Sunny Leone Biography

Karenjit Kaur Vohra (born May 13, 1981), better known by her stage name 'Sunny Leone' (pronounced ), is an Indian Canadian actress and model, and former pornstar, also possessing the American citizenship. She has also used the stage name Karen Malhotra. She was named Penthouse Pet of the Year in 2003, was a contract performer for Vivid Entertainment, and was named by Maxim as one of the 12 top porn stars in 2010.

She has played roles in independent mainstream events, films and television shows. Her first mainstream appearance was in 2005, when she worked as a red carpet reporter for the MTV Video Music Awards on MTV India. In 2011, she participated in the Indian reality television series Big Boss. She hosts the Indian reality show Splitsvilla.

In 2012 she made her Bollywood debut in Pooja Bhatt's erotic thriller Jism 2 (2012) and shifted her focus to mainstream acting which was followed up with Jackpot (2013), Ragini MMS 2 (2014) and Ek Paheli Leela (2015).

Apart from her acting career she has been part of activism campaigns including the Rock 'n' Roll Los Angeles Half-Marathon to raise money for the American Cancer Society and has also posed for a People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) ad campaign with a rescued dog, encouraging pet owners to have their cats and dogs spayed and neutered.

Since 2011, Leone has been married to Musician Daniel Weber.

Early life

Sunny Leone was born in Sarnia, Ontario to Sikh Punjabi parents. Her father was born in Tibet and raised in Delhi, while her mother (who died in 2008) was from Sirmaur, Himachal Pradesh. As a young girl, she was a self-described tomboy, very athletic and played street hockey with the boys.

Although the family was Sikh, her parents enrolled her in Catholic school as it was felt to be unsafe for her to go to public school. She lost her virginity to a basketball player at another school at 16, and discovered her bisexuality at age 18. When she was 13, her family moved to Fort Gratiot, Michigan, then to Lake Forest, California a year later, fulfilling her grandparents' dream that the family be together in one place.

Career

Before working in the porn industry, she worked at a German bakery, a Jiffy Lube, and later a tax and retirement firm. She also was studying to become s nurse.

When picking a name for her adult career, she has said that Sunny is her real name and Leone was picked by Bob Guccione, former owner of Penthouse magazine. She posed for Penthouse magazine, and was named Penthouse Pet of the Month for the March 2001 issue, followed by a feature in the Holiday 2001 edition of Hustler magazine as a Hustler Honey. She has also appeared in other magazines including Cheri, Mystique Magazine, High Society, Swank, AVN Online, Leg World, Club International and Lowrider, while her online credits include ModFX Models, Suze Randall, Ken Marcus and Mac & Bumble.

In 2003, she was named "Penthouse Pet of the Year" and starred in the video Penthouse Pets in Paradise alongside Tera Patrick and Kyla Cole. In 2005 Adam & Eve appointed her as their West Coast Internet Sales Representative.

That same year, Leone signed a three-year contract with Vivid Entertainment with which she transitioned into the world of hardcore pornography, stating that she would only do lesbian scenes. Her first movie released was titled Sunny and was released in December 2005. Her next movie, Virtual Vivid Girl Sunny Leone, was the first interactive title for Leone, who was the first Vivid Girl to make such a movie. Taking only four days to film, the movie won her her first AVN Award (Best Interactive DVD). She followed this with Sunny Loves Cher, which featured her first on-screen squirting, and The Female Gardner co-starring Mikayla Mendez and Daisy Marie.

Leone's last two movies under her contract with Vivid were It's Sunny in Brazil, which was filmed in Brazil, and The Sunny Experiment also starring Monique Alexander and Brea Lynn. The movies were released in October and December 2007 respectively.

