Ava Vincent

Q: How did you get into this wacky business?

Ava Vincent: I used to work an Adult bookstore up in Northern California and I met Samantha Styles, who was a Seymore Butts contract girl at the time and she lived in the same town where I was working. She came in and ended up taking pictures of me. You know, dirty pictures. [She] showed them to her boss, Seymore, and that's how I got my first movie.

Q: What appealed to you about working in adult films?

Ava Vincent: The idea grew on me working for the adult bookstore. I always wanted to be a model. All the glamour and everything. Also I really like sex. I was really inhibited. It was kind of almost a way to open up and was really exciting that way. And there was acting in these movies! I didn't know that either. I thought, well, I could do that.

Q: Do you prefer feature adult films as opposed to gonzo?

Ava Vincent: It depends on what it is. Some features really suck, and the person who's making it doesn't care about it. It's a throw-away film. In which case I'd much rather be on a gonzo set because it's a lot easier. But when it comes to good productions, I don't care if it's a twenty hour day. That's what I much more prefer. I like seeing the finished product.

Q: Who are the feature directors you like working with?

Ava Vincent: Obviously, I like working with Michael Raven. Working on his set today. I like Brad Armstrong. I think they are my two favorite directors. James Avalon is really good. Kelly Holland. Most of my favorite films have been from Michael Raven.

Q: What was it like growing up in... Where did you grow up?

Ava Vincent: I grew up up and down California. Mostly in the Sacramento area. I've never lived anywhere for more than three years...I was kind of like a shy - really shy - little girl. Almost like a loner. I just kept to myself and watched everybody else.

Q: Does your family know what you are doing?

Ava Vincent: My family does not know, and with a little luck they won't ever know. It would be catastrophic.

Q: Are you always perpetually worried that they are going to wander across some tape or DVD...

Ava Vincent: I guess my uncle had wandered across something...and my aunt gave it to my grandmother. But my other aunt that lived with her destroyed it. Because, you know, she's the bad one. She was on my side. She called me up, "I heard you did a bad movie.' And I'm like, "Nana! Nana! Who said that!? No, I didn't, Nana!"

Q: You are not under contract with anyone at the moment, would you like to be?

Ava Vincent: You know, I would. I really admire the attention and all the special things all contract girls get to do. I wouldn't sign a contract with just anybody. But with that right company I would.

Q: Do you ever want to go into mainstream acting?

Ava Vincent: Yeah, I do. I majored in theater, but for some reason I haven't gotten my act together and done anything about it. But we'll see.

Q: What's your personal life like?

Ava Vincent: I have three cats and a dog. They occupy a lot of my time. The guy I am working with today, Kurt Lockwood, I have sex with him on a regular basis because we're dating. So I spend a lot of time with him. Other than that, I am just working. I really don't have a personal life.

Q: Do you think in the adult film business enough is being done to protect the performers health and welfare?

Ava Vincent: I think there's a fair amount protecting film workers...protecting our health. As far as AIM goes and regulation and testing. Which is more than nothing. There could be a lot more done. Kurt [Lockwood] was just saying the other day when we were at AIM that, I guess, cockroaches on some mainstream movie had a health handler.

Q: Oh very good, thanks. So we're sitting here on the set of Les Vampyres II. Were you also in the first one?

Ava: Umm...yes I was. I was playing the co-lead vampire in that one, Guenevere or Genny, kind of a...the vampire's movie is kind of similar to "Dracula". So...in that I would have been Mina.

Q: So did you like that? Did you have a lot of dialogue?

Ava: Yeah I did, I loved it actually. I hadn't been in the industry that long and it was such a compliment and flattering that Jim Avalon had me be in the movie. He based it on my acting skills, I had theatre experience...I mean picking me over a contract girl, over any other contract girl so...it was wonderful. Umm...I had no idea that it was going to be as big as it was. But I loved it...I love acting.

Q: And how long have you been in the business now?

