Annie M. Sprinkle is an American certified sexologist, performance artist, former sex worker, and advocate for sex work and health care.
Heather Laurie Holden is an American-Canadian actress, producer, model, and human rights activist. She is best known for her portrayals as Marita Covarrubias in The X-Files (1996–2002), Andrea Harrison in AMC's The Walking Dead, and Amanda Dumfries in The Mist (2007).
Virginie Despentes is a French writer, novelist, and filmmaker. She is known for her work exploring gender, sexuality, and people who live in poverty or other marginalised conditions.
Whore is a 1991 American satirical drama film directed by Ken Russell and starring Theresa Russell. It follows the life of a jaded street prostitute in Los Angeles. Benjamin Mouton, Antonio Fargas, Jack Nance, Danny Trejo, and Ginger Lynn Allen appear in supporting roles. The screenplay by Russell and Deborah Dalton is based on David Hines' monologue play, Bondage. The film is partly presented in a pseudo-documentary format, with the lead character often breaking the fourth wall and addressing the audience with monologues consisting of her observations and reflections on her career as a prostitute.
Margaret Jean "Margo" St. James was an American sex worker and sex-positive feminist. In San Francisco, she founded COYOTE, an organization advocating decriminalization of prostitution, and co-founded the St. James Infirmary Clinic, a medical and social service organization serving sex workers in the Tenderloin.
Andrea Louise Riseborough is an English actress. She made her film debut with a small part in Venus (2006), and has since appeared in more prominent roles in Brighton Rock (2010), W.E. (2011), Shadow Dancer (2012), Oblivion (2013), Birdman (2014), Nocturnal Animals (2016), Battle of the Sexes, The Death of Stalin, Mandy, Nancy, The Grudge, Possessor, and To Leslie (2022). For the latter, she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress.
Sean Baker is an American filmmaker. He is best known for directing independent feature films about the lives of marginalized people, especially immigrants and sex workers. His films include Take Out (2004), Starlet (2012), Tangerine (2015), The Florida Project (2017), Red Rocket (2021), and Anora (2024), the last of which won him the Palme d'Or at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival and two Golden Globe nominations for Best Director and Best Screenplay. He is also known for co-creating the Fox/IFC puppet sitcom Greg the Bunny (2002–2006) and its spin-offs.
Carol Leigh, also known as The Scarlot Harlot, was an American artist, author, filmmaker, sex worker, and sex workers' rights activist. She is credited with coining the term sex work and founded the Sex Worker Film and Arts Festival and was the co-founder of BAYSWAN, the Bay Area Sex Worker Advocacy Network.
Wendy Babcock was a Canadian activist for the rights of sex workers. Born in the city of Toronto, Babcock became a sex worker at the age of 15. From 2004 to 2007 she was a key member of Sex Professionals of Canada, an advocacy group whose main objective is to promote the rights of sex workers and the decriminalization of sex work in Canada.
Paying for It, "a comic strip memoir about being a john", is a 2011 graphic novel by Canadian cartoonist Chester Brown. A combination of memoir and polemic, the book explores Brown's decision to give up on romantic love and to take up the life of a "john" by frequenting sex workers. The book, published by Drawn & Quarterly, was controversial, and a bestseller.
Tangerine is a 2015 American comedy-drama film directed by Sean Baker, and written by Baker and Chris Bergoch, starring Kitana Kiki Rodriguez, Mya Taylor, and James Ransone. Set on Christmas Eve, the story follows a transgender sex worker who discovers her boyfriend and pimp has been cheating on her. The film was shot with three iPhone 5S smartphones.
Mirha-Soleil Ross is a transgender videographer, performance artist, sex worker and activist. Her work since the early 1990s in Montreal and Toronto has focused on transsexual rights, access to resources, advocacy for sex workers and animal rights.
Mikaela Madison Rosberg is an American actress. She began her career acting in short films and received recognition for her role as a sullen teenager in the FX comedy series Better Things (2016–2022). Madison then played Susan Atkins in Quentin Tarantino's period comedy-drama film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019) and Amber Freeman in the horror film Scream (2022). She gained praise for playing the titular character in Sean Baker's romantic comedy-drama film Anora (2024), earning a nomination for a Golden Globe Award.
Payal Kapadia is an Indian filmmaker. In 2017, her short film Afternoon Clouds was the only Indian film selected for the 70th Cannes Film Festival. In 2021, she won the Golden Eye award for best documentary film at the 74th Cannes Film Festival for her debut feature A Night of Knowing Nothing.
Yuri Alexandrovich "Yura" Borisov is a Russian actor. He was the winner of the Golden Eagle Award in 2021. GQ Russia chose him as Actor of the Year in 2020.
Ella Rubin is an American actress. She began her career as a child actress in the film The Rewrite (2014). She made her Broadway debut in the Roundabout Theatre Company's revival of the Tennessee Williams play The Rose Tattoo (2019). On television, she is known for her roles in the Netflix series The Chair (2021) and the Hulu series The Girl from Plainville (2022).
Daniel Goldhaber is an American director, screenwriter, and producer. In 2018, he directed Cam, a psychological horror film set in the world of webcam pornography. In 2022, he co-wrote, directed, and produced the thriller film How to Blow Up a Pipeline, based on the book of the same name by Andreas Malm.
Anora is a 2024 American comedy-drama film written, directed, and edited by Sean Baker. It follows the beleaguered marriage between Anora, a young sex worker, and Vanya Zakharov, the son of a Russian oligarch. The supporting cast includes Yura Borisov, Karren Karagulian, Vache Tovmasyan, and Aleksei Serebryakov.
Paying for It is a Canadian drama film, directed by Sook-Yin Lee and released in 2024. It is an adaptation of Chester Brown's graphic novel Paying for It, about his decision to start frequenting sex workers after the breakup of his real-life relationship with Lee.
Ivy Wolk is an American actress and comedian. She played Crystal in Sean Baker's film Anora (2024). She is also known online for her provocative social media presence on TikTok and Twitter.
