‘Above & Beyond’: Jennifer White Goes All Out in New Showcase

This is the cover story of the September issue of AVN magazine.  LOS ANGELES—Jennifer White points to “chemistry” as the single most important factor in a sex scene. “When you know people want to be there and they want to put their all in—and both parties want the same thing—then magic happens,” White says. She experienced that elusive feeling throughout the making of Jennifer White: Hollywood Whore, her star-studded, six-scene showcase coming this month from Elegant Angel. Directed by AVN Hall of Fame shooter Mike John and produced by her husband Deacon, the movie features White in a DP with Seth Gamble and Vince Karter; a three-way with Isiah Maxwell and Zac Wild; a boy/girl with Manuel Ferrara; a girl/girl with Anna Claire Clouds; an anal solo; and a 19-guy gangbang that closes the show. The project took on a life of its own for White, the L.A. native who has delivered a highlight reel of world-class scenes in the past 16 years, earning the respect of her adult industry peers and a global fan following that loves her uninhibited performances. “I’m really, really excited,” White tells AVN. “I was very surprised and, I don’t know if flattered is the right word, but just so happy that they let me have creative control over this. It’s the first time anybody’s let me do that. “Deacon and I were able to collaborate on the ideas and I think we executed them really well. I’ve been watching it back for the last few days and I’m so impressed with how it turned out.” White says once she and Deacon communicated their vision, Elegant Angel gave them the green light to go big. “I wanted there to be a storyline you could actually follow, but it still be gonzo,” Jennifer explains. “So like the beginning with me in a trench coat and red lips… It gives off kind of Sin City vibes a little bit.” Deacon, a former union carpenter from Van Nuys who has been working full time behind the scenes in porn productions for the past eight years, tells AVN that White has made the most of several opportunities over the years, but nothing has been quite like this latest effort with Elegant Angel. “What’s so unique about this one is this is our thing and Elegant made that happen for us,” Deacon, aka Mr. White, says. “They said they wanted to do it and they said to do it your way—which was perfect.” The Whites relished having the room to operate—and they rose to the occasion, says Elegant Angel VP of production and executive producer, Daniel Chura. “I just can’t give both of them enough credit, they went above and beyond with everything,” Chura tells AVN. “This was a huge passion project for them.” Chura ran the web team at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based Adult Empire for 14 years before transitioning to movie production over three years ago. The adult retail powerhouse Adult Empire acquired Elegant Angel in March 2022 with plans to add to the legacy of the iconic studio. “One of my main goals was to evolve the brand but never forget the gonzo roots,” Chura says. “And that’s where the showcases really come in.” The Whites tell AVN that reaching out to one of the maestros of gonzo porn, Mike John, was the first item of business. “I mean, for Deacon and I, he was a no-brainer bringing him onto this project,” Jennifer says. “We did a sample scene a few months before the showcase and I squirted in it. And instead of most people—who will back away with the camera—he went right into it. So as the viewer, it looks like [the squirt] is going over your head. “And that really impressed me. I was like, I gotta have him. He really did a great job. I’m so happy with it.” John recalls meeting White more than 15 years ago before he stepped away from adult for over a decade to focus on another business venture. Jennifer made a strong first impression in an anal scene in the 12th volume of John’s long-running series POV Pervert (Mike John Productions/Jules Jordan)—in 2010. “Jennifer is just amazing,” John tells AVN. “I shot her very early in her career and over the time I was gone and came back I saw that she had developed into a top-tier performer. She’s always been hot, but she seems to be getting hotter and hotter—and then there’s the mechanics part of it. “Maybe some people don’t understand the dynamics of surviving in this [adult] world. They think they just fuck and it’s easy, but they don’t understand the day-to-day and the year-to-year—what it takes for a female performer to continue to raise her level and control that from within—and Jennifer is absolutely a master of that.” John continues, “In this project she shined on the highest level. Because we had some really long days—some anal days—and never once would you ever be able to tell she was challenged, or she was sore, or she was tired. “And with each scene she outdoes the last. The greater the challenge, the higher her energy and output.” John tells AVN that Jennifer and Deacon are “the most amazing team that I’ve ever been around.” “The two of them together have this perfect energy,” he says. “The more stressful it gets, the calmer they get. There is never a moment where you see a fracture in their bond. When Deacon asked me to direct this, he had me at, ‘Hey, would you be interested?’ “I’m a pornographer, of course I’ll do it.” Indeed, Jennifer and Deacon set the tone for Hollywood Whore with their professionalism and the entire cast and crew followed their lead. In one of the most notable moments of the production, the six-time AVN Male Performer of the Year Manuel Ferrara shocked White, John and the crew when he insisted he wanted to reshoot the scene he had just finished with Jennifer because he wasn’t satisfied with the level of his performance. “I was actually surprised that he wanted to do a re-do because the scene I thought was great,” White says. “But I could tell what he was saying because it was the fact that he, um, kept having to stop for a second to keep himself from cumming. “So for me it’s a compliment, but for him I guess it’s a failure. But I even told him that what he did was most guys’ best. So I was very surprised that he wanted to do it again. But the second one was even better, so I’m glad he did.” White says Ferrara informed everyone of his intentions immediately. “Yeah, he didn’t want to accept payment for it,” Jennifer adds. “He just wanted to get it done right. He’s a stand-up guy, like truly. Like who does that, you know?” The production moved to the Spearmint Rhino gentlemen’s club in Van Nuys for two of the scenes—including an arousing striptease girl/girl sequence by White and the 2025 Female Performer of the Year Clouds in front of a live audience. The second scene of the day, which started just an hour before they had to be wrapped at the club, entailed White entertaining 2024 AVN Male Performer of the Year Isiah Maxwell and perennial stud Zac Wild with a VIP lap-dance that turns into a full-throttle three-way. For Maxwell, a 14-year industry veteran who debuted in front of the camera in 2013, this outing was one for the scrapbook. “The Jennifer White showcase was amazing. She did her thing and I felt like I was at a feature dance show and I haven’t been to one since I was an intern,” Maxwell, who broke into adult in 2011 with an internship at Ideal Image Models, tells AVN. “They had us in the crowd watching, so our facial expressions were authentic. She was really putting on a show… “We finished the scene in the VIP area. That was part of the blackout phase for me, I don’t think about time. “I wasn’t feeling the pressure... Once the sex started, the ball started rolling really quick.” Maxwell is no stranger to going balls deep in White—he estimated they’ve performed together at least 10 times—even in different countries. “I would characterize her as authentic and completely herself,” Maxwell says. “That’s what makes following her so easy as a fan and as a colleague. She’s someone you can always count on. Every time I work with her it’s always a good day…And she was locked in; all of her energy went into the performance. It was complete focus.” Zac Wild agreed, telling AVN, “It was definitely a major highlight even in my own career.” “It was one of the funnest scenes, productions and environments to be in,” says Wild, who won the 2025 AVN trophy for Best Anal Sex Scene with Clouds. “That entire crew was on point and especially Jennifer White’s husband, Deacon. He was the mastermind behind it all. He has so much love and support for Jennifer. He wants to see her succeed…” They left nothing to chance for Jennifer’s DP—summoning two more AVN Male Performers of the Year, Seth Gamble (2023) and Vince Karter (2025)—to do the honors for the scene that took on rock & roll vibes, according to Mrs. White. “They’re incredible,” Jennifer says. “They show up literally every time. You can’t ask for more.” Karter, the charismatic French star who relocated from Budapest to LA in early 2023, tells AVN that White was “one of my first big names that I worked with from the new generation when I arrived in LA.” “I was really impressed in a good way,” Karter says. “She is always very nice and humble. She’s a real girl who loves hardcore sex and knows what to do and how to pose, but she still knows to enjoy it. And it’s very hard to find this balance—for the girls to really be a good technical performer and to enjoy the scene and to be