In May 2007, upon re-signing her contract with Vivid for another six films, Leone agreed to perform for the first time with men on camera, but exclusively with her fianc, Matt Erikson. That summer she also received breast augmentation, and shot her first movie under the new contract titled Sunny Loves Matt. The movie led to her being nominated for three (out of six) AVN awards in 2009 in addition to being a choice for Female Performer of the Year. She followed up her first boy-girl title with The Other Side of Sunny in October 2008, which would be the last time she would perform with Erikson.

In January 2008, Leone revealed that she was no longer exclusive to Erikson, and had done scenes with other actors, most notably Tommy Gunn, Charles Dera, James Deen and Voodoo. In 2009, Vivid released her only movie performing with other male actors titled "Sunny B/G Adventure". Her final release under contract with Vivid - "Undress Me", once again made her exclusive to performing with just one male actor, Daniel Webber.

In August 2009, she announced the launch of her own studio, Sunlust Pictures, with Daniel Weber as her partner. With her new venture Leone announced her plans to write, direct and create her own brand of adult movies with Vivid Entertainment as her distributor. Her first independent production, The Dark Side of the Sun, was released in March 2009, and was debuted at the Erotic Heritage Museum in Las Vegas. In June 2009, she held a casting call in Las Vegas for her second independent production titled Sunny Slumber Party (released September 2009).She followed up with three other self produced features Gia Portrait of a Porn Star (2010) which was nominated for multiple AVN awards, Roleplay (2011) and Goddess (2012) which featured her first anal sex scene.

No longer exclusive to Vivid, Leone began working with other studios and performers since 2009. She has managed to leverage her online popularity by striking deals with firms like PPPcard, AdultPokerParty.com, Brickhouse, Flirt4Free, Totemcash and Imlive to sell and distribute her content over the internet and other media. She won the "Web Babe of the Year" at the 2008 Xbiz Awards. Her websites and business interests are run under her banner company Leone L.L.C. She indicated in an April 2012 interview that 80 per cent of the traffic on her website, and 60 per cent of her revenue comes from India.

In addition to her film career, Leone has been part of the Vivid Comedy Tour, and has modelled for the Vivid Footwear collection. Leone has also participated in events like the Vivid/ClubJenna Lingerie Bowl and Vivid's Hot Rod Night. Doc Johnson launched a pocket pal in 2006 moulded to her vagina, and in 2008 released the Sunny Leone Exciter vibrator. Control MFG currently uses Leone's image along with other Vivid girls to market their line of skateboards. She is paired with Gab Ekoe, one of the Team Control riders. She also indicated that she plans to launch her own line of lingerie and other Sunny-branded products including a diamond jewellery line.

In September 2009, an iPhone application consisting of a collection of non-nude photos, some videos and a porn star-penned blog was approved by Apple for sale in the iTunes store, making it the first officially sanctioned application featuring a porn star. By February 2010, the app had been removed by Apple from the store.

Leone was voted number 13 (up from number 41 in 2007) on Genesis magazine's "Top 100 Porn stars" list, number 34 on Desiclubs.com's Top 50 Coolest Desis of 2004, and one of the "40 under 40" ranking on AVN Online magazine. In 2010, she was named by Maxim as one of the 12 top female stars in porn. She was voted number 82 in the Top 99 Women for 2012 in AskMen.com's list.

In 2013, she announced her retirement from the adult industry stating "I am lucky that the audience is accepting me. I have come my way from there (porn industry). I don't have any plans as of now to go back there."

A police first information report was filed against her in May 2015 after a woman at Mumbai, India, complained that Leone's website, sunnyleone.com, was destroying the Indian culture. Thane police's cyber cell at Ramnagar booked her for sections 292, 292A, 294 which could land her into jail, fine or both. Senior police inspector JK Sawant stated, "We are trying to contact the website's operator to get relevant details. We cannot block the website, but will ask the operator to remove objectionable content."