Ava: For about three years I believe.

Q: And what was your first movie?

Ava: My first movie was Tushy Girls Play Ball, a Seymore Butts movie.

Q: And you got to work with?

Ava: Umm...I was working with Seymore.

Q: And how was that?

Ava: It was wonderful. I had a huge crush on him...I loved it, I would have done it for free [giggles].

Q: How did you get into the business?

Ava: Well, I happened to be working at an adult bookstore, because I needed a job at a certain point. And umm...I got really interested in the movies; I got really interested in how they were shot, how they were directed and the people. And I was very young and very timid at the time and the movies really helped me to open up. It made me want to be a part of this.

Q: And do you feel more comfortable now with your sexuality?

Ava: Oh yeah, big time, big time. I was like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde [giggles]. The difference...like I couldn't even say that I liked women. I was like, no, no, no, that's gross and now I'm like...yes! Yeah...

Q: Was your first experience with women in this industry?

Ava: It was very shortly prior to starting in this industry. Umm...it was actually with some porn stars. It was during the CES, the Consumer Electronics Show...so my first time with a woman was not on-screen, so...

Q: Do you want to tell us about it?

Ava: [Giggling] Oh my God! It's the infamous wild story. Umm...okay...picture me, Little Bo Peep, shy, innocent girl working in an adult bookstore. By the way, they didn't hire me because they thought I was too shy, umm...but the person they did hire didn't show up so I got the job by default. And I met a couple of porn stars that were picking up on me and they gave me their room number. And I didn't do anything about it, but later that night when I was with my co-workers and we were going out for the evening and we were at a club drinking and the porn stars were there again. It was a couple of girls and a guy, and the girls are the ones that came up to me. One of them grabbed my hand and shoved it down her pants and started me right there on the dance floor. My co-workers were beside me and they were like [funny noise]...they had no idea. Anyway, I ended up with having sex in the back of the taxicab on the Las Vegas strip on a Friday night.

Q: And who was that with?

Ava: I don't know if I should say...umm...it was with Melisha, Petra and Alex Sanders.

Q: Ah, there you go. So, it was fun enough for you to try it again, huh?

Ava: Oh yeah. That was a very, very wild night, nothing to be forgotten.

Q: That's not the wildest thing you've ever done is it?

Ava: Umm...I wouldn't say it was the wildest, but I don't know...it was a pretty big one. It was my first time with a woman and it was two women, having sex with porn stars, having sex with strangers, having sex in the back of a taxicab in public, and...

Q: So you broke all your inhibitions in one shot?

Ava: It was a lot...I mean now, looking at it, it doesn't seem like it's a lot. It's not a big deal now because I've seen a lot in the industry...most definitely.

Q: So what's your favorite thing to do in the industry?

Ava: Umm...my favorite thing to do...I don't really have a particular favorite, I just like to work with people that are passionate...and intense, and people that are really into it, you know. Like Petruchio and Kate in "The Taming of the Shrew". I mean the fire and the heat...the battle...I love that. I love conflict, like grudge fighting [giggles]. I guess that would be my favorite.

Q: And what do you think you're the best at?

Ava: Well sometimes I'm terribly...I'm still terribly shy and insecure...I couldn't tell you what I was the best at, you'd have to ask somebody else.

Q: Well, you just got married recently? *

Ava: Yes I did.

Q: To John Decker?

Ava: To John Decker.

Q: And how's that going?

Ava: Umm...it's going fine.

Q: Now has he taught you the ropes so to speak?

Ava: Oh yeah, he's taught me more than one...more than one rope. Yeah, umm...he has actually introduced me into the world of S&M, which I found to be very much in my personality. Something I didn't know was that it was very much fun and that I would enjoy it a lot.

Q: Do you do that as well in front of the camera?

Ava: Occasionally I do. Unfortunately with the weird legalities and obscenities and all that, you can't really have S&M properly. On camera, S&M is about beating somebody, I mean there is no sex involved. You're not allowed to have sex so I don't enjoy it as much, not nearly as much.

