Chanel Camryn: The Best New Starlet Interview

This is the cover story of the April issue of AVN magazine. Click here for the digital edition. LOS ANGELES—Chanel Camryn wants to buy another car. She says something made before 2010 would be ideal. Or one like the 1999 Camaro she had when she lived in Alaska. And it must be a stick shift. “Because I always wanted to build a car when I was in Alaska and I had the tools and the garage, but I didn’t have the money,” Camryn says. “Now I have the money but no tools and garage.” The 22-year-old native of Florida is nibbling on a BBQ burger on Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood, where she’s already talked about her desire to own an auto repair shop, her little black cat Sirius, the original Star Wars movies, anal sex, skilled nursing, taking risks and winning the biggest award for a new girl in adult. The excitable performer known as the Quiver Queen claimed the 2024 AVN Best New Starlet crown on January 27 at the 41st annual AVN Awards Show at Resorts World Theater in Las Vegas—an impressive achievement considering she almost left the business less than a month after her first scene. “Sometimes I forget that I won,” Camryn tells me with a giggle. “I just jumped right back into my routine afterwards.” Anyone who knows her work ethic wouldn’t be surprised. Camryn averaged 15 to 20 scenes a month since her debut in April 2022, racking up more than 150 performing credits and building her reputation as a girl who can lighten the mood on any set—not to mention be ready to step up on a moment’s notice. “I did go really hard in my first two years because I really wanted to make a name for myself,” she says. “And then now I can kind of take a year to focus more on performing better rather than as much. “I’ve still been very good at giving 110 percent every day even when I’m working seven days a week, but that’s not always fun. “Just because I can do it doesn’t mean I should—it’s not a good longevity thing. This year I’m trying to cut back to 10 to 12 scenes [per month]. I’m also doing more of my own stuff. “So this year I’m trying to take more time to shoot content, take more time for myself, go camping and then next year full throttle. Again. “Be ready.” Camryn demonstrated what she can do at top speed in 2023 in multiple outings for studios such as Vixen Media Group, Team Skeet, Bellesa, Naughty America, Evil Angel, Elegant Angel, PervCity and Mike Adriano, among dozens of others. She tells me that securing a roster spot at the Spiegler Girls agency in May 2022 changed her career trajectory almost overnight. Chanel had booked her flight back to Alaska with no plans to return to Porn Valley when she got word from Mark Spiegler’s longtime right-hand man, George Jiries, that he would take a meeting with her. The revered talent agent Spiegler now has represented six Best New Starlets since 2012 and eight of the past 11 winners of the AVN Female Performer of the Year award. “When I met Spiegler it was actually Friday the 13th. I was supposed to fly home that day and I wasn’t going to come back,” Camryn recalls, adding that she considered one other agency at the time but it wasn’t a fit. “I was like if he takes me I’ll stay and I’ll keep working. If he doesn’t take me, then I’m just going to go home.” She figured it was a long shot. “So I pushed my flight back and met with him instead,” Camryn continues. “And I spent five or six hours at his apartment just talking to him, getting to know him. “Spiegler wants to get to know you as a person. Because not only do you need to be a really good performer but you need to be compatible with your agent in a way, mentally at least, or it’s like the relationship will fail.” Wise beyond her years, she also came prepared. Before her most recent job as a bikini barista, Camryn helped open a skilled-nursing facility in Alaska. She began as an assistant administrator at 17 and soon found herself managing the place, writing all the policies, handling payroll, doing HR and supervising people over twice her age a year later.    “When I got into the industry I kept track of every single scene I had done, every director I had worked for, every company, their contact information,” Camryn says. “So when I went to meet Spiegler I treated it like a job interview. I was like here’s my photos, here’s everything I’ve done. He looked through it. I think he respected that, you could tell. “That yes, I was 20, but I had my shit together and I pretty much told him I am very serious about this. And I want to be able to do it but I need someone who’s going to give me the ability to do that. “If you give me what I need I will prove myself.” Camryn tells AVN at the beginning of her career she would accept lower rates and did a lot of “fill-in” scenes “because people didn’t want to necessarily book me.” “I was OK to fill in or something like that last minute,” she says. “I didn’t look like much but once I got on set I can do the job and I perform well and I also have a good attitude, I’m happy to be there. I bring up everyone else on set. I show up on time. I don’t cancel—unless I have to. “That is what has gotten me to now where I’m working so much.” But the modest showstopper’s