Mainstream appearances

Leone's first mainstream appearance was in 2005, when she was a red carpet reporter for the MTV Awards on MTV India. She has also had a cameo in the film The Girl Next Door, performed in Ja Rule's video Livin' It Up and a video for Kidd Skilly. Other credits include E!'s "Wild On!" and the Sundance Film Festival's 'After Dark'. Leone was a contestant in the second season of the Fox reality show My Bare Lady 2: Open for Business, in which a group of adult actresses were given classes and training on how to pitch investment ideas and competed for success in the business world. In addition to filming her scene for Debbie Does Dallas in 2007, Leone was also part of a Showtime documentary of the same name detailing the production of the movie and the personal lives of its stars.

She indicated that for the right price she would seriously consider a career in Bollywood. She was courted by Indian directors in the past but felt uncomfortable with the roles that she would have played. Director Mohit Suri reportedly asked Leone to play the lead role in his film Kalyug, but instead cast Deepal Shaw as he could not afford Leone's $1 million acting fee. She has mentioned that Aamir Khan is her favorite Bollywood actor, and that over 60% of her fans are from South Asia.

In 2008, Leone announced that she would be starring in a mainstream action adventure movie titled Pirates Blood, which was shot in Oman. The shooting was completed in two weeks and was to be released in winter 2008. Leone also landed a role in Middle Men, producer Chris Mallick's indie feature about the birth of the online porn industry set for wide theatrical release in 2009. She appeared in the 2010 film The Virginity Hit playing a version of herself, where she is hired to take the virginity of the lead character.

Leone has made appearances at events such as the 2002 SEMA International Auto Salon, the 2002 Extreme Autofest Pomona and the 2006 World Series of Poker in Las Vegas. Sunny has also been the hostess at events in clubs like the Mansion in Miami and the Highlands in Hollywood.

In 2005, she was mentioned in Forbes magazine for a story on Vivid Entertainment. Leone has also been featured in mainstream publications like FHM, Front and Jane magazine. In 2007, along with the other Vivid Girls, she was seen in a 48' high holiday Billboard in Times Square at W. 48th Street and Seventh Avenue. Leone is also one of the Penthouse Pets who appears in the PlayStation Portable game Pocket Pool. She was also featured in a coffee table book titled Naked Ambition: An R Rated Look at an X Rated Industry by Michael Grecco.

In 2004, she was part of No More Bush Girls, in which she and several other popular adult actresses shaved off their pubic hair in protest of the George W. Bush presidency. In May 2008, she shot a promotional video for Declare Yourself, a nonprofit, nonpartisan voter registration campaign targeting 18- to 29-year-olds. She indicated that Barack Obama would be her choice in the 2008 U.S. presidential election, primarily because she felt he was more business friendly to the adult industry than his opponent John McCain. She also released a public service announcement on behalf of the ASACP, reminding adult webmasters to protect their sites from children by having an RTA label on it.

Leone has a strong interest in health and fitness, and has been featured in several mainstream fitness publications. Leone has modelled fitness clothing for the sports brand Fantasy Fitness and shared that she keeps her body in shape by working out as much as she can despite her busy schedule and as quoted in Men's Fitness magazine, "I try to eat very healthy - lots of vegetables, drinking my milk every day."

In 2013, Leone posed for a PETA ad campaign, encouraging dog and cat owners to have their pets spayed and neutered. In an interview for PETA India, Leone said, "I believe that every single dog should be spayed and neutered. You don't want to continue the cycle of homeless dogs or cats. And spaying and neutering also keeps them healthy

Bigg Boss

In 2011, she participated in the Indian reality series Bigg Boss, entering the house on day 49. However she refused to divulge her porn star status, and replied to fellow house-mate Pooja Bedi that she was a model and a TV star in America for the last ten years or so. It was reported that she caused a stir in the larger populace with her Twitter feed gaining 8,000 new followers in just 2 days and Google saying searches for her experienced a "breakout". There were also complaints lodged with the Indian Ministry of Information and Broadcasting alleging that the Colors TV channel was promoting pornography by having Leone appear on the show; among those who filed are the Indian Artistes and Actors Forum and Anurag Thakur, member of Lok Sabha and head of the Bharatiya Janata Party's youth wing.

