Up Close With Wendy Raine

This feature appears in the June issue of AVN magazine. LOS ANGELES—Wendy Raine had been riding killer whales and raising dolphins for 20 years at a popular marine mammal park in Florida when, at the unlikely age of 49, she got reeled into porn. “I was a trainer. I had wanted to do that since I was 6,” said Raine, whose left arm is tatted with the tail fin of her favorite dolphin from the park. “Every summer, my sister and brothers wanted to go to Disney, and I was, like, ‘No, let’s go to SeaWorld!’ I always wanted to be the person who stood on Shamu’s nose.” That fearlessness and sense of adventure propelled Raine to jump ship for a porn career in late 2021, when a girlfriend from the swinger community that Raine and her husband of 30 years belong to referred her to The Score Group, purveyors of big-boob entertainment. “She did a shoot for them and gave them my name,” Raine remembered. “She said, ‘Hey, I told them about you. I think you’d be good at it.’” Petite, fit, and blonde with 36-DDs, Raine looked the part, but could she perform on camera? “Being in the lifestyle, I’ve become an exhibitionist,” Raine said. “You go to these parties or a resort or a club, and there are open rooms and people around; maybe they’re watching you, maybe not. I was at a hotel, and my husband brought over a single guy for me. The curtains weren’t all the way closed in our room, and somebody was standing on the other side watching. It kind of turns you on…if you’re like that.” The more Raine thought about it, the more she liked the idea. “What the hell,” she thought. “You only live once. If I didn’t like it, I’d never have to do it again. But I had a blast. I had fun on set. And, when the scenes came out, everybody loved them and encouraged me to proceed. So, I did.” Raine, represented by the Nexxxt Level Talent Agency, with more than 30 scenes under her belt, is now taking the industry by storm at 52, particularly in the MILF and stepmother genres. “I usually play a stepmom,” Raine laughed. “I enjoy the scripts. Getting into character, staying in character during sex. It’s fun. I like the acting. A goal for me would be to do feature movies like Dirty Cops or Birth—maybe not that extreme. I don’t think I’m there yet, but to have a scripted storyline with a character arc.” While Raine may have only become an exhibitionist during the last few years, she’s been an entertainer her entire life. “I have been in front of audiences since I was little,” Rain said. “My mother signed me up at four to learn to twirl a baton. I would do parades and march in front of people. I was in dance class. Show choir in high school, on the dance team in college…and onstage with the animals at the marine park. I’ve been performing in front of people my whole life.” It’s no surprise that Raine would like to stretch her acting muscles and expand her range. “I can be other things,” Raine said. “I just can’t be the young girl next door. But I can be other things besides the MILF…” “We had Halloween shows at the marine park,” she continued. “I enjoyed playing the villains. I was Catwoman one time—throwing toxic waste into the water. I was the Wicked Witch of the West, too. I love that kind of stuff. Being a villain in a movie would be good and fun…the hero, too. I’d be a hero as well. People would cheer, ‘Yay, Wendy did it!’ “Maybe I save my stepson somehow.” Photography by @kogafoto