AVN Stars Spotlight: Aylah Kroy

LOS ANGELES—“I see a lot of women who look like me in the world,” says Aylah Kroy, an African-American/Portuguese top-trending BBW on AVN Stars, “but not a lot who look like me in porn.” While Kroy, 34, first stepped in front of the camera in 2017 (under the name Olivia, for her cat), her adult career didn’t start there. She was a coder for the popular streaming site HotMovies in Philadelphia before that, and as such is one of the rare adult stars who knows more about porn than fans do. “I love Sara Jay and Nikki Delano,” she says, “and I adore Christy Canyon—who doesn’t? When I got to do her radio show I just fangirled on her.” Kroy told Canyon about how her grandfather had a porn stash, and that was where Kroy first saw her. “My grandfather would put on a movie and then fall asleep after 30 seconds,” Kroy says. “Christy gets lots of stories.” Born on the East Coast, Kroy has moved around the country, from New England to Pennsylvania to Orange County to Vegas and now, after what she calls a “birthday rebranding,” to Missouri. Her orientation is as fluid as her zip code, too; where once she identified as a “hardcore lesbian,” she maintains crushes on singers Melissa Etheridge and Brandi Carlile as well as WWF legend The Undertaker. Not only that, but “people see drag queens and are reminded of me,” she says. “I think I have a little gay man living inside of me.” Kroy admits she is “all over the place” and wouldn’t have it any other way. “And sometimes I see myself marrying a farmer and rescuing cows,” she says (but we forgot to ask if it mattered what gender the farmer is). Kroy enjoyed theatre and dance in school, and says she is “very chatty,” which served her well as a phone sex operator, cam model, and masseuse, too. But, like many porn performers, particularly performers of size, Kroy grew up being critical of her physical appearance (despite, she says, “having the body of a video ‘ho” when she was younger). It was getting on stage at a BBW NIght at the L.A. strip club Cheetah’s that really flipped a switch. “I was so excited,” she says. “I feel so much more sensual in person.” From there, Kroy began shooting for BBW site Jeff’s Models, and she remembers a simple gesture of validation that went a long way. “My scene partner for the day was this nice gentleman who just said, ‘So nice to meet you; aren’t you pretty?’ and I stopped and thought, ‘Yes, I am!’” A move to Vegas taught her that she is “not a party person” and, discouraged by a lack of opportunities—especially during the pandemic—she piled her rescue dog and rescue cat into the car and moved to Missouri, and along the way had a revelation. “I wanted to quit porn, but that thought got followed with a fire under my butt not to quit,” she says. “I feel confident and sexy and want to share that with people. I want people who look like me to feel confident and sexy, too.” Kroy feels that AVN Stars allows her to feel most at home while there is social distancing and can’t meet her fans in person. “I love one-on-one interaction,” she says, “and I love spontaneity and ‘first-takes.’” She relates stories of how Brandi Carlile and The Undertaker (not on the same screen, or at the same time, she hastens to add) voiced the belief that multiple attempts at a performance began to lose authenticity. “And I love being in the moment,” she says, “which is where I feel my sexiest.” Photography by @lewyonmars & @cdavisions