Q&A: Aiden Ashley on Sharing Her Soul

Above, Aiden Ashley in Insomniac (BurningAngel) The phrase “intense” is tossed around a lot when talking about adult performers, but in Aiden Ashley’s case, the adjective is warranted. With long legs and arms, flowing hair and deep brown eyes that she can fix intently on her scene partner, Ashley embodies graceful athleticism and fierce sensuality. Still as slender as the day she entered the adult industry in 2009, Ashley has followed her own unique path. With well over 200 scene credits on her IAFD.com résumé, fewer than 20 are identified as boy/girl scenes. The most notable exceptions are several AVN Award-nominated scenes in director Axel Braun’s superhero parodies, including both boy/girl and girl/girl/boy scenes in her first movie with Braun, Dark Knight XXX: A Porn Parody (Vivid, 2012). And she's had no shortage of acclaim for her girl/girl work, including two AVN Award nominations for All-Girl Performer of the Year. Rrecently, Ashley moved back into boy/girl scenes, starting off with high-profile projects. The busy performer took some time out while on tour with the band she manages to answer a few questions from AVN about her career, from her first scene to her recent starring roles in two dramatic features—Love Song, directed by Mike Quasar for Wicked Pictures, and Insomniac, directed by Joanna Angel for BurningAngel—that showcase her considerable acting chops. It seems you chose ambitious projects to kick off the current phase of your career. What are your characters like in Love Song and Insomniac? I did take special care in choosing my first two movies once I was released back into the wild. I wanted to show my fans something special. I honestly felt like I was being held back by performing in head-to-toe superhero costumes and taking on the personality of other characters. I thrive at being an individual and not being limited. Insomniac is the best movie of my entire career. Hands down. Joanna has known me for years very intimately … she knows some of my deep dark secrets. She knows about my late nights and my memory loss from a severe accident that I survived years ago, leaving me completely impulsive for a few years, as I was healing. This story was written in a combination of my real life and a few little twists. When she was telling me about the idea—after drinking all night at a strip club in St. Louis—I knew I had to say yes. The plot felt so real to me that upon leaving set I simply wondered around DTLA for hours until the sun came up again. Which is a pretty standard night for me. This is a dark story about passion, love, hate and finding your true demons then exploiting them. Passion. Passion. Passion. Love Song was special because I played the role of an understanding, kind, sympathetic girlfriend to a lead singer in a band. I’m not this. At all. However, I tour with bands and have seen many girlfriends fly out to visit their loved ones. It was fun to pull from those memories. So I related to the feelings of what they were going through once the “band” was starting to get stardom with a bitch manager on their heels. I’m so excited that my new movies are being received so well. I put different parts of my soul into filming each of these. Below, Aiden Ashley in Insomniac (BurningAngel) What was your first adult scene? My very first scene was for Tori Black’s After School Special (Bluebird Films) with Celeste Star.  I showed up to class with a guitar instead of my books so of course Celeste had to teach me a lesson to get the good grades. But in all seriousness, if it wasn’t for Celeste and that first scene, I don’t think I would of ever gotten as far in the adult industry as I have. She was the current Penthouse Pet of the month on my first-ever booking—which you can imagine was extremely intimating. I was so scared she wouldn’t be attracted to me or that I wouldn’t make her cum. That was not the case. She was the sweetest person I have ever experienced on set. She asked to have 30 minutes of private time with me where she kicked the makeup artist and director out of the room to have a heart-to-heart talk. She asked me if I was SURE this is something I want to do—that once I film my first scene, everyone in my life would find out. Parents, old teachers, high school friends, literally everyone. When I said, “YES” then she was like “all right! Now … let’s show you how to eat some pussy and still have the camera be able to see what you’re doing. She showed me the best positions for camera, ways to keep my hair out of the shot, just stupid little things I wouldn’t thought of, this being my first scene. She had me relax a bit before letting the director know I was ready to shoot the scene. And, well, it went great—and I did make her cum. After the scene she told me, “That was incredible. No way I would have guessed that’s your first time being naked in front of a camera. You will have a lasting career.” I was addicted to filming porn after this day. We hear you’re spending a lot of time on the road with a band? What is that like? We are diving into my “other life,” huh? Well, yes … I do spend around ten months of the year touring with rock bands. I don’t play—I am their tour manager. The Boss. I am the one who literally makes the concert happen and run smooth. I am responsible for every single last detail of the concert—from hiring crew to travel to the stage. I have to know every single job on the road: stage managing, drum tech, guitar tech, selling merch, driving a big vehicle, sound, lighting, or any other job in case someone can’t handle their duties that day—it’s my responsibility. I’m part babysitter, therapist, tour guide, accountant, friend, all rolled into one person. I have to be able to work in any country at any time, get through customs, deal with duties, taxes, visas, language barriers, permits, insurance ….  everything. I am a completely different person when I tour. Responsible. I keep others on time. Basically the polar opposite of my role for Insomanic. This also helps to keep me grounded. When I’m home—I’m crazy. When I’m on tour—I’m collected. Feeds both sides of my personality so I never get bored with just one side of myself. Above, Aiden Ashley in Love Song (Wicked Pictures) Are you doing feature dance gigs as well? I have started feature dancing recently and am looking to book more gigs soon. However, it does get complicated with my touring schedule because clubs want to lock me into a contract months ahead of time. And I can’t turn down a six-week tour for just one weekend at a strip club. Still trying to learn the balance of that. You were born on Halloween—what a great holiday to mix with a birthday celebration. Has that affected your personality or your aesthetics? Halloween everyday. Halloween forever. I’m a creepy girl throught and through. All black clothes, all the time. But I think my eyes tell the story of being born on Halloween the most. I recently changed my hair to blond to be “less goth/creepy” but it didn’t work. You can still see my true soul through my eyes. I can’t hide that. I just learned this fact and am embracing it. You describe yourself as an adrenaline junkie. What kinds of activities to you do to feed your need for excitement? I pretty much am up for anything, anytime. Tell me to rappel off a building and give me a rope—within two minutes I’ll be hanging from the rafters upside down. I did an extreme sports show for Playboy years ago called Badass—pretty much did every extreme sport naked at some point. During this period of time I ended up getting close with some pro-BMX riders who were featured on the show. I ended up breaking my face in eight places one day attempting to do a front flip down a six-stair drop. I try to not go that hard anymore because the recovery sucked. But I still find ways to get my rocks off. Sex is a big one. If you watch my scenes, I’m like a natural acrobat. I simply can’t help it. The industry has changed a great deal since 2009, when you first started performing. What are the biggest changes—both positive and negative? I have seen the industry go in a wave. In 2009 bookings were still on the up—performers were making money and companies were happy. Around 2011 the internet took over and free content was everywhere. No one knew how to combat this. Bookings went down. Rates went down. This led to some unsavory people entering our industry, and things got a little dark for a moment. Then, around 2016, performer content sites started to catch on. We were able to make our own content, make our own prices, and attract our own fans. This helped like crazy with fan bases and showing the world what each performer enjoyed filming, not just want they would get booked for. Now, in 2019, performers are able to survive off sites such as OnlyFans, ManyVids, and other comparable sites. It’s a whole new wave of porn and I’m enjoying the ride. Above, Aiden Ashley in Insomniac (BurningAngel)