multi-orgasmic, body-shaking performances speak for themselves—her positivity and reliability just sweeten the package. Spiegler tells AVN that he and Camryn reminisced about their initial meeting again recently. “She was cute, very lively,” he recalls. “She stands out as a personality and she was willing to work hard. Everybody likes her. “She did between 100 and 130 scenes last year and that was before she really got into anal. Also she hasn’t gotten big-headed yet and so like if a shoot comes up and she’s not working we call her and she goes. “She’s getting into everything whether planned or otherwise. She’s like everywhere all the time.” Spiegler adds, “We really thought she deserved it and she didn’t think she was going to win it at all.” Camryn says her favorite part of her entire AVN experience came after the awards show ended. She wanted to hurry back to her hotel room and change into something more comfortable before hitting an after-party, but Spiegler was looking for her. “I was still like in shock and I needed to decompress,” Chanel says. “So I just booked it right out of there and then Spiegler calls and he’s like, ‘Where are you?’” When he finally tracked her down she was trying to stay out of sight near the Crossroads Kitchen restaurant on the other side of the hotel. “And so he comes and finds me and I have never seen Spiegler cry,” Chanel says. “It was so heartwarming and adorable. And he has such a cute cry. I couldn’t tell if he was laughing or crying. “I was like, do I laugh with you? Do I cry with you? But I was crying obviously. He’s been telling me from the beginning, ‘You’re gonna get nominated next year.’ “And I was like, ‘No, stop putting the pressure on me.’ But also I did want it. It’s an honor to be one of the best new starlets. There’s only so many. He’s been my biggest fan in my opinion. “He’s definitely rooted for me. He told everyone, ‘She’s gonna win it this year. I just know she’s gonna win it this year.’” Spiegler admits when he saw Camryn in the hallway, “it was kind of emotional and we walked her up to her room.” “We can help, but in the end the girls do the work,” he tells me.  Chanel adds, “I think what made him so emotional is that he knows that was him. He gave me that opportunity and then I did what he wanted me to do with it. “I feel like a lot of times Spiegler gets very invested in these girls. He really does love the girls that he represents. He wants them to do well. He wouldn’t sign them if he didn’t see potential. He can be kind of hard sometimes but that’s always because he sees your potential and he wants to push you to do better and he wants you to reach that potential. “He’s not for everyone but he’s an amazing agent if you’re willing to do the work.” Camryn went out Friday night on the eve of the awards show, enjoying some drinks at the annual White Party. “I sort of remember dancing with a lot of the fans. I do remember being trashed,” she jokes. In the hours before the red carpet walk, she stayed by herself, doing her own makeup before slipping into her black wedding-style dress that was inspired by her “marrying the game.” “I kind of did the whole day alone because I needed it,” Camryn says. “It drains my battery, the social of the expos, so it was good to just decompress before and get ready especially because I was a little bit nervous. “I honestly didn’t really think that I was going to be the one taking home that award. I thought that I had a chance of taking home some of the other awards. So I was nervous but I had put it out of my mind, which also was a tactic to not get nervous. “Because I have really bad anxiety so things like that really scare me. The whole time I was just telling myself, ‘You’re not going to win it anyway, you’re not going to win it anyway.’ So that I didn’t really get nervous leading up to it. “But I kind of regret it because I wasn’t mentally prepared. Then I was like hyper-ventilating on the stage.” Still Camryn managed to give one of the best AVN Award acceptance speeches of all time—bending over to pick up her fallen earring before she got to the microphone. “I don’t know what to say… I just really love being a part of this industry… Thank you to every guy who’s made me cum!” she said, before letting out a delightful scream. “It was a very heartwarming reaction from the audience,” Chanel says. “It was very nice. Because I feel like sometimes it’s silent. “Everyone’s been very nice and supportive and they’re all congratulating me. All the girls that were nominated with me were congratulating me.” Indeed, anyone who’s spent any extended time with Camryn on or off the set would be hard-pressed not to root for her. Just ask AVN Hall of Fame director Mike Quasar, who photographed her AVN cover and layout. “There are a handful of performers in this business that I would take a bullet for and Chanel is definitely one of them,” Quasar says. “In my opinion, no one works harder than she does. Her work ethic and enthusiasm are off the charts. “Whether it’s on one of my sets or for her platforms, it’s always something I make time for and look forward to. At this point I’m pretty much a bitter old man but it’s impossible not to be in a good mood when you’re working with her. I