Joone | |
---|---|
Born | Ali Joone c. 1969 (age 54–55) [1] |
Alma mater | University of California Los Angeles |
Occupation(s) | Photographer, director & producer |
Years active | 1998–2008 (porn director) [2] |
Organization(s) | Digital Playground Diosa Spirits |
Spouse | Samantha Lewis (divorced) [1] |
Joone is an American Iranian entrepreneur, [3] photographer, [4] director and producer. For directing pornographic films, he won AVN Award twice. In 1993, Joone founded American pornographic movie studio Digital Playground [5] and was a co-owner of the company until it was acquired by Manwin in 2012.
He founded the Digital Playground company [5] in 1993 when he was 25 and still a student, [1] initially making adult CD-ROM computer games. [6]
Commenting on the transition of the pornography industry from the underground economy to mainstream corporate acceptance, the company's founder said: "I look at the porn business where Vegas and gambling was in the 70's… Vegas was still mob-owned and they were making the transition between these small groups of people to being corporate owned… I feel the same exact thing is going to happen with adult". [7]
Joone has directed the pornographic films Pirates and Pirates II: Stagnetti's Revenge .
In January 2012, alongside his ex-wife Samantha Lewis—who was co-owner, CEO and President of Digital Playground—he reached an agreement with Fabian Thylmann to sell the company to Manwin. On the acquisition, Joone commented: "To me this deal is no different than the acquisition of Pixar by Disney, The consumer is going to see more blockbusters, big-budget productions, and it's our goal to create the next genre of adult entertainment. This acquisition is a marriage between two industry leaders. Adult entertainment is changing and Manwin has a lead on technology." The price or terms of the deal was not disclosed, but it was announced that Lewis and Joone will "continue to oversee the studio"; [8] however, it was reported in March that Manwin had released Lewis and some other employees. [9]
Joone is co-owner of "Diosa Spirits" tequila, with Jesse Jane and her husband Rich. [10] [11]
Devon is an American pornographic film actress. She was a Penthouse Pet in 2001 and in 2005 co-starred in the pornographic action-adventure film Pirates, which cost over US$ 1 million to make and was described by its producer as the most expensive pornographic film in history.
Pirates is a 2005 American pornographic action-adventure film written, produced, and directed by Joone, and produced by Digital Playground and Adam & Eve. The film, starring Jesse Jane, Carmen Luvana, Janine Lindemulder, Devon, Jenaveve Jolie, Teagan Presley, and Evan Stone, features many references to the mainstream Hollywood film Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.
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Jenna Haze is an American director, model, and former pornographic actress.
Digital Playground Inc. is an American independent pornographic film studio, headquartered in Burbank, California. It has been called one of the five biggest porn studios and, in 2006, was described by Reuters as one of the handful of studios that dominate the U.S. porn industry.
Cynthia Ann Howell, known professionally as Jesse Jane, was an American pornographic film actress. She became one of the few adult film performers of the 2000s to make the transition into mainstream film and television roles.
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Evan Stone is an American pornographic film actor and director.
Joanna Mostov, professionally known as Joanna Angel, is an American pornographic film actress, director, and writer of adult films. She founded the website BurningAngel.com in April 2002 with her roommate Mitch Fontaine, and has been credited with helping the growth of the alt porn genre. Launched as a response to websites such as SuicideGirls, the website featured alternative performers acting in exclusively hardcore scenes with a stronger focus on a punk aesthetic.
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Derek Andrew Hay, also known by his stage name Ben English, is a British pornographic actor and the founder and owner of the adult talent agencies LA Direct Models and Miamp Direct Models. He semi-retired from performing in the late 2000s after appearing in nearly 800 movies. However, he has since then appeared in several movies. He appeared most recently in Digital Playground's Trading Mothers for Daughters, released on 10 August 2014.
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Michelle Sinclair, known professionally as Belladonna, is an American former pornographic and erotic actress, director, producer, and model. Since announcing her retirement from pornography in 2012, she has acted in several mainstream films, including Inherent Vice and The Ladies of the House.
Pirates II: Stagnetti's Revenge is a 2008 American pornographic action-adventure film and sequel to the 2005 film Pirates. Produced by Digital Playground, and written and directed by Joone, it stars Jesse Jane, Evan Stone, Steven St. Croix, and Tommy Gunn who reprise their roles from the first film, as well as Belladonna, Sasha Grey, Katsuni, Jenna Haze, and Ben English as new characters. Carmen Luvana, who played the central character of Isabella in the original Pirates, is absent from the sequel.
Riley Steele is an American pornographic actress. A former barista, she started her pornographic career in 2008. She has won several industry awards, including NightMoves Award and XBIZ Award. Throughout her career, she posed for various publications, including High Society, Hustler, and Penthouse, and also appeared in several mainstream films, such as Piranha 3D, Manswers, Life on Top, NTSF:SD:SUV::, and The Girl's Guide to Depravity.
Portrait of a Call Girl is a 2011 American pornographic film starring Jessie Andrews, and directed and written by Graham Travis. In 2012, the film received 19 nominations for both creative and technical awards, winning four AVN Awards for best actress, best director, best feature and the AVN's first Movie of the Year award; one XRCO Award for best epic; and six XBIZ Awards for acting performance of the year – female, best cinematography, best non-sex acting performance of the year, director of the year – individual project, and feature movie of the year.
The 26th AVN Awards ceremony, presented by Adult Video News (AVN), honored the best pornographic movies of 2008 and took place on January 10, 2009, at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Paradise, Nevada. During the ceremony, Adult Video News presented AVN Awards in 127 categories released between Oct. 1, 2007 and Sept. 30, 2008. The ceremony, televised in the United States by Showtime, was produced by Gary Miller. Comedian Thea Vidale hosted the show for the second time, joined on stage by actresses Belladonna and Jenna Haze.