Brooklyn Lee Looks Back on Her Year as Best New Starlet

Pictured: Brooklyn Lee in John Stagliano's Voracious, released by Evil Angel CHATSWORTH, Calif.—Brooklyn Lee started 2012 with a big suprise: a win for Best New Starlet at the 2012 AVN Awards. "When I won, the video captured it well. I was totally shocked," Lee told AVN. "I wasn't expecting to win. I thought the competition was extremely tough, and I had my eye on one or two other girls and I definitely thought it would be one of them. when I won, I was like 'Me? Really?' and I got on stage and made a series of strange faces. I almost cried. It was a really surreal experience. I was really, really happy." Lee says the Best New Starlet award increased her visibility in the business, and helped give her a boost for some parts. "Being a Spiegler Girl, you tend to stay busy regardless, but I think it helped me assert my position within the industry and gave me a bit more staying power than I may have had otherwise. Of course it's helped work. I work plenty and I'm sure that award had something to do with it. Getting the part in Vivid's remake of Behind the Green Door probably was aided by the Starlet win. I know they looked at a lot of good girls and that's actually another thing that I didn't think I was going to get." This year, Lee has 14 AVN Awards nominations, including Female Performer of the Year and Best Actress for her performance in Voracious: The First Season for Evil Angel, where she will be signing during this week's AVN Adult Entertainment Expo. Lee is proud of her work in Voracious, where she plays a vampire questioning whether what she has gained in her new life is better than what she left behind as a mortal. "Stagliano had this crazy idea for a movie, and he met a crazy girl who shared his enthusiasm for vampire lore and BDSM." Lee said. "I respect and admire John so much, it's difficult to really articulate. I felt an undying motivation to give the role absolutely everything I had. Within this motivation, I found the strength to shine through moments that were often extremely emotionally and physically demanding. Truly a once in a lifetime experience." Lee has joined the industry hegira to Las Vegas. "I recently moved there. It sounds funny, being in the adult industry at this point and still house dancing, but I very much enjoy it. So I house dance in Las Vegas whenever I'm in town, which is fairly infrequently. I traveled quite a bit this year too. Just grinding. No pun intended." She's looking forward to passing on the Best New Starlet honor to the next recipient. "I'm not sure how other girls feel when it's time to hand it over, but I'm really excited," Lee said. "Because I know what winning that award meant to me, and I know especially when you're brand-new and it's your first round of nominations, you are stoked. I'm excited about my nominations this year, and I'm extremely grateful, but the first year—there's nothing like that. I see the girls on Twitter, campaigning for it, talking about it, it's The Thing right now. I'm excited to give it to someone who really deserves it, and, hopefully, the Next Big Thing." Tomorrow (January 18) at AEE, Brooklyn Lee moderates a panel with all of the 2013 nominees for that coveted title.