absolutely adore her and I’m so happy for all of her much-deserved success.” So is the reigning AVN Male Performer of the Year Isiah Maxwell, who at press time already had five scenes with Camryn on the market, including two for New Sensations and encounters for CherryPimps, LoveHerFilms and Blacked.com. “Chanel is a master at building connections,” Maxwell tells AVN. “A day on set with her doesn’t feels like work because of synergistic interactions on and off camera. You are laughing with her off camera and mesmerized when on it. “I can see how serious she takes her craft because of the privilege of experiencing the improvements in each scene we film together. She a first-rate performer with a strong work ethic. Her takeover is imminent.” Camryn tells me she just talked to her mom a few days ago—she’s proud of her daughter and everything she’s achieved so far. It was her mom who moved the family to Seward, a port city in southern Alaska, from her troubled home environment in Jacksonville, Fla. Chanel says her mom “fell in love with the state” from watching various reality TV shows. “Like Alaska: The Last Frontier, all that other shit,” Camryn says. “We lived in a very rundown, dangerous, ghetto area. My [step-dad] was into a lot of gang activity, my mom was working three jobs to support us because he was a piece of shit. So I never really saw her. “I spent most of my time raising my sister. Also we lived right next door to my [step-grandfather] who was like my abuser. “So once I had told my parents about that—I told them when I was like 11 or 12. I think I was like 12 and then we left Florida when I was 13. Also my biological father is a psychopath and had just gotten out of prison so… There were a lot of motivating factors to want to leave and then she chose Alaska because it spoke to her. “She had this dream of buying her own property and having like a frontier-type farm, living off the land. It didn’t end up happening but I’m going to make it happen for her eventually. “I’ll buy the property. She actually just moved back down to Florida. She’s getting a divorce from my shitty stepfather, thank god, finally.” Camryn graduated from high school early and started a career in healthcare because she loved helping people who couldn’t help themselves. But over time, the unrelenting office politics and stress that came with her nursing job took an emotional toll. Then the situation went from bad to worse during the pandemic. “I kind of started working on the floor like right at the peak of Covid and we weren’t training people properly, we were sticking them on the floor and they didn’t know what they were doing. People were dying because they didn’t know what they were doing,” Chanel recalls. “There was actually a patient of mine that died in my arms and I finally said I fucking quit. I’m over this. “Like no one would listen to me. If they would’ve just listened to me she would’ve made it to the hospital and they would’ve been able to save her. "Because nobody would fucking listen because they all wanted to be the boss, she died. I was like I can’t do this anymore. I put in my two weeks and I quit.” After leaving the skilled nursing facility she became a bikini barista, working for about eight months before her boss fired her because she was making more tips than anyone else. “Yeah if you went back and talked to healthcare me and told her what I do now she would laugh hysterically or slap you—one of the two,” Camryn says. “She would either be offended… I was such a prude, prior. I still am. “I’m very modest as a person. And when I go to events I step into my persona.” Camryn tells me she listened to some timely advice from her mom two years ago as she was weighing her decision to do porn. “It was something that she said to me when I told her I was thinking about it,” Chanel recalls. “My mom told me, ‘It doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks, what their opinions are. “‘Because at the end of the day the only opinion that you have to live with is your own. If you’re OK with it and you enjoy it, fuck everyone else. Because they don’t pay your bills.’ “I’m like, ‘You know what, that is the realest thing you have ever said.’ And that’s what I tell people now.” She recalls what it took for her to fly to LA from where she was living in the Wasilla-Palmer area to do her first scene in April 2022. “Porn was such a different moment for me because not only was I getting into what I was going to find to be my career but it was the first time in my life that I ever took like a risk,” Camryn says. “I had always taken the safe route because I came from such a beat background that I was like I have to be safe. I have no safety net. I help my mom with her bills. “There is nowhere for me to go, there is no spare bedroom for me if I get evicted from my place and I can’t pay my bills if I don’t keep my job. “I always had to be so on top of things so that I could take care of everyone else. “It was the first time in my life that I did something that was just for me and I took a risk. It could’ve not went well.” Now she considers the porn biz “like my savior.” “I love it,” Chanel adds. “I get tired sometimes but I’ll never leave.” Photography by Mike Quasar