Fresh Faces: Numi Zarah

A version of this feature appears in the November issue of AVN magazine. Click here for the digital edition. LOS ANGELES — Numi Zarah tells AVN her birthday will be extra special this year because it also marks another personal milestone. “My one-year anniversary is coming up on my birthday, actually November 23rd,” Zarah says. “I feel really great about it.” Rightfully so. Ever since the soon-to-be 23-year-old stunner did her first sex scene for NetVideoGirls she has found herself on the fast track to adult stardom. “My first scene went viral—I didn’t expect it to and it did and a lot of my scenes do, so I’m just very grateful for that,” Numi says. “I love being in the industry.” Zarah, who is represented by City of Angels Models, took a couple of extended breaks in the past year, but when she worked, she made it count. “2023 is definitely going to be my year,” Numi says. “I’m going to stay consistent with my bookings and working with other companies. I just love it.” Numi admits that at first she didn’t know what was going to happen as she forayed into adult, but her sense of adventure won out. “I think every girl kind of just goes into it and wants to see if they like it or not, and I’ve always done crazy things throughout my life—this is definitely one of them,” she says. “Because it’s not like a job that people necessarily think is normal, even though it is to me now.” Zarah was no stranger to sex work when she made the leap into porn. She already had been on OnlyFans for two years, doing sexy photos and financial-domination content while making a healthy sum of money in the process. In the beginning she didn’t even get naked. “I was just posting sexy bikini or lingerie pics and about a year and a half ago I started feeling a little more comfortable where I would do nudes. It wasn’t just a nip-slip here and there,” she explains. “I’ve been supporting myself on my own since I was 19 through OnlyFans and online work.” Zarah says she fell in love with the art of findom. “I learned all the kinks and I didn’t know I was going to love it so much,” Numi says, adding that despite finding quick success with her financial dominance, she also yearned for an outlet where she could share her softer side. “I can be dominant, but I also have a submissive side and I really wanted to show that. “I think I’m more submissive than I am dominant. I can flip-flop back and forth. “I still also model. I love modeling. And I just love the adult modeling and I fully set my eyes on that.” The Los Angeles native, whose parents immigrated from the country of Bangladesh in South Asia, also gained experience modeling for the Vixen Media Group clothing brand. But when agent Matt Morgia reached out to her via Twitter and asked her if she wanted to take the next step in her adult journey, she became intrigued. “I wanted to have a new experience,” Numi recalls. “I was bored and I wanted to try to something new. That’s when me and Matt were talking, I just really liked him and the way he carried himself.” She says her first sex scene—with Robby Echo—not only erupted on NetVideoGirls, it also went viral on the tube sites. “After a few hours I racked in 800 thousand views and now it’s at over 10 million,” Numi says. “It feels great. I love that shoot. I’m trying to beat that though… I really want to be an amazing performer.” Zarah says her exotic look and ethnicity separates her. “I’m the first Bangladeshi adult actress—like mainstream porn star,” Numi says. “I just don’t look like anyone else in the world and people aren’t really used to seeing people like me in porn. “Everyone loved my skin tone and that I was thick, that I had a big butt and big titties.” She says she has visited Bangladesh about six times. “I still have family out there… I love it out there,” she says. “There is a lot of poverty and not a lot of opportunity, so I’m grateful I had the opportunity to grow up in LA.” Zarah reveals she knew about the industry prior to her arrival. “I actually knew quite a bit just because I would go to porn events,” she says. “I had friends that were in the industry but you never truly understand it unless you’re in it. I learned so much more once I put my foot in the door. “It was completely different than I thought it was—in a good way. I love it so much and I hate all the stigmas surrounding it that aren’t true.” Numi says it didn’t take long for her friends and family to find out about her new career. “I’m pretty sure everyone knows,” she says with a laugh. “I thought I was going to have a few months before people would find it but thanks to my first scene everyone knew the next day. My mom knew, my brother knew, my ex knew, my friends were blowing up my phone. It was a lot to take in… “I kind of just said… I didn’t say much, they said a lot. I was just like, I’m the kind of a person that doesn’t care what anybody thinks. As long as I like it and I’m happy I don’t care what anybody thinks. I never have… But mostly people were supportive.” She continues, “My mom is 100 percent supportive. I don’t talk to my dad about it. I think he has a hint of what I do.” Zarah estimates she’s done more than 80 scenes, even though the majority of those have yet to be released. Some of her favorite encounters include her most recent Jules Jordan scene, her first gangbang for GangbangCreampie.com and of course, her NetVideoGirls debut. “Those three I really gave it my 110 percent, so I’m excited,” Numi says. Her most recent scene for Jules Jordan was with three-time AVN Male Performer of the Year Lexington Steele, who is in the midst of an epic comeback to elite performing. “His dick is humungous,” Numi says understatedly. “I just had so much fun. It was my first shoot getting back into it after taking four months off. “I did know who he was and I was so excited to work with him.” She says her gangbang involved five different guys who took turns on her. “I freakin’ loved it,” Numi says. “It’s been one of my fantasies for a long time, so me and my agent made it come true. That’s the type of porn I watch, I watch gangbangs. So being in it was definitely an experience and I want to do more gangbangs in the future.” Numi worked as an assistant at a law firm for about three months and then at Dog Haus for three days prior to starting on OnlyFans. When she isn’t doing porn, Numi likes hanging out with her best friend and playing with their dog, a micro-bully named Cujo. She also likes to read and play video games. “I like playing Call of Duty and I play a lot of Mario. We only have those two games right now. I also like Halo and Battlefield,” she says. She says 2022 turned out to be an important year for her because it is “the year that I put myself out there.” ‘And I did something crazy but I love it,” Numi says. “It’s just a year that a lot of opportunities opened for me by being in the industry. “Just making my first move to be in the adult industry really helped people know who I am and I got some amazing opportunities like shooting for Hustler.” Zarah already has appeared in Hustler magazine twice, landing her first cover and centerfold for the June 2022 issue. Numi at press time also had an upcoming shoot for Penthouse. “I’m taking this as far as I can—2023 is going to be a great year for me,” she tells AVN. “I’m going to stay consistent and my fans are going to love it.” Photography by Penthouse & Numi Zarah