Vivid Studio Insider for May 17, 2002

Vivid Studio Insider for May 17, 2002

AVN Insider

Briana Banks: From Teen Magazine Cover Girl to Vivid Porn Queen

While her boobs aren?t real, Briana Banks is.

The beautiful, bodacious Vivid girl is strikingly down to earth, unimpressed

by either her success or her looks. Briana is actually her real first name,

for Crissakes. Pretty refreshing for one of today?s very biggest porn

queens.

"I?ll never forget where I come from," Banks says in an unpretentious voice

whose hard-edged inflection belies her angelic face. "I?ll never get a big

head. I just don?t have it in me."

And her looks?

"When I look in the mirror, I just see me," she says matter-of-factly. "I

don?t see anyone like extraordinary. I know I?m not ugly. But I don?t

consider myself like gorgeous. With makeup, I think I?m really pretty. But

when I look in the mirror without makeup, I don?t consider myself above

average."

Oh yeah, darling, and Steve Hirsch signed you because of your average looks.

Tell us another.

Born in Munich, Germany, Banks lived there until she was 3, then moved with

her parents to London, stayed there for the next few years, then relocated

again, this time to the Los Angeles suburb of Simi Valley.

So how?d she wind up in adult?

"I started out doing straight modeling as a teenager and wound up a cover

girl for Teen Magazine," Banks explains. "My goal was to get into Penthouse.

I wasn?t ever thinking of doing movies, just magazine work.

"But I met [Penthouse photographer and AVN Hall of Famer] Earl Miller and he

said, 'You gotta work on your expressions. A Teen Magazine face is a lot

different than a Penthouse face.' And gradually, as I got more comfortable

being nude around people, I decided to try out doing movies."

She entered the industry in 1999 as Mirage, fucking on camera for the first

time in Dane Productions? University Coeds 18.

"For six months," she notes, "I was Mirage-with-no-boobs." She then went

under the knife and "once I came back with the boobs, I changed my name and

went with Briana Banks. I decided I didn?t want to hide it anymore. There

nothing to be ashamed of. So I just decided I would go with my real name and

add Banks, kinda like Tyra Banks, because I used to straight model."

She freelanced for the next two years, getting very down and dirty in dozens

and dozens of titles. Despite that extremely sweet kisser of hers, Banks is

no delicate flower.

"I like rough sex," she states flatly. "So you know, I like slapping,

choking, spitting," all of which is on full display in one of her hottest

pre-Vivid scenes to date, a threeway with Justine Rom? and Joel Lawrence in

Elegant Angel?s Tails of Perversity 8, which was nominated by AVN last year

for Best Group Sex Scene ? Video.

Equally scorching is the hard anal threeway she did with boyfriend Bobby

Vitale and Erik Everhard in the Vitale-directed Too Nasty to Tame for Snatch

Productions.

"I couldn?t sit down for a week afterwards," Banks recalls, laughing. "My

goal when I make a movie is to be the best scene in the movie."

Eventually, she tired of the brutal pace of a much-in-demand gonzo girl and

started doing only features.

Then, last year, after fielding several contract offers, she signed with

Vivid. About the same time, she made the covers of both AVN and Penthouse.

"It?s been like an awesome year," she says. "Everybody at Vivid is so cool,

you know. I really, really enjoy it there. And I?m very happy with every

movie I?ve done [which include Briana Loves Jenna, Flick, Vision and Where

the Boys Aren?t 14]."

Signing with Vivid, she says, allows her to work less ? for more money.

Being

a Vivid girl also affords her the chance to work on her acting chops.

"P.T.?s [Vivid Award-winning director Paul Thomas] strategy when I first

starting working with him was he always had me eating," she explains. "And

I?m like, 'Why do you always make me eat?' And he goes, 'because new actors

tend to emphasize the words too much. So I want you to read what the script

says while you?re eating. That way, you?re concentrating on chewing and not

on what you?re saying.' And now he doesn?t have me eat anymore, so I must be

getting better. I was really getting tired of Cracker Jacks and Fruit

Loops."

As for the future, Banks wants to keep making tapes for Vivid and

concentrate

on her fledgling dancing career and Website, www.brianabanks.com.

She also wants to bulk up her tall, thin body a bit, a little self-conscious

about giant boobs perched atop legs that go on forever.

"I have a personal trainer now," she allows. "And I?m trying to gain weight

and get the um, body builder kind of look. A little ripped. I?m getting

tired

of being called 'tits on a stick' and 'boob-sicle.' So I?m just trying to

a little bit of a pump on. I won?t change into a man, I promise."

No danger of that happening, that?s for sure.

? Mike Ramone

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