Kayden Kross

Last updated

Kayden Kross
Kayden Kross 2013.jpg
Kross in 2013
Born1985 (age 38–39) [1]
Sacramento, California, U.S.
Alma mater California State University, Sacramento [2]
Partner Manuel Ferrara (2012–present)
Children1
Website clubkayden.com

Kayden Kross (born 1985 [1] ) is an American pornographic actress and director. She is a member of the AVN and XRCO Halls of Fame.

Contents

Early life

Kross grew up in the foothills between Sacramento and Placerville. [3] She has described herself as "the book nerd" during her time as a high school student. [4] Kross, who has a younger sister, was raised by a single mother which greatly impacted her childhood as the family struggled to make ends meet; [1] she was also raised in a strict, religious household. [5] Kross began stripping at Rick's Showgirls in Rancho Cordova, California when she was eighteen years old to earn extra money to rescue a pony from a slaughter house, which she kept for eight months. Kross was a psychology major at Sacramento State. where she also studied philosophy. [2] She was later contacted by an agent, whose business relationship provided Kross with the opportunity of modeling in adult magazines. [6]

Career

Her movies with Vivid included Kayden's First Time, Hard Time, and Be Here Now. Unhappy with the company, she became a free agent one year later when she did not renew her contract. [4] She signed an exclusive contract with Adam & Eve after one month of being a free agent. [6] She was named Penthouse Pet of the Month for September 2008. [7] Kross' official website, ClubKayden.com, was launched on September 2, 2008. Kross has hosted a blog at UnKrossed.com and has written regular updates and opinion columns for MikeSouth.com, an adult industry gossip blog, among other sites. [8]

Kross became exclusive to Digital Playground under a multi-year contract on January 1, 2010. Her first movie with the company, The Smiths, topped sales charts immediately and has continued to be a best seller. She was given the lead in their big budget feature, Body Heat, in her third month of the contract. She won two Best Actress Awards for the role. [9]

Kross hosted the 2010 AVN Awards show, along with porn actress Kirsten Price and comedian Dave Attell. [10] She was Penthouse magazine's "Cover Girl" for September 2008 and 2010. [11] Kross starred in the 2010 AVN Best Feature The 8th Day and portrayed the role of Elin Nordegren, wife of Tiger Woods, in Adam & Eve Pictures' film Tyler's Wood. [12]

In 2012, she hosted the Xbiz awards for the second time, and appeared in the ceremony alongside Wicked Pictures/Wicked.com contract star, Jessica Drake, and on the AVN red carpet with co-hosts Jesse Jane and guitarist Dave Navarro.

In 2019, she launched Deeper, one of the Vixen Media Group's primary websites in its portfolio. [13]

Appearances in other media

Kross has made appearances in the FX's comedy series The League , the G4 reality series The Block, and Family Jewels . [14]

In 2011, she was cast as Tara in Gregory Hatanaka's drama Blue Dream [15] briefly co-hosted a regular videocast, Kayden's Review, for Triggla TV [16] [17] alongside the comedian Dane Hanson. [18] From 2012 - 2013, Kross portrayed a main character in the second season of Tucky Williams' lesbian-themed web series Girl/Girl Scene . [19] Starting from January 2013 Kross hosts the weekly call-in show Krossfire on Playboy Radio. [20]

In 2013, Kross also appeared in the featurette "Chicks 'N Guns" on the Breaking Bad 5th season DVD as a stripper. The scene takes place during the season 5 episode "Gliding Over All". Kross also appeared in two music videos from the band Nekrogoblikon, "No One Survives" [21] in 2012 and "We Need a Gimmick" [22] in 2015.

Writing

Kross writes columns regularly for publications such as Complex magazine, XBIZ magazine, and a blog for xcritic.com. [23] She has also contributed to Timothy McSweeney's Internet Tendency , and her short story "Plank" appeared in the 2012 short story collection Forty Stories: New Writing from Harper Perennial , an e-book. As of August 2012, she was writing an autobiographical book about the porn industry. [24]

Adult industry activism

In 2008, she was among those testifying against a proposed tax in California on all producers and distributors of adult entertainment. [25] In February 2012, she and conservative pundit Wendy Murphy appeared on Stossel , with host John Stossel, to discuss legislation in California that would require that condoms be used during the production of adult movies. [26]

Personal life

In October 2008, Kross was charged with grand theft and violations of the California Civil Code, involving contracts for purchases of home equity mortgages. [27] In July 2009, the grand-theft charge was dismissed, and the real-estate-fraud charge was reduced to a misdemeanor; Kross pleaded no contest to the resulting charges and was sentenced to one day in custody and three years of probation. [28] She blamed her involvement in the situation on her naïveté and being scammed by the broker and mortgage lender. [29]

Kross and her French partner Manuel Ferrara have one daughter, born in January 2014. In 2013, Ferrara asked her to no longer perform with other men. [30] Ferrara continues to shoot scenes with other women, occasionally scenes that are directed by Kross. They acknowledged the seeming double standard of their arrangement but agreed that his work would stay professional and that Kross maintains "veto" power over who performs with Manuel. He also related that if she wished for him to stop performing altogether, he would. [31]