Indian cinema

During her stay in the Bigg Boss house, Sunny was approached by Bollywood film-maker Mahesh Bhatt who entered the house briefly to offer her the lead role in Jism 2 (the sequel to the 2003 film Jism). She accepted it, which resulted in Pooja Bhatt's production house, Fish Eye Network and Leone's agent discussing the movie further. Leone's entered Bollywood in 2012 with the film Jism 2 to weak critical reception but was commercially successful. Sunny Leone signed her second Bollywood film, "Ragini MMS 2". Ragini MMS, sequel to Ekta Kapoor's crossover horror movie Ragini MMS. Sunny Leone featured in an item number in the Sanjay Gupta and Ekta Kapoor's 2013 film Shootout at Wadala. She further started filming for Kaizad Gustad's Jackpot in which she plays a femme fatale. Jackpot released on 13 December 2013 and was panned by critics.

Her first release of 2014 was the much anticipated horror film Ragini MMS 2, which proved to be a box-office hit. Leone's performance received all round praise with critic Mohar Basu calling her work a "revelation". Critic Taran Adarsh also noted that Leone," carries off her character with supreme confidence" In November 2013, she had confirmed that she would make her Tamil film debut in Vadacurry which released in May 2014 and featured her in a special appearance. She next appeared in the item number Pink Lips for the film Hate Story 2, . After giving a hit number Pink Lips, she appeared once again in Shake That Booty opposite Mika Singh from his film Balwinder Singh Famous Ho Gaya. She made her acting debut in the Telugu film industry by appearing in a cameo in Current Theega opposite Manchu Manoj and Rakul Preet Singh where she played a school teacher.

Leone then appeared in item song Sesamma Bagilu Tegiyamma in Kannada film DK, which marked her debut in Kannada film industry. In April 2015, Leone appeared in Bobby Khan's musical thriller Ek Paheli Leela, where she portrayed dual roles as Leela, a village belle and Meera, a supermodel from Milan. The film was released on April 10, 2015. The film met with mixed to negative reviews with collections of . After a little gap, post the release of Ek Paheli Leela , she appeared in Devang Dholakia's Kuch Kuch Locha Hai was released on May 8, 2015. She essayed the role of a film star opposite Ram Kapoor, Evelyn Sharma and Navdeep Chabbra. The film emerged to be a critical and commercial failure. She did her second Kannada song "Kamakshi" from the film Luv U Alia. Last in 2015, she appeared in a cameo in Akshay Kumar's Singh is Bling. In January 2016, she appeared in Milap Zaveri's adult comedy Mastizaade, released on January 29, 2016 where she portrayed twin sisters, Laila Lele and Lily Lele along with Tusshar Kapoor and Vir Das. The film released to mixed reviews and was an average earner. One critic said "Leone may not be better than this film, but she"?s the best thing in it."? Her next film was Jasmine D'souza's One Night Stand with Tanuj Virwani released on May 6, 2016. The film was released to mixed reviews but was a flop commercially.

Upcoming projects

As of December 2015, Leone has completed filming for Rajeev Chaudary's Beiimaan Love opposite Rajneesh Duggal slated to release in September 2016. She is currently filming along Arbaaz Khan for Rajeev Walia's romantic-drama Tera Intizaar. Leone will appear in an extended cameo for Sonakshi Sinha's Noor directed by Sunhil Sippy. She has also completed filming for Dholakia's much delayed action thriller Tina and Lolo, awaiting release. She has also shot an item song for Raees opposite Shah Rukh Khan. Moreover she is also doing a special song with Emraan Hashmi in Milan Luthria's Baadshaho.

