Up from Down Under: Aussie star Angela White Is on the Rise

This interview originally ran ithe January issue of AVN magazine. Angela White is appearing this week at the AVN Adult Entertainment Expo; see her schedule at the end of the article. Aside from the obvious attributes that make her tailor-made for porn—a 42G bustline and a beautiful face—there’s a lot more beneath the surface that made Angela White destined be a powerhouse in the adult industry. And this Australian adult performer should become even more familiar to U.S. consumers, now that her production company has signed a distribution deal with Girlfriends Films. First, there’s her affinity for sexual expression. White was still in high school when she entered the adult industry in 2003. As an adolescent, she openly identified as bisexual and felt criticized for her uninhibited sexuality. She has said that she saw pornography as a space where her sexuality could be explored in a safe environment with other open-minded, sex-positive people. Second, there’s her entrepreneurial spirit. White got into the business more than a decade ago. Now she’s still under 30 and has already found success as a webcam performer, an adult star, an website owner and now as the head of her own company, producing adult titles that since October are available in the States from Girlfriends Films. It’s a long road since her first scene, which was shot by Score. "They were the first people I ever shot with—in Miami, Florida—so that was quite exciting because I was just turned 18, still in high school, and they flew me over, first time overseas by myself,” White recalled. White became a hit at Score, appearing in many DVDs and web specials, but eight years passed before she took the plunge into boy/girl in 2011, with Angela White Finally Fucks. While pursuing her adult career, White didn’t neglect her scholastic endeavors: She has the Australian equivalent of a master's degree in gender studies. "I actually conducted qualitative research into female experiences in the Australian pornography industry, which is very small compared to here—non existent compared to here—but still there was for a time a number of sites that were running down in Australia with Australian talent," White explained. "With a minimum wage that's as high as it is in Australia, there's kind of no incentive to get into porn, except for the love and passion, which is why I'm in it," White said. One exception to that was abbywinters.com, which got its start in Australia. White, who did some work for the company "back in the day," said, "They're a great company. I have only good things to say about them. Everything they do is ethical,” she said. “Natural girls, all different body shapes, all different races—really a feminist website. … It's disappointing that an Australian website, homegrown like that, had to leave," referring to the company’s move to the Netherlands, precipitated by legal woes on its home turf. Around the time Angela White Finally Fucks came out, the Aussie performer began work on her own website, funded in part by her earnings as a webcam model. “I do a lot of webcamming down in Australia, and I did have a couple of fans help me out as well,” White told AVN back then, when she was in the United States to shoot scenes for the site. “Webcamming is my main source of income. I've webcammed for a few. Right now MyFreeCams is where I've been at for a while, and I really like it there. It's really fun place to webcam; everybody likes to play games and do crazy stuff. When White made the decision to start her site, she pulled out all the stops. “I'm working with a mainstream team with a high-fashion aesthetic,” she said. “This website is going to be Angela White as you've never seen her before.” Aiming for high production values, White got Laurent Skye to do still photography for the site; veteran director Miles Long was tapped to do the videography. And in the 2012 White shot in Porn Valley to take a crack at the talent pool there. "Now I'm finally in a position where I'm choosing all my talent; I'm choosing the locations, the costumes, the videographer, the photographer—I'm in control of everything. I'm finally in the position where I can fuck how I want to fuck. Which is what I think fans want to see." White now runs her own production company, AGW Entertainment B.V., and produces and directs all content exclusively for her website, AngelaWhite.com. The deal with Girlfriends Films Distribution calls for the release of one new Angela White title every two months. Girlfriends Films President Moose stated, “We are incredibly honored to present fans with a movie of this magnitude. Angela White went all out with Angela, and I can safely say it is one of the best all-sex and anal movies ever made. Fans of Angela White will love this movie, and anyone who has yet to experience this talented performer and director will instantly become a lifelong fan upon watching it.” Like Angela White Finally Fucks, this star showcase encompasses a large number of firsts. In addition to featuring her first anal, interracial, double penetration (DP), and all-anal threesome scenes, Angela is also the debut DVD produced by AGW Entertainment. An all-anal release, Angela should be popular with fans of the all-natural Aussie. White’s first anal scene on camera is with James Deen, while Lexington Steele ushers her into the world of interracial sex. Two anal threesomes feature Angela White with Kelly Divine and Manuel Ferrara in a boy/girl/girl, and White’s first d.p., as she takes on Mr. Pete and Toni Ribas. “This showcase is a collection of my most powerful and intense scenes to date,” added White. “I’m thrilled to be sharing my sexual journey with my fans.” Where will that journey take her? To get some clues, we asked White a few questions. You were planning to launch your site in January of 2013 but the launch was delayed. Would you share a little bit about the difficulties and when it finally went live? Being based in Australia presented many difficulties in regards to company formation and billing. The strict laws in Australia make the production and distribution of adult material difficult and none of the major billing services are able to offer Visa or Mastercard options to Australian companies. Given the legal situation and the fact that Visa and Mastercard represent around 99 percent of the market I had to open an overseas company. I ended up opening a Dutch company, which was a lengthy and drawn-out process, but I was fortunate to have the help of Garion Hall from GMBill (abbywinters.com) to help me with the process.  