On the Wright Path: Whitney Works Her Acting Chops

LOS ANGELES—Whitney Wright says Pure Taboo occupies “a special place in my heart.” “I think they’ve shot me more than anyone else,” Wright tells AVN. Indeed, the versatile native of Oklahoma City, who in September celebrated her two-year anniversary in porn, has emerged as one of director Bree Mills’ go-to girls for Pure Taboo, which won 2018 AVN Awards for Best New Imprint and Best Drama. “Bree referred to me, Jill [Kassidy] and Kristen [Scott] as her ‘resident performers,’” says Wright, who has appeared in more than five episodes on Pure Taboo, including one that she wrote in 2018 called “The Gold Star.” “I actually shot something with them last week and then Bree put me in her Girlcore series and has me coming back on the 28th [of September] to shoot something else for them. … They’re my people.” A former nursing student and pharmacy tech who attended a private Christian high school, Wright says she’s become so serious about improving her dramatic performances that she has been taking weekly acting classes for the past seven months. “I really wanted to dive into it,” Wright says, noting that she’s learned a lot about “timing.” “Usually, I’d have more dramatic pauses, but I’ve been working on my timing and my improv and creating believable behavior, instead of so much how you think it would translate. I found that usually I would go over the top, but with taking the classes it’s helped me ease more into it and I actually love and enjoy what I’m doing more.” Wright credits her well-rounded career—she already has more than 180 credits and 19 new scenes coming out this Fall—to signing with super agent Mark Spiegler in November 2017. Spiegler has represented five of the past six AVN Female Performer of the Year winners. “When I originally wrote him when I was independent, I just told him that I want to do this and be in the business for as long as I’m good at it. And that I’m super serious about this and I think I can do really well. He was like, ‘OK.’ He keeps me working a lot.”