Writer

In April 2016 Leone published an e-book of love stories entitled Sweet Dreams. The work was well received by the Hindustan Times, which commented, "Sunny"?s stories are relentlessly optimistic. The characters are not complicated or unpleasant and exist in a world that veers on the border of Valentine"?s Land with its floating pink hearts and soft focus lighting."

Personal life

In June 2006, Leone became an American citizen, but stated she planned to remain a dual citizen of Canada. On 14 April 2012, Leone announced that she was now a resident of India explaining in an interview to The New Indian Express that she was an Overseas Citizen of India and that she was eligible for overseas citizenship because her parents lived in India. She applied for it prior to filming Jism 2.

Although bisexual, she has stated that she prefers men. Leone was engaged to Matt Erikson, a vice-president of marketing at Playboy Enterprises but they broke up in 2008. Sunny Leone had dated stand-up comedian Russell Peters for a brief period in 2008. She mentioned in an interview at the start of 2011 that she was married to Daniel Weber. During her stay in the Bigg Boss house later that same year, Leone indicated that she had married; Leone said she 'purposely arrived late' to their first date as she was not impressed with him, but he changed her mind by sending 24 roses to her hotel room.

A 2008 Eye Weekly article reported that "Leone does her best to maintain a link to Sikh traditions, even if more in theory than in practice. But she's unlikely to disavow her career path due to religion" and that Leone said "Girls will leave the industry claiming that they found God. Well, the fact is, God has always been with them the entire time." In a 2010 interview, she said

It's a community-based religion. You walk into a temple and you're greeted with the utmost respect... But, just like any religion it doesn't want you to shoot adult material. I mean, I grew up going to temple every Sunday. When my parents found out they knew my personality which was very independent. Even if they tried to stop me or tried to steer me the right way they would have lost their daughter. I'm too headstrong. And it wasn't a plan. It just happened and my career and everything just kept getting bigger and bigger.

Filmography

Bollywood films

Key

Denotes films that have not yet been released

Year	Film	Role	Director(s)	Language	Notes
2012	Jism 2	Izna	Pooja Bhatt	Hindi	Hindi debut
2013	Shootout at Wadala	Laila	Sanjay Gupta	Hindi	Special appearance in the song "Laila"
2013	Jackpot	Maya	Kaizad Gustad	Hindi
2014	Ragini MMS 2	Sunny Leone	Bhushan Patel	Hindi
2014	Vadacurry	Herself	Saravana Rajan	Tamil	Tamil debut, Special appearance in the song "Low Aana Life u"
2014	Hate Story 2	Herself	Vishal Pandya	Hindi	Special appearance in the song "Pink Lips"
2014	Balwinder Singh Famous Ho Gaya	Herself	Sunil Agnihotri	Hindi	Special appearance in the song "Shake That Booty"
2014	Current Theega	Sunny	G. Nageswara Reddy	Telugu	Telugu debut, cameo appearance
2015	DK	Herself	Vijay Kampali	Kannada	Kannada debut, Special appearance in the song "Sesamma"
2015	Ek Paheli Leela	Leela / Meera	Bobby Khan	Hindi
2015	Kuch Kuch Locha Hai	Shanaya	Devang Dholakia	Hindi
2015	Luv U Alia	Herself	Indrajit Lankesh	Kannada	Special appearance in the song "Kamakshi"
2015	Singh Is Bliing	Airline passenger	Prabhu Deva	Hindi	Cameo appearance
2016	Mastizaade	Laila Lele/Lily Lele	Milap Zaveri	Hindi
2016	One Night Stand	Celina (Ambar Kapoor)	Jasmine D'Souza	Hindi
2016	Beiimaan Love		Rajeev Chaudhari	Hindi	Post-production
2016	Tina & Lolo	Tina	Devang Dholakia	Hindi	Post-Production
2017	Raees	Herself	Rahul Dholakia	Hindi	Special appearance in the song "Laila O Laila"
2017	Noor	Herself	Sunhil Sippy	Hindi	Cameo appearance
2017	Baadshaho	Herself	Milan Luthria	Hindi	Special appearance in a song
2017	Tera Intezaar	Rounak	Rajeev Walia	Hindi	Filming