The site itself also took longer to develop because it is entirely customized and does not use templates. I didn't want a standard cookie cutter website and I also wanted to implement a design that reflected my minimalist philosophy. I don't feel customers need to be distracted by butterflies, sparkles and garish neon pink cursive text. My mantra is that you should serve a dirty dish on a clean plate. I went with a classic and elegant design that reflects my personality and branding and that presents my scenes in a way that is straightforward and user friendly. After all the hard work, it's such an honor to have the site now nominated by AVN for Best Porn Star Site.  AngelaWhite.com officially launched in November 2013. Despite the setbacks, a lot of amazing things have happened since we spoke in 2012. My distribution deal with Girlfriends Films has been an amazing boost to my career. Moose and the team have really welcomed me into the family and we have been seeing great results with my first release, Angela. I'm also very grateful to AVN for nominating the DVD for Best Star Showcase and the G/G/B scene with Manuel Ferrara and Kelly Divine for Best Three-Way Sex Scene. In October 2014, I was also announced as the first Australian Fleshlight Girl, which is another amazing honor. Fleshlight have organized a "Win a Date" competition where one lucky fan will be joining me for dinner and accompany me to the AVN Awards. With my nominations and this competition it's going to be a very exciting AVN Awards Show for me. How often do you update the site? Do you release your scenes online first and then on DVD? Do you direct all your movies? I update the site every week with a new and exclusive video and photo set, and every fortnight I also do a live show for members and upload a recorded live show the following week. For my first anal showcase with GF Films, Angela, every scene was shot for DVD first. The scenes will be released on AngelaWhite.com over the next few months. Future DVD releases will vary. Some will be comprised entirely of scenes never released before, while others will be a combination of scenes that are already available to members of AngelaWhite.com along with scenes that have not yet been released. The vast majority of the content produced for AngelaWhite.com has involved [photographers] Laurent Sky and Miles Long. I've also worked with Holly Randall and Francois Clousot. Excluding a couple of solo scenes, I have directed all of the scenes on AngelaWhite.com and all of the scenes that appear on my DVDs. However, I'd like to emphasize that I actively try to ‘direct’ very little. I aim for my scenes to be unscripted and undirected to create a space for spontaneity, creativity and genuine surprises. I have shot a handful of scenes with a basic fantasy plot and while they were fun to shoot I found that the story line actually inhibited raw passion. I always want to create a space for the chaos that can occur through sexual abandonment and a space in which authentic chemistry and desire can flourish. Where are you based these days, and do you still do a lot of webcamming? I am still in Melbourne, Australia, but I travel frequently to shoot. I do a lot of live webcam shows, including live shows for members of AngelaWhite.com and exclusive cam-2-cam sessions with fans on MyFreeCams and Streamate. I don't anticipate I'll stop camming anytime soon. I really enjoy connecting with fans through webcam and I also feel that the industry is moving more toward live shows and interactivity. The great benefit of live shows is that it gets around the issues associated with piracy. While you can torrent a recording of a live show you cannot torrent the unique experience of being able to interact live with your favorite performers. I think with the development of new technologies and teledildonics, watching DVDs will also become a more interactive experience. Which adult directors are your biggest inspiration now? How about mainstream directors? Greg Lanksy is creating stunning scenes on Blacked.com. He's a great inspiration to me as well as being an amazing friend. In terms of mainstream directors, I'm actually a big fan of Tarantino but I don't think I'll be bringing that level of gore into my porn scenes anytime soon. I also love Lars von Trier, David Lynch and David Fincher, to name a few. Are there any niches you are looking to explore? Ironically, I'm looking to take my scenes in two opposing directions. I want to shoot much harder scenes and much softer scenes. On the one hand I'd like to shoot some blowbangs, bukkakes and gangbangs. On the other hand I'd really like to shoot some erotic, slow-paced and artistic scenes. Everything I do in the adult industry is about exploring and expanding my sexuality, so I suspect that I will always be looking into new niches to explore.  What's your next movie release? My next movie is Angela Loves Women, which will be released with Girlfriends Films and showcases some of my most intense and passionate lesbian scenes. I remained a girl/girl-only performer until 2011, so it's no secret that I love being intimate with women. I made sure I chose co-stars who also genuinely love women so that I could capture authentic chemistry and desire. The DVD features encounters with Dani Daniels, Celeste Star, Gracie Glam and Bree Daniels and will be released very soon. Thursday January 22 Noon-3 p.m.: Signing for Girlfriends Films, Booth 1714 (The Joint) 3-5 p.m.: Signing for Fleshlight, Booth 105 (Artist Hall) Friday January 23 Noon-3 p.m.: Signing for Girlfriends Films, Booth 1714 (The Joint) 3-5 p.m.: Signing for Fleshlight, Booth 105 (Artist Hall) Saturday January 24 Noon-2 p.m.: Signing for Girlfriends Films, Booth 1714 (The Joint) 2-3 p.m.: Signing for Fleshlight, Booth 105 (Artist Hall)