Back in the Mix: Kendra Sunderland on Becoming a Free Agent

LOS ANGELES—The wait is over. Kendra Sunderland entered the open market in May—accepting bookings for studio work for the first time in more than six years—and the industry responded. Adult’s notorious Library Girl tells AVN that after being an exclusive contract performer for her entire career until recently that she’s thankful for this next phase of her career. “I think about how some companies have been waiting seven years—like Jules Jordan specifically for a very long time,” Kendra says. “So I was very happy when I contacted these companies to let them know… So many of them were very excited and happy to bring me on and booked me quite a lot. “Like I’m very, very booked.” Sunderland had been a Vixen contract star for the first three years of her career—she was the original Vixen Angel in August 2016 and also the first Vixen Angel of the Year in 2017—and then she had an exclusive deal with Brazzers for the past three years. “It feels like I’m starting all over again because I spent so much time with Vixen and then with Brazzers and I got so used to shooting for them,” Kendra says. “And now I’m meeting all these new people, all these new directors and performers and it feels like I’m literally starting fresh all over again, which is nice. I love it. “I’m very lucky.” Sunderland says that her new independence doesn’t mean that she still isn’t open to working for VMG or ZZ—quite the contrary. She values being part of their respective families and the feeling is mutual. The native of Salem, Oregon, reunited with the ZZ crew at the Brazzers Spring Social before Memorial Day weekend and also traveled to Japan with the VMG team in early May as the studio crowned their newest Vixen Angel, Violet Myers, in Tokyo. Kendra says she enjoyed getting to perform for VMG’s Slayed and Deeper studios as they had yet to be launched when she was under contract. “I’ve worked with them so much but I’ve never even gotten to work with those sites so I’m very excited to be a part of big productions like Deeper,” she says. “And I really want to do more acting things. “I really enjoy acting, I feel like I’m good at it. Because every time I work [with dialogue] they’re always like, ‘Oh perfect, we don’t need another take’ or ‘oh, that was great.’ They always compliment my acting so I really want to push with that because I feel like I can do really good in bigger roles.” She rekindled her chemistry with the one and only Dredd in their first scene together in four years, while Jules Jordan called the shots. “It’s been a long time since I worked with him and I was like, ‘Oh geez, OK.’ I forgot how big it is,” Kendra says with a laugh. Kendra and Dredd shot content together the last time and prior to that, they hooked up for Blacked. “I’ve only worked with Dredd twice, but it had been a long time so that was exciting,” she says. The AVN Hall of Fame director Jordan concurs. “Kendra is pure sex,” Jordan tells AVN. “I’ve been waiting a long time to shoot her and she did not disappoint. She will hopefully be a multi-scene superstar for my company.” Some of the other studio stops on the Kendra Sunderland Tour included her first scenes for Nympho, Naughty America, Bellesa and Team Skeet. “Everyone that I’ve worked with is talking about shooting more because I got the first scene out of the way,” Sunderland says. “Most companies booked me multiple times. But I only plan on working with high-quality companies and ones that I feel will further my brand or go well with it. I don’t want to work with everyone. I’m still picky.” She says Team Skeet booked her eight times without having worked with her once. “And then I’ve worked for Blacked and Blacked Raw so far,” Kendra continues. “I shot a really cool Blacked scene that’s like three boys and me, so I’m really excited for that one. That one I felt like when I did it, I felt like, wow this is really great. “Sometimes I do scenes where I’m like this is really, really great. I’m getting really good energy right now and literally I gave everything I had for that one. I literally gave every ounce of energy that I had.”Titled “A Gift for You,” the Blacked scene features Kendra handling Richard Mann, Hollywood Cash and Jamie Knoxx under the direction of Derek Dozer. “I hope that when it comes out it translates to show the amount of work I put in,” she says. “I really enjoyed it. “If I’m really enjoying my work then I’m laughing a lot and giggling and smiling in my scene. That one I feel like will be really good.” Sunderland reveals that the Blacked brass asked her “how many people I wanted.” “And I said ‘three’ thinking like maybe they wouldn’t be able to get all three or whatever—and then they did. Then when I got to set I was like, ‘Oh yeah, I don’t know why I said that,” Kendra jokes. “But I thought it was great. I really loved coming back with a bang, so to speak, and pushing my boundaries. I’m very excited to see it." Meanwhile, Kendra says her scene with Mike Adriano for Nympho was the will of the people. “I hadn’t worked with him but he was a big one that my fans requested when I tweeted about it,” she says. “Even when I tweeted a short little clip of me on set everyone could tell that it was his set and was like so excited for it and I really liked it. “I like the aesthetic because I’m very into pop and colors and that kind of decorating. “So I loved it there and I had so much wardrobe to choose from. I thought it was great. It was definitely a different shooting than I’m used to  because he cuts a lot; he just kind of shoots and then stops. It was nice, a different way of shooting. “Hopefully, I get booked with him again. He’s great, very kind, great to work with. I hope that it comes out as great as I felt that it looked.” Sunderland is self-booking—in fact she’s never had an agent. “I’ve luckily never needed it so I don’t feel that I need to bring somebody on,” she says. “My situation’s very different. I’ve never needed one and at this point I really don’t because I feel like I’ve built such a name for myself that if I reach out to companies and they want to book me they can go directly through me. I like it that way.” Sunderland says messaging her on social media, Twitter in particular, is the best way to get her attention if interested in booking. And being established helps. “If you message me and your company is established and your social media is established, I’ll respond,” she says. A resident of West Hollywood, Kendra says she is saving up to buy a house in Las Vegas. She’s also producing her own stuff and redoing her website, KendraSunderlandVIP.com. “We’re revamping it right now to just be a merch site and some clothing that I’ve worn in the scenes—like memorabilia-type things,” Kendra says, adding that her annual calendars and her S.M.D. magazine will also be available through the site. “I’ve been talking with everyone,” she says. “Hopefully I'll just be working with other companies, even in just campaigns and apparel. You guys are probably going to get sick of me at some point. I come in waves though, like the first wave with Vixen and then Brazzers and now this new wave, so I’m excited… “I feel like I just keep getting better, so it’s good.” Sunderland became nationally known in the fall of 2014 when she filmed an explicit video of herself inside the Oregon State University campus library. Her topless show for MyFreeCams went viral, leading to her nickname, Library Girl. She made porn history in January 2017, winning an AVN Award for her first professional sex scene. Her encounter with Mick Blue received the Best Boy/Girl Sex Scene award at the 34th annual AVN Awards Show in Las Vegas. Photos by Jocelyn James (1, 3 & 8), Chris Khem (2), James McCloud (4 & 6), Kirill Was Here (5) & Derek Dozer (7)