Hollywood films

Year	Film	Role	Language	Notes
2004	The Girl Next Door	Herself	English	Hollywood debut, cameo appearance
2008	Pirate's Blood	Sunny	English
2010	The Virginity Hit	Sunny	English

Pornographic films

Year	Film	Role	Source
2002	Penthouse Video: Virtual Harem	Sunny
2003	Deadly Stingers	Hot Tub Hussey
2004	Mystique Presents H20hh
	Busty Cops	Taluca Lake
	Lingerie: The Secret Art of Seduction	Sunny
2005	Centerfold Fetish
	Sunny
	Alabama Jones and the Busty Crusade	Queen of the Jungle
2006	Busty Cops 2	Taluca Lake
	Virtual Vivid Girl Sunny Leone	Sunny Leone
	Sunny & Cher	Sunny
	The Female Gardener
2007	Debbie Does Dallas ... Again	Corky
	Sunny Loves Matt	Sunny
	It's Sunny in Brazil
	The Sunny Experiment
2008	The Other Side of Sunny
	Dark Side of the Sun
	Descent Into Bondage
	Costumed Damsels in Distress	Gypsy girl
	The House of Naked Captives
2009	Undress Me
	Deviance
	Naughty America 4 Her 6
	Sunny's Slumber Party	Sunny
	Sunny's Big Adventure
2010	Live Gonzo
	Shut Up and Fuck Me
	Sunny's Casting Couch: I Wanna Be a Pornstar
	All Sunny All the Time
	Sunny Leone Loves HD Porn
	Sunny Leone Loves HD Porn 2
	Girlfriends 2
	Hocus Pocus XXX	Townsfolk
	Gia: Portrait of a Porn Star	Gia
	Not Charlie's Angels XXX	Kelly
2011	Roleplay
	Sunny & the Suitcase	Sunny
	Lies: Diary of an Escort
	Bang Van Blowout with Nick Swardson
2012	Sunny Leone: Goddess
	Lesbian Workout
	Sunny Leone: Erotica
	Home Alone
2013	Charlie's Girl: Georgia Jones

Television

Year	Serial	Role	Channel	Source
2005	MTV Awards	Reporter	MTV India
2007	Debbie Does Dallas	Herself	Showtime
2008	My Bare Lady 2: Open for Business	Contestant	Fox Reality Channel
2008	Co-Ed Confidential	Stripper	Cinemax After Dark
2011	Bigg Boss 5	Contestant	Colors
2014	Haunted Weekends with Sunny Leone	Host	MTV India
2014	Splitsvilla: Season 7	Host	MTV India
2015	Splitsvilla: Season 8	Host	MTV India
2016	Bigg Boss 9	Guest Appearance	Colors

Other media appearances

Year	Production	Role	Type	Notes
2001	Livin' It Up	Dancer	Videoclip	song by Ja Rule
2007	Pocket Pool	Penthouse Pet	PlayStation Portable game
2014	Comedy Nights with Kapil	Guest Appearance	Television Show	Promotion of movie Ragini MMS 2 and Ek Paheli Leela

Awards

Year	Ceremony	Category	Work
2008	XBIZ	Web Babe of the Year
2010	AVN	Best All-Girl Group Sex Scene	Deviance (with Eva Angelina, Teagan Presley and Alexis Texas)
		Web Starlet of the Year
	F.A.M.E.	Favorite Breasts
2012	XBIZ	Porn Star Site of the Year	sunnyleone.com
2013	AVN	Crossover Star of the Year (tied with James Deen)

Bibliography

• Sweet Dreams (2016)

See also

• List of porn stars who appeared in mainstream films
• Pornography in India