Awards

As a performer
YearAwardCategoryFilm
2007 Adultcon Top 20 Adult Actresses [32] —
2009 Hot d'Or Best American Starlet [33] [34]
2010 Erotixxx Award Best U.S. Actress [35]
NightMoves Award Best Female Performer (Fan's Choice) [36]
Venus Award Best Actress International [37]
2011 AVN Award Best All-Girl Group Sex Scene [38] Body Heat
Wildest Sex Scene (Fan Award) [38]
XBIZ Award Acting Performance of the Year (Female) [39]
2012AVN AwardHottest Sex Scene (Fan Award) [40] Babysitters 2
2013XBIZ AwardBest Scene – All-Girl [41] Mothers & Daughters
2014Best Scene – Feature Movie [42] Code of Honor
2015Best Scene – All-Girl [43] Misha Cross Wide Open
2019AVN Award Hall of Fame —
2022XRCO Award Hall of Fame
As a director
YearAwardCategoryFilm
2015XBIZ AwardDirector of the Year – Non-Feature Release [43] Misha Cross Wide Open
2018AVN AwardBest Director – Non-Feature [44] Sacrosanct
2019Director of the Year—
XBIZ AwardDirector of the Year – Feature
Urban X Award Director of the Year
NightMoves AwardBest Feature Director (Editor's Choice)
XRCO Award Best Director – Features
2020AVN AwardDirector of the Year
Best Director – Dramatic ProductionDrive
XBIZ AwardDirector of the Year – Body of Work—
NightMoves AwardBest Feature Director (Fan's Choice)
XRCO AwardBest Director – Features
Best Director – Web
2021AVN AwardDirector of the Year
Best Directing – DramaMuse
Best Screenplay – Drama
XBIZ AwardDirector of the Year—
NightMoves AwardBest Feature Director (Fan's Choice)
XRCO AwardBest Director – Features
Best Director – Non-Features
Best Director – Web
2022XBIZ AwardDirector of the Year [45]
AVN AwardBest Directing – Narrative Production [46] Psychosexual
XRCO AwardBest Director – Features—
NightMoves AwardBest Feature Director
2023AVN AwardOutstanding Director – Individual WorkDrift
Best Directing – Narrative Production—
XRCO AwardBest Director – Web
NightMoves AwardBest Non-Feature Director
2024AVN AwardBest Directing Portfolio – Narrative

Mainstream filmography

YearTitleRole
2012 Breaking Bad (bonus DVD feature "Chicks 'n' Guns")Kristall
2013 Blue Dream Tara
2014 The Hungover Games Chastity the Topless Blonde
2015 Samurai Cop 2: Deadly Vengeance Milena/Jennifer
2016Enter the SamuraiHerself
2019 Verotika Morella

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References

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  2. 1 2 Kitaura, Cody (December 7, 2007). "From bookworm to hot hornet". The State Hornet. California State University, Sacramento.
  3. ↑ "Inside Kayden Kross". Sacramento News & Review. May 22, 2008. Retrieved August 23, 2013.
  4. 1 2 Cindi Loftus (March–April 2008). "Kayden Kross". Xcitement magazine. Archived from the original on June 3, 2008. Retrieved August 9, 2008.
  5. ↑ Feixies, Alejandro (April 2, 2021). "Kayden Kross: Director of the Year on Breaking the Rules of Adult Filmmaking". XBIZ.
  6. 1 2 Wade Garrett (December 18, 2007). "Adam & Eve Signs Kayden Kross". AVN . Retrieved July 31, 2008.[ permanent dead link ]
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  8. ↑ David Sullivan (April 14, 2008). "Kayden Kross Blogs for MikeSouth.com". AVN . Retrieved July 31, 2008.
  9. ↑ "Kayden Kross' Digital Playground Debut, 'The Smiths,' Climbs the Charts". AVN . May 27, 2010. Archived from the original on July 27, 2010. Retrieved May 27, 2010.
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  11. ↑ Penthouse Magazine September 2010 Archived December 4, 2010, at the Wayback Machine . Penthousemagazine.com (September 3, 2010). Retrieved on January 29, 2012.
  12. ↑ Hammer and Bacon (December 21, 2009). "Kayden Kross on the Gentlemen's Club Podcast". The Gentlemen's Club With Hammer and Bacon. Archived from the original on March 7, 2010. Retrieved December 24, 2009.
  13. ↑ XBIZ. "Greg Lansky's Vixen Media Group, Kayden Kross Launch Deeper.com". XBIZ. Retrieved November 27, 2022.
  14. ↑ David Sullivan (March 18, 2008). "Kayden Kross Featured on 'Family Jewels'". AVN . Archived from the original on March 2, 2009. Retrieved July 31, 2008.
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  16. ↑ Digital Playground's Kayden Kross joins Triggla TV (July 26, 2011) Retrieved on February 21, 2013.
  17. ↑ "– Kayden's Review". Trigg.la. Archived from the original on November 7, 2017. Retrieved February 9, 2014.
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  19. ↑ "Online lesbian drama Girl/Girl Scene, set in Lexington, begins Season 2". kentucky. Retrieved November 30, 2015.
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  22. ↑ "we need a gimmick". Mystery Box. June 2, 2015. Archived from the original on December 19, 2021. Retrieved February 11, 2017.
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  35. ↑ "EROTIX Award 2010 - the winners | eroFame 2014". Erofame.eu. Archived from the original on November 1, 2013. Retrieved February 9, 2014.
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  37. ↑ Venus 2010 Award Winners. venus-berlin.com Archived November 21, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
  38. 1 2 "AVN Announces the Winners of the 2011 AVN Awards". AVN.com. January 9, 2011. Archived from the original on January 10, 2011. Retrieved January 9, 2011.
  39. ↑ "2011 XBIZ Awards Announced Last Night". AVN.com. February 10, 2011. Archived from the original on April 13, 2012. Retrieved February 11, 2011.
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  41. ↑ "2013 XBIZ Award Winners Announced". XBIZ. January 11, 2013. Retrieved January 12, 2013.
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  43. 1 2 Dan Miller (January 16, 2015). "2015 XBIZ Award Winners Announced". XBIZ . Retrieved January 16, 2015.
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