performer.  After graduating a year early, she bussed tables at a local steak house in Sacramento while attending Sacramento City College.

When she moved to Los Angeles in May 2006 she originally was named Anna Karina before deciding to use her another name.  She took “Sasha” from the band member Sascha Konietzko and “Grey” from Oscar Wilde’s novel “The Picture of Dorian Gray.”  Her first role was an orgy in John Stagliano’s movie “The Fashionistas 2″.  After 6 month in adult industry, she was featured in Los Angeles Magazine as the next Jenna Jameson.

Later in her adult film career, several popular culture magazines and television programs profiled her.  She won several AVN Awards between 2007 and 2010, and has also been featured in music videos and advertising campaigns.  Later in January 2007 she was awarded for “Best Group Scene” at the AVN awards.  She was  named Pet of The Month in July 2007 and was photographed by Terry Richardson.  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.

In 2008 she was the youngest person who won the award for “Female Performer of the Year” at AVN Awards.  In February 2007 she was on The Tyra Banks Show discussing about teenagers in the sex industry.   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 April 2009 she went to Brandeis University talking in front of 300 studens about teenagers and their sex life.

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, and Mark Pellington’s I Melt With You.  She is a member of aTelecine, an industrial noise band.

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.

Sasha Grey Photo Gallery

Newly mainstream actress and former porn star Sasha Grey is doing story-time with a first grade class at Emerson Elementary in Compton, California.  While pressure from parents claiming that she will not live in fear of her XXX past are building up, Grey said that she will not back out of a national elementary school reading program.  Sasha Grey was a guest reader at the Elementary School who invited celebrity guests to read books to classrooms in a “Read Across America Day.”  Grey once won a Best Oral Sex award for her role in “Throat: A Cautionary Tale.”

Parents were outraged that a porn star was reading “Hop On Pop” to their kids.  These angry parents complained to the PTA who then contacted the school’s principal.  The school is denying that Grey ever stepped foot on the campus.  The school district said that they have several celebrities who read to their students each year noting that the Sasha was not present.  However, TMZ have 15 photos of Sasha reading in front of a rapt audience of roughly 20 little kids.  So basically the school just lied to the parents after Sasha attended the school.

Sasha also tweeted about it saying that she spent the am with Read Across America Compton reading to the sweetest 1st and 3rd grade students at Emerson Elementary.  However, Sasha is apparently a retired porn star at her 23 years of age.  She did some real acting in a few episodes of “Entourage” and she also appeared in the Steven Soderbergh film, “The Girlfriend Experience” which sounds like a porn but is not.  She is also in the more mainstream film “I Met With You” alongside Thomas Jane, Rob Lowe and Jeremy Piven.

After complaints surfaced, Sasha released a statement saying that she committed to the program with the understanding that people would have their own opinions about what she has done, who she is and what she represents.  According to the statement, she is proud to have participated in the “Read Across America” program at Emerson Elementary School in Campton, California.  She said that she read “Dog Breath” by Dav Pilkey to the sweetest 1st and 3rd grade children.  She said that “Read Across America” is a program that was designed to promote literacy and install a lifelong love of reading in elementary students noting that promoting education is an effort close to her heart.  She claimed that illiteracy contributes to poverty and encouraging children to pick up a book is fundamental.

Continuing with Grey’s statement, she said she believe that education is a universal right.  She claimed that she committed to the program with the understanding that people would have their own opinions about what she has done, who she is and what she represents.  She said that she is an actor, an artist, a daughter, a sister, a partner and she has a past that some people may not agree with but it does not define who she is.  According to her, she will not live in fear of it adding that to challenge non-profit education program is an exercise in futility, counter-productive and anti-educational.  Grey also said in her statement that she could not thank her fans and “Read Across America” enough for supporting her decision noting that your support ad kind words continue to inspire her.  She said she believe in the future of the children and she will remain an active supporter and participant in education-focused initiatives.