Q: What would you say is your favorite scene that you've done so far?

Ava: My favorite scene? God...I don't know. I always think of this one though, with this ex-Vivid girl Cassidey, her name was Bobbie at the time, for Babes Illustrated #9 for Metro. It was a very wild, hot scene and she was very passionate, very hot and into it.

Q: And do you have any bad scenes you've done?

Ava: Oh yeah...[giggling] definitely. I mean...I wish that I could say that every scene of mine is good, but I respond to the other person, and when the other person...there are times that the other performer says "I hate this job, this really sucks, eww...gross!" And I'm like okay...I have to have sex with you in twenty minutes. You know...I guess those scenes really suck. Umm...I couldn't tell you which ones, I wouldn't want to say that.

Q: You said something interesting. Do you run into a lot of people that are not happy being in this business?

Ava: Umm...I wouldn't say a lot, but there are definitely a fair number of girls mostly, actually I am pretty sure that they're all girls that don't want to be here.

Q: Who are your favorite performers to work with?

Ava: Umm...obviously there would be John Decker there, and umm...Cassidey, and...although I haven't really worked with her, but I'm dying to and I hope that I will one day...Miss Jeanna Fine, cause she knows how to do it better than anyone else.

Q: Oh, but you've never worked with her. You going by rumor are you?

Ava: No, I umm...watched...hey, I used to work in an adult bookstore. There is a reason why I am in the industry now, because I used to take the movies home. I was just a pervert, just like everybody else. So, she umm...at first when I saw her movies I was so turned off by her, you know, and sometimes you realize that you can have an adverse reaction to things you really like, that you can't admit. Sometimes you're really shy. I don't know if you know Jeanna Fine's work but...

Q: Yes, I've been in movies with her. I've never worked directly with her, but I have been in movies with her.

Ava: I love her. I think she is just really great...she can throw me down any day.

Q: So, can you tell us what you haven't done yet that you would be really interested in doing?

Ava: Umm...having sex with Jeanna Fine, or having sex with Gina Gershon [giggles], I don't know, I don't know. The thing that I have wanted to do for the longest time that I haven't done is an all-girl gangbang. But now I've done that. I did an all-girl gangbang, it was like a school girl gangbang.

Q: And the name of the movie?

Ava: Oh...The Violation of Jewel Valmont, and I was the principal.

Q: And you used to use that name in the business, right?

Ava: Yes I did, I started out with that name for my first year in the business.

Q: So, what are you planning on doing in the future? Are you going to dance on the road? Are you going to go behind the camera?

Ava: Umm...well, currently I just came out with...I'm the Penthouse Pet Centerfold for August 2001, so I was planning on starting dancing as soon as I can. Then I kind of delayed it a bit because I didn't want to feel rushed about it. That is something that I really want to take my time with but I definitely want to do. As far as anything else, umm...I would love to go into directing, I would love to go into photography. I am a very artistic person, I have a major in theater from college and I have a in painting. I think that a lot of things I've seen, that I can contribute to the industry and I'd love to do it.

Q: Where did you grow up?

Ava: A Northern California farm town...you've never heard of it.

Q: And did you come down here to be something in the industry or did you come down here to go to college?

Ava: Umm...I was planning to coming down to LA all my life to be an actress. There was a certain mishap in my life where I needed to get a job and I went to work for an adult bookstore, which kind of derailed me. Which is not to say that I'm not an actress now, but umm...

Q: And there's nothing that says you're not happy now?

Ava: No, not at all, because I wouldn't be here if I wasn't.

Q: Do you think the business treats you pretty good?

Ava: I wouldn't say that the business overall treats anyone any particular way. It's just like any other business. There's going to be good people and bad people and there's going to be gossip and there's going to be stupidity. It's just like any other company. A lot of people think the industry is evil or like a certain way, but it's like any other corporation.