Kristen Scott on How She Found Herself in Porn

Kristen Scott is featured in the January 2019 issue of AVN magazine. Click here to see the digital edition. Kristen Scott tells AVN she “found herself” in adult. “I am so incredibly grateful,” Scott says. “I will say when I first started in porn I had a lot of social anxiety. I was afraid to go out and do things and interact with people. But people in porn really showed me that it’s no fun to be so concerned with all the things I was concerned with. Being on set really helped push me out of my social anxiety. I saw these people are just like me.” Three years into her career, the native of San Diego is in the running for the top honor in adult entertainment as one of the 15 nominees for 2019 AVN Female Performer of the Year. The nomination is one of seven Scott received for her diverse body of work in the past year. “It was such an amazing year for me,” Scott admits. “I was a part of many different exciting projects—different scenes, different features. It was a lot of fun. And I’m just really grateful that these directors have been giving me the chance.” Scott received five different sex scene nominations for the 36th annual ceremony on January 26 at Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas, including nods for two career firsts. She did her first D.P. with Xander Corvus and Seth Gamble for Pure Taboo. Scott also wrote the scene, which is in The Nerd’s Revenge—a collaboration with Pure Taboo creator Bree Mills. The Nerd's Revenge entails Scott playing a bullied teen who gets revenge by taking incriminating photos of her tormentors and then feeding them drugged cookies to entrap them. It was co-directed by Mills and Craven Moorehead. “Since the first few times I had been on set with Bree and Craven and the whole crew, I really admired the way they executed everything and how they gave everyone the freedom to kind of run with their character,” Scott says. “It’s a very light energy on set. Everyone’s having a good time, laughing and making jokes. It really helps create that relationship you want with the crew. It’s good chemistry. Everyone kind of understands where everyone else’s head is at. “When it came to writing that script I had been going back and forth with Bree about, ‘What is your legal department going to allow me to do?’ I had some grandiose idea and she had to pull back the reins on me. It still ended up being everything I could’ve wanted. “She helped me develop the story the way I wanted to portray it. It was an incredible experience. I was so grateful to have both Xander and Seth. I had never done a D.P. in my personal life, so I was nervous but also very excited. It was a million times better than I ever expected. After that I was like, ‘Can every scene be a D.P.?’ It was one of my my favorite scenes of the year.” Speaking of 2018 highlights, Scott pointed to her lead role in Brad Armstrong’s “meta-porn” drama, Camgirl, for Wicked Pictures as another big moment. For her efforts, she received a nomination for Best Actress. Scott stars as Kelly Mathews, a young mother and college student who does cam shows to make ends meet. But things take a crazy turn when the people around her find out her secret. “When I found out that Brad was interested in having me play the lead we sat down and did a script reading before he cast me. I was really nervous and excited and by end of the reading he told me he would have me as the lead,” Scott recalls. “I had never played a lead in a feature. I had done some camming before I started in porn and I felt like I could relate to the character to a certain degree. I had a lot of fun on that set. A lot of incredible people were part of that feature. “It was just a really cool experience, especially working with Angela White. I’ve always admired her. I really, really look up to her as a performer. Being able to work with her was amazing.” Scott, who is the reigning AVN Best Supporting Actress for her role in Pure Taboo’s 2018 AVN Award-winning Best Drama, Half His Age: A Teenage Tragedy, is no stranger to performing—she took musical theater in high school and loves to sing. “I had actually done a lot of musicals as a kid. All through high school I did musicals as well,” she says. “When I was in middle school I attended a modeling and acting school for some time. It was a really awesome experience. It also just really helped me to understand the technical aspect of being in front of a camera a lot more because you have to pay attention to the lighting and pay attention to your movements. Being realistic and genuine doesn’t mean it will look good on camera. You have to find a balance. My prior training helped me and I’m grateful. It’s been an incredible journey. I feel like being in porn helped me to experience more of what I had a taste of when I was younger.” Scott says she still sings as a hobby and would consider vocal training in the future. She especially enjoys singing jazz songs. “Norah Jones is someone I look up to as an artist. I love the sound of her voice. I will sing just about anything I can. In high school I was trained to be a soprano. I’m not the most talented soprano but my range is quite decent.” Scott worked at Hollister, a sushi restaurant, Blaze Pizza and at a deli before finding adult. She lived briefly in Long Island, N.Y., before moving to Lake Tahoe, Calif., when she was 20. “My family was moving up there and I was very interested in having a change,” Scott says. “I was kind of in a phase. I just wanted to experience these different places. I thought I already know what it’s like in my comfy little San Diego beach environment and I wanted to see what I could do up there.” In December 2015 Scott did a couple photoshoots, but she still wasn’t sure she wanted to go into adult. Then she attended the AVN Show in 2016. “Actually, that was really my determining factor of making this my career choice,” she says. “I had never lived in LA. I had just moved from Northern California and all this energy of Los Angeles and Vegas and the industry coming together—it was a lot for me to take in. It also really excited me. … After AVN I said, ‘Alright, I’m sold.’” Scott continues, “I love the sex aspect of this job clearly. It’s even more fulfilling for me to have that acting aspect added in. It makes it that much more satisfying. I’ve always loved to perform. I’ve always loved acting since I was little.” Scott remembers asking more experienced performers for advice when she was beginning her career. “I asked everyone what they would say to an earlier version of themselves in this business and I learned so much,” she says. “I just absorbed as much as I could.”