slutty. This type of mix is super rare and Jennifer is that. To me, she is one of the top performers in LA for sure.” The versatile leading man Gamble, meanwhile, cherished the chance to not only join White’s showcase, but also to step on set with Mike John. “I’m kind of a porn historian—I love the history—and there are a few shooters on my bucket list who I wanted to work with and Mike John was one of them,” Gamble reveals. “I had never crossed it off my list until that day, so it was really cool. “Me and Vince have done dozens of DPs together and we have the same mindset about what we’re there to deliver. “We come in there and it’s almost like war—we go to war on the girl in the most positive way. We don’t fuck around. We have a vibe to us and it’s animalistic. “Me and him together has been proven and earned over time—and I say this with all humility, but putting us together is just a really good idea… And then you have Jennifer White.” Seth continues, “I’ve been very fortunate. I’ve done a lot of girl’s showcases, and any time I get to be in a showcase of any type, I take that shit very fucking seriously. “I understand my spots… this is year 19 in the business for me,” Gamble adds. “That scene flowed really well. It was just an animalistic fuck-fest with me and Vince and Jennifer, three seasoned vets doing what we do best and not really having a net. With the way Mike John shoots he just follows the flow, capturing the action and trusting us to do our part. So it’s such an easy type of scene to do.”  Deacon and John managed to keep the details of the final scene of Hollywood Whore a secret, wanting to surprise White on set that day. Jennifer tells AVN that logically, she figured when she headed to the nondescript warehouse space in downtown LA that she was headed for a gangbang of some degree. “I went into it expecting to do everything,” Jennifer says. “So that’s kind of how we played it. So Deacon went ahead and checked everybody’s tests for me, so I didn’t know how many and who. “And everyone was really good about keeping it quiet. I was definitely expecting a gangbang though. … It was the only thing left.” The lineup for the gangbang was the stuff legends are made of: Alex Jones, Hollywood Cash, Milan Ponjevic, Charles Dera, Jax Slayher, Victor Ray, Manny Coco, Nade Nasty, Chocolate God, Damon Dice, Slim Poke, Donny Sins, Scotty P, Musa Phoenix, Derek Savage, Eddie Jaye, Gamble, Karter and Lexington Steele. The men came out in two groups—10 in the first wave and 9 in the second. “I really liked being blindfolded. I thought that was really hot,” White says. “I was like super nervous in the beginning. I felt like my cheeks were shaking. But I thought it was cute.” In a humorous sequence, White was asked to guess whose dick she was touching while she was still blindfolded. She only guessed Victor Ray’s. “Giving him a little ego boost,” White says with a laugh. “We work together a lot, so... In hindsight I thought it would have been so funny if I actually guessed everyone right.” White even executed a rare triple during the scene. “I think I did triple penetration where there was two in my ass and one in my pussy. So that was a first,” she says. “Once we got going and the adrenaline was rushing it was like put another one in there. Yeah, that was fun. And they did a couple of lifting positions. Manny Coco and I think it was Jax with him? No, just Manny I think picked me up, like upside down 69. “That was exciting. I like getting tossed around a little bit.” White remembers looking at furniture on Craigslist in 2009, when she came across an ad for what was an adult talent agency that happened to be the former Metro Talent. “So I just went down there for an interview and they had me fill out a little questionnaire and here I am,” she says. A cheerleader in high school who enrolled in cosmetology school after graduation, Jennifer had been working for two years as an airbrush technician at a tanning salon at the time she made the leap. She recalls how Stormy Daniels would sometimes come to the salon and “that kind of took me down the porn rabbit hole.” She also worked as an executive assistant to a real estate broker in Beverly Hills and was a barista at Starbucks for three years.    