Andrea Werhun

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Andrea Werhun
Andrea Werhun at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival 02 (cropped).jpg
Born (1989-11-10) November 10, 1989 (age 35) [1]
Education University of Toronto (BA)
Notable workModern Whore
Website andreawerhun.com

Andrea Werhun is a Canadian writer and actress from Toronto, Ontario. [2] She is most noted for her 2018 book Modern Whore, a memoir of her time as a sex worker prior to establishing herself as a creative professional. [3] She studied at University of Toronto, majoring in English and minoring in religious studies. [4]

Contents

Werhun worked as an escort and as an erotic dancer. [3] After leaving that line of work she wrote and published Modern Whore, [3] but remained active as an outreach worker helping to educate active sex workers on issues such as safer sex and protecting themselves from violent clients. [2]

Career

Sex work and Modern Whore

Werhun began working as a escort for an agency in 2011 at the age of twenty-one. In 2013 she retired from escorting. [5]

Following her retirement, she moved with her boyfriend to St. Agatha, Ontario to work on an organic farm for two years. [6] Following her two years in St. Agatha, she worked as a high school science tutor for the Cree Nation of Eastmain. After she returned to Toronto where she lived in her mom's home while briefly working as a production assistant in film and television. [7]

Originally, Werhun and collaborator Nicole Bazuin agreed to call Modern Whore a "creative non-memoir" for the sake of not publicly outting Werhun as a sex worker. At book readings, Werhun would refer to the events as being possibly true without confirming their veracity. [8] She slowly began coming-out as a former sex worker to people in her life. [9] In 2016, she appeared in the CBC documentary Sugar Sisters in which she chose to be identified as an author and former call girl. Prior to the documentary airing, she came out publicly on Facebook. [10]

In March 2017, she started working as a stripper [11] at the age of twenty-seven. [5] In September of that year, she quit to self-publish Modern Whore. Seven months after publishing the book, she returned to stripping as sales of the book had failed to turn a profit. [12] While working as a stripper, Werhun started doing outreach work with Maggie's: The Toronto Sex Workers Action Project, where she worked to provide safe sex and drug kits for street workers. [13]

In March 2020, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the strip club Werhun worked at closed. [14] Following the closure, Werhun moved to online sex work, where she created her business called "Hire-A-Muse". Her services offered included creative writing collaboration, reading novels to clients, and filming nude videos. [15]

Film work

After publishing Modern Whore, she appeared in a short documentary film adaptation of the book, directed by Nicole Bazuin. [2] An expanded edition of the book was published by Penguin Random House Canada in 2022. [16]

In 2023, she was a producer of Bazuin's short film Thriving: A Dissociated Reverie . [17]

In 2024, she served as a creative consultant on Baker's film Anora , [18] and had an acting role in Sook-Yin Lee's film Paying for It . [19]

A feature film version of the documentary, directed by Bazuin and executive produced by Sean Baker, entered production in 2024, [20] and premiered at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival. [21]

Personal life

Werhun identifies as polyamorous. [22]

In 2019, Werhun sustained a concussion after a bicycle accident. [23] She was scheduled to shoot the short film version of Modern Whore a month after the accident, but postponed her involvement until she had recovered. During that time she abstained from alcohol. [24] Later she saw a neurologist to discuss her concussion and ongoing seizures, where she was diagnosed with epilepsy. Following her doctors advise, she quit drinking. [25]

Publications

In addition to Werhun's book, she has also co-written a journal article. [26]

Books

Journal Articles

References

  1. ↑ Werhun 2022, p. 184.
  2. 1 2 3 Simonpillai, Radheyan (March 28, 2020). "Toronto sex worker Andrea Werhun: 'Whores are pretty relatable when it comes down to it'". Now . Retrieved November 9, 2024.
  3. 1 2 3 Kozicka, Patricia (December 21, 2017). "Andrea Werhun: 'It's a really good time to talk about sex work'". The Guardian . Retrieved November 9, 2024.
  4. ↑ "Sex worker and Anora consultant Andrea Werhun's journey from strip clubs to Hollywood". Toronto Life. 2025-06-02. Retrieved 2025-07-03.
  5. 1 2 Werhun 2022, p. vii.
  6. ↑ Werhun 2022, p. 150.
  7. ↑ Werhun 2022, p. 166-167.
  8. ↑ Werhun 2022, p. 151.
  9. ↑ Werhun 2022, p. 152.
  10. ↑ Werhun 2022, p. 155.
  11. ↑ Werhun 2022, p. 171-172.
  12. ↑ Werhun 2022, p. 180.
  13. ↑ Werhun 2022, p. 222-225.
  14. ↑ Werhun 2022, p. 295.
  15. ↑ Werhun 2022, p. 297-298.
  16. ↑ Perdue, Noelle (June 9, 2022). "'Modern Whore' is a love letter to sex workers—and the art of the hustle". Xtra Magazine . Retrieved November 9, 2024.
  17. ↑ Babiera, Angelica (December 14, 2022). "Xavier Dolan's drama series selected for Sundance". Playback . Retrieved November 9, 2024.
  18. ↑ Perella, Vincent (September 8, 2024). "Sean Baker Didn't Pick Up on the Similarities Between 'Anora' and 'Pretty Woman' Until Halfway Through Production". IndieWire . Retrieved November 9, 2024.
  19. ↑ Sikander Mirza, Taimur (May 31, 2024). "Wildling, Hawkeye wrap adaptation of novel Paying for It". Playback . Retrieved November 9, 2024.
  20. ↑ Townsend, Kelly (January 17, 2024). "Director Sean Baker boards hybrid doc Modern Whore as EP". Playback . Retrieved November 9, 2024.
  21. ↑ Etan Vlessing, "Ben Proudfoot’s Obamas-Backed ‘The Eyes of Ghana’ to Open Toronto Fest Doc Program". The Hollywood Reporter , August 6, 2025.
  22. ↑ Werhun 2022, p. 182.
  23. ↑ Werhun 2022, p. 265-266.
  24. ↑ Werhun 2022, p. 267.
  25. ↑ Werhun 2022, p. 271-272.
  26. ↑ "Andrea Werhun | Semantic Scholar". www.semanticscholar.org. Retrieved 2025-10-05.

Bibliography

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