The world of adult entertainment is a self-contained bubble. Its fame is a concept; a gift given to the girl who fucks the best, sucks the best and looks the best. In that order. The shift from celluloid erotica to the glitz of the mainstream is a treacherous leap with 99% of starlets falling short. Occasionally, an actress makes it. Take Jenna Jameson as an example. She was the First Lady of Vivid Entertainment and the Pamela Anderson of porn before Pamela Anderson became the Pamela Anderson of porn. Her rise to the top of the porn game secured a place in everyone’s heart. Everybody knows who she is and yet few people know why. My mother knows who Jenna Jameson is and I’m pretty sure it isn’t because of the respect she’s earned by never filming a boy/girl anal scene. Miss Jameson I mean…not my mother.

Somewhere in her career, she became a product of cross-pollination. She somehow edged into the public consciousness and stayed there. I’m pretty sure most of the people aware of Jenna Jameson have never even seen her naked. Go ahead and Google her. It is near impossible to find her not naked.

Jenna has now settled down. Shortly after she quit performing, she found love with UFC fighter Tito Ortiz – ironically, an incredible porn name – and had twins. She is living the dream, surpassing the idea of fame in pornography. “Making it” usually involves a starlet’s vagina cast in rubber, to be sold to legions of fans worldwide. Jenna Jameson upped the ante. She starred in a film with Robert Englund aka Freddy Kruger. If that isn’t fame, what is? She almost proved porn to be a stepping stone to something better but never quite shrugged off the shackles of her cock-filled career.

Fast forward in time to find the doors open for the next porn star to make a name for herself. It is time to strike while the dildo is hot. Can someone reach the dizzying heights of Jenna Jameson and beyond? Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Sasha Grey.

At 21 years of age Sasha Grey already has four AVN Awards,  an album plus a leading role in an a-list director’s independent flick to her name. Grey has paid her dues. With 189 movies bundled into her filmography, she might not be up there with many no-name actresses in the business but she has truly broken the boundaries of porn. Sasha Grey exists in the chrysalis stage between a “best oral sex scene of 2007” caterpillar and “respectable actress” butterfly.

Her tale is familiar. She saved $7,000 working as a waitress in order to make the big move from North Highlands, California to Los Angeles. There she opted to delve vagina first into a career in pornography. It didn’t take long for her to garner a healthy fan base, and why not? As a normal 21 year old, Sasha Grey is something to look at. She is a slender, pale skinned beauty with a brooding integrity. She is hot and not just “porn hot.”

The key to Grey’s appeal is that she does not recant her sex career. This is a woman who has starred in such classics as “This Ain’t Star Trek XXX,” “Seinfeld: An XXX Parody” and “Ass Eaters Unanimous 19” and yet, somehow, her role in the Steven Soderbergh (“Ocean’s 11”) directed “The Girlfriend Experience” has overshadowed these gems. The fact that she has unanimously eaten ass on film is just a tidbit of information for her biography. Sasha Grey has star quality. Grey also possesses a rare treasure in the world of adult entertainment. The girl has brains. Reading a few of her many interviews, she presents herself as pleasant, polite, sophisticated and intelligent. That’s before she even takes her clothes off and treats us to her true “talents.”

While her current buzz rests firmly on one popular non-porn role, there is an ambition to Sasha Grey. She just looks as though she will make it, perhaps not with the money of a Jenna Jameson but certainly with a higher level of respect. Gone are the blonde ruled days of porn. The golden-locked starlets of yesteryear top their careers with, perhaps, an embarrassing stint on some thoughtless VH1 reality show. Grey seems above that.

Later this year we have her autobiography to look forward to. “An autobiography from a 21 year old?” I hear you cry. She may be young but her life and career have been a heck of a ride thus far. I’m sure her book will regale with much more va-va-voom than, say, the latest washed up pop star or jaded actor.

From hardcore porn to music, from Playboy model to novelist and from waitress to Hollywood; Sasha Grey is making waves…and not just in my pants.

Check her out.

Image by The Agency Group