Porn was not something she sought out. “To be honest, I had never thought about it before. That ad is what put the idea in my head,” White says. “It was supposed to be temporary for me. It was like a get out of debt quick situation but once I was in it, I was like, I’m actually kind of good at this, I think I can make a career out of this. “I think I’m in it for the right reasons which has a lot to do with it—I love sex.” Without question, White has been one of the most consistent performers of the past decade and a half—at press time she had more than 1100 credits. She spent time at four different talent agencies and also has done self-booking—for seven years—during her career. In the springtime, she signed with venerable agent Mark Spiegler, who tells AVN White has been “a very overlooked performer.” “I can’t believe she hasn’t won anything really up until now,” Spiegler says. “She’s really professional, everybody likes her, she’s easy to get along with…I don’t see any flaws.” Spiegler, who has guided nine of the past 12 AVN Female Performer of the Year winners, says he sat down with White and mapped out a strategy for this year’s awards season. “It’s different for everybody,” Spiegler says. “It depends on who you are, what you’ve done in the past, what you haven’t done and what you need to get done. She has all the elements right there at her disposal.” AVN Hall of Fame producer/director Jonni Darkko knows White’s talent and personality as well as anyone in adult. A master of glam filth and pioneer of the star showcase genre, Darkko directed White in Deep Inside Jennifer White (2023) and Jennifer White Overload (2024), not to mention her appearances in Darkko’s BJ titles, Throat Fucks 2 and Sloppy Head 3, in 2010. Even though Darkko has been directing for Evil Angel since 2004, when Deacon and Jennifer asked him to shoot still photos for Hollywood Whore, it was an immediate yes. “I love her and her husband,” Darkko tells AVN. “Deacon works for me as a PM and an assistant and he’s learning camera and we have nothing but a great relationship between him and I. I told him anything you need help with, let’s go do it. And they really killed it, they smashed it.” Darkko says he’s enjoyed seeing White build her reputation in the business. “She’s really turned into a full-blown, insanely hot woman with the curves, the face, the boobies, the ass, it’s all there,” Jonni says. “And she’s just cool as fuck to work with. She’s got a sarcastic wit like me and when it comes to scenes, she absolutely murders it. She gives it 1000 percent. She has so many things going on that make her so amazing and when you put them all together, maybe she could be one of the last real porn stars.” Darkko continues, “She just ticks all the boxes, and there is nobody who works harder than her, not one person.” White and Darkko teamed up once again this summer for a 12-man blowbang shot in an actual LA junkyard that will be part of Darkko/Evil Angel’s Wet Food 12 that will be released in September. The guys dressed like mechanics, even wearing fake name tags to go with the grease on their faces. “We went really kind of old school with it, we didn’t try to over-plan. We wanted it to be wherever this goes is where we’re going. So it has a cohesive vibe, good energy and it’s really raw. I had a blast and Jennifer fucking absolutely killed it. She was unbelievable.” White this year also landed her first lead in a major feature, playing Lotta Passion in Seth Gamble’s Once Upon a Time in the Valley for Wicked Pictures. In what was Gamble’s love letter to the ’90s era of porn, White’s character is based on the glamorous contract girls of the past like the Wicked Girls. She plays an established star whose career has peaked, only to find herself unfulfilled and unsure of who she can trust. “That was pretty incredible,” White says. “I thought Seth hit the nail on the head with that storyline and just tugging at people’s heartstrings, especially industry members that have been around for a while. And you get to see what porn looks like behind the scenes.” Gamble remembers meeting White for the first time in 2012 on the set of Axel Braun and Vivid’s Star Wars XXX: A Porn Parody. Over the years he’s also gotten close with Deacon. “We’ve just always had a really strong bond,” Gamble says. “I feel like a lot of people can relate to her role as a performer and as a person. About not knowing your trajectory and being severely underrated for most of your career. Everything was symbiotic and it just felt right. “She’s one of the most reliable performers in the industry. I know how much I care about this job and my job is my life and Jennifer has the same mentality. “We both care about making great adult movies.” Seth adds, “We grew up together in the industry and that character was based on a dozen different women in my life, so directing her was very easy. She listens very well, she understands. She leaned into the role and came completely prepared. “I think she’s one of the greatest female performers over the last decade. She gives it her all and it was just an honor to have her in this role.” Photography by Jonni Darkko