Nico Leon: Sex and the City

The article originally ran in AVN Men magazine. Click here to see the digital edition. A nominee for Best Newcomer at the 2020 GayVN Awards and vying for a fan-voted award as well, Nico Leon is one of the trophy boys at the show. When Nico Leon moved to New York from upstate at the age of 18, he wasn’t sure what he wanted to do. After kicking around in all sorts of different jobs (“I’ve done every kind of retail job you can think of … model, cater-waiter, summer parties in the Hamptons”), he stumbled into a new career. But instead of sending in his résumé, Leon got his foot in the door by posting solo videos on Pornhub. “As an Aquarius, I enjoy doing things other people aren’t doing. I like being different,” he says. “I wanted attention, I guess.” And then Cockyboys came calling to ask if he was interested in studio work. “They have very hot guys who work with them and shoot with them, and I thought, ‘Can I be one of those guys? Am I allowed to do that?’ I didn’t think i was up to snuff, honest.” It took some convincing, but he’s been shooting with the New York–based gay adult studio for more than a year so things obviously have worked out. “It’s been fantastic,” Leon says. “I feel like I’ve really done a lot with self-discovery just this past year, and I’m really digging that.” Prior to joining the CockyBoys family, Leon admits he didn’t pay much attention to “studio porn.” As far as his first encounter with cinematic erotica, Leon says it was “stuff on “Skinemax. … You could see the girls’ boobs, and not much else. But it was steamy, it was steamy. That would be the first saucy videos that I encountered in my life.” When Leon posted his first video on Pornhub, he wondered, “Will people like me in this way?” It was immediately clear that they did. And once he joined CockyBoys, the level of fan engagement ticked up “one hundred percent off the bat. They had told me, you’re going to see huge traction from fans. I was warned. They asked me if I wanted to make a Twitter account—i didn’t have Twitter before this. … So I did. I posted the scene on Twitter and I didn’t know what was going to happen.” Engaging with fans is a big part of being in the CockyBoys family. “It’s nice to have the attention, to see the people who are there to continuously support you,” Leon says. “It’s nice to receive constructive feedback as well. … I love to receive that feedback from what I’m creating. They have some pretty good insights.” Leon now shoots monthly with the studio and continues to enjoy life in NYC. “It’s my favorite place right now. … It’s so tiny, but it’s such a big city. You can get anywhere in minutes. And anything you want, any time of day. Anything you name, it’s there.” Life in the big city isn’t just one big party, however, “I’m an Aquarius, so I tend to keep to myself a lot,” Leon says. “I enjoy my personal space and do a lot of things on my own.” But on occasion he gets together with those other hot CockyBoys. “Some of us are spread out, so we don’t do things as frequently as I’m sure it would be a lot of fun,” he says. Levi Karter and Ben Masters are both in New York, and they will occasionally go out to see Karter perform as his drag alter ego, Sassy Frass Meaner. And when Troy Accola visited town, Ricky Roman, Brock Banks and Leon all went to the movies with studio heads Jake Jaxson and RJ Sebastian. “That was really fun. Loved that. We do cute things like that. And then we have our pool party every year.” When pressed to choose among his favorite scenes so far, Leon mentions shooting with Justin Matthews. “He’s super cool. He does his own thing; he’s happy living the life he’s living, and I love that. He’s very down-to-earth.” He pauses, then adds, “My most memorable [scenes], fucking wise … I did one with Brock Banks, definitely a really good, really easy scene because we had lots of chemistry. And Cade Maddox was definitely a great one. He’s a top guy in what he’s doing and he’s really kind, really down to earth—as the bottom, I felt I was treated with a lot of respect. The working relationship was amazing and our dynamic was amazing.” At the time he spoke with AVN Men, Leon was looking forward to the release of a new scene with Sean Ford, which he calls an “interesting pairing” that represents a fresh artistic approach from his other work. “It’s a very different scene—the lighting is something that you never see on CockyBoys. I feel like we took it in a direction than is not typically done on CockyBoys because of the people who we are. ... I hope it looks good and I hope it will be one of my favorites. I loved the dynamic that we had with each other.” When he’s not working out in front of the camera, Leon likes to hit the gym. “Right now I’m addicted to fitness. That’s my fun thing that I do,” he says. “I really do consider going to the gym as such a treat. Sometimes I go twice a day. Sometimes I want to go three times a day. It’s my obsession. In New York we have these boutique fitness classes—one is Barry’s Boot Camp. …. That’s my favorite thing right now. It’s an hour-long class, high-intensity interval training and cardio. I feel like it’s such a challenge. … I’m going to make it through this hour, and I’m going to come out stronger.” He’s also a man who appreciates aesthetics. His favorite art form is architecture. “Whenever I go to a new place I like to see what the buildings look like, what’s the most common style. Or if there’s cool buildings by certain architects.” And he admits to having a weakness for luxury. “I love nice things. … Sometimes I can’t afford them, but I’m going to immerse myself anyway. So I’ll go work front desk at a really nice gym, so I can go to that gym,” he explains. “That’s what I try to find—something that I really want. If I like a certain company’s clothes, I could work a job there and get an employee discount. I mean, how else should I use my time?”