Vivid Video

Vivid Video is one of the world's largest adult film producers, featuring a popular catalog of DVD titles and internet content. Vivid Video specializes in high-production-value movies, filmed in exotic locations and shot with professional lighting and quality cinematography. Vivid also produces gay porn movies under the names "Vivid Man" and "Vivid Video". The company is best known for its "Vivid Girls", a collection of porn starlets such as Briana Banks, Jenna Jameson, Racquel Darrian, Devon, Ginger Lynn, Sunny Leone, Kobe Tai, Tera Patrick, Sunrise Adams, and Savanna Samson. All of these women made their names in other companies' productions, then moved to Vivid once they had become famous. The Vivid Girls are retained on exclusive contracts much like those of bygone days of the Hollywood studio system. They reportedly command a higher salary than do free-agent performers and produce only a handful of films per year (in 2004, Jenna Jameson told an interviewer "you probably have more sex than I do - I only film a couple of scenes three or four times a year"). Vivid has a strict policy mandating condom use, and the sexual activities shown are generally "milder" than those of Vivid's competitors. Anal sex is never depicted, and scenes of bondage are rare and particularly mild. Vivid did not follow the path taken by much of the rest of the porn industry in the late 1990s toward more explicit and extreme activities. Intercourse almost always involves a heterosexual couple; larger groupings or orgies are never depicted. These policies are intended to appeal to a wide, mainstream market that may not rent or buy pornographic movies frequently. Vivid produces relatively few titles per year, and each film is aggressively advertised and promoted. This is different from many other San Fernando Valley production companies, who routinely film, edit and release a two-hour title in less than a week, spending relatively little on advertising or promotion. Its titles are sold to the rental market and direct to consumers through its online mail-order site. Vivid also distributes the films to cable and satellite channels and offers its Internet subscribers pay-per-view access. Steve Hirsch and David James, who together started the company in 1984, control Vivid. Vivid has drawn some criticism for the lack of racial diversity among their performers. Nearly all of the male actors in their sex scenes are white; in contrast, many other porn companies frequently use, at a minimum, both black and white male actors. Vivid has produced few scenes featuring a black woman having sex with a white woman or a black woman having sex with a white man, and even fewer with a black man having sex with a white woman. Vivid employs relatively low numbers of Hispanic male actors and virtually no Asian male actors. Similarly, the majority of Vivid Girls have been white and blonde. Many other companies offer not only films featuring mixtures of ethnicities in their casts, but often also produce series in which all of their actors are Hispanic, black, Asian, et cetera. Also, concerns have been raised on how Vivid treats its employees, as well as accusations of "draconian" security measures towards possible bad PR.

Kobe Tai

Porn Star Kobe Tai is an Asian American porn star of Chinese and Japanese heritage. Her real name is Carla Carter. Tai was born in Taipei, Taiwan on January 15, 1972, but was adopted by an American family in Arkansas when she was five months old. She attended the University of Arkansas. She broke into the porn industry in 1996, under the names Blake Young and Brooke Young before adopting the name Kobe. She is signed to Vivid Entertainment as an exclusive performer. Along with Asia Carrera, she is regarded as one of the top Asian porn stars of all time. Some of Tai's notable early works are "Executions on Butt Row" (with Sean Michaels), and "Vivid Raw #2" (with Alex Sanders), her first Vivid production. Tai married adult film actor Steven Scott, who performs under the name Mark Davis, in 1997. The couple divorced in 1999, though she continues to use the name Carla Scott. In 2000, she left the industry, announcing that she was expecting her first child. She had a son, born sometime late 2000 to early 2001. She returned to porn in December 2001 in the movie Jenna Loves Kobe, with Jenna Jameson. Since then, she has starred in a total of 365 movies. She has dual nationality. In addition to her roles in adult films, Tai appeared in the mainstream movie Very Bad Things as a stripper who was accidentally killed at a bachelor party. She has made appearances on The Man Show and The Helmetcam Show. Tai also did background vocals for Marilyn Manson's song, "I Don't Like the Drugs, But the Drugs Like Me", on the album Mechanical Animals.

Monique Alexander

Porn Star Monique Alexander was born May 26, 1982. Alexander was born in Vallejo, California. A self-proclaimed shy girl while in high school, she began working in the Xbiz as a exotic dancer in Sacramento when she was just 18. She began appearing in adult magazines, followed by acting in adult films in 2001, becoming a contract girl for Sin City in that year. In addition to a catalog of solely girl-girl X-rated work, she appeared in a handful of softcore erotic films produced by HBO and Cinemax. She also became a popular solo and girl-girl internet nude model. In 2004 Alexander became a contract girl for Vivid Entertainment. After years of acting only in lesbian roles, she began appearing in boy-girl scenes in 2005, including an interactive film and a feature role with Rocco Siffredi in Vivid's Lexie and Monique Love Rocco. She has since continued in boy-girl scenes for Vivid.

Nikki Tyler

Porn Star Nikki Tyler was born December 4, 1972 in Berkeley, California is best known for her work in the 90s. Tyler starred in numerous musical stage performances in high school. Later, she went to college in Los Angeles, aspiring to become a clinical psychologist. In order to finance her tuition, she decided to appear in nude photo shoots. She graced over 100 top men's magazines, becoming Penthouse magazine's Pet of the Month in December 1995. Tyler then dropped out of college, attended makeup school, and was employed as a makeup artist for Vivid Video. She worked there for a year and a half before pornstars Celeste and Ashlyn Gere convinced Tyler to enter the hardcore industry. Tyler did only lesbian scenes at first. Her first on-screen girl/girl scene was in American Pie (1995). This was followed by a scene with her lover Jenna Jameson in VR69 (1995). She was rewarded for her success a few months later with her own exclusive Vivid contract. In order to improve her popularity, Tyler received breast implants. She also began to work with male porn stars such as Rocco Siffredi in Nikki Loves Rocco (1996). Nikki Tyler retired from the porn industry in 1999. She has two identifying tattoos: a rose on her right buttock and a small tattoo on her left ankle. According to Jenna Jameson's autobiography, Nikki lives in California with her husband and young son.

Racquel Darrian

Porn Star Racquel Darrian was born Kelly Jackson on July 21, 1968 in Kansas, USA. Darrian moved to California with her family when she was 7 years old. She started her career as a nude model for publications such as Penthouse and Playboy, posing for lesbian-themed photoshoots. When she crossed over to adult film, she initially performed only in "all-girl" scenes. As offers increased for her to participate in heterosexual scenes, she began working onscreen with her ex-husband, Derrick Lane. She signed an exclusive contract with Vivid Video; eventually tiring of constantly working with Lane, she insisted on working with other men. She is sometimes referred to as the "brunette goddess of porn" and her most celebrated attribute is her derriere. She made about 100 adult films between her first film "Warm Bodies, Hot Nights" in 1988 and her final film "Kink" (also published under the title "Girlfriend") in 1999. Racquel gave birth to a daughter, Brooke, in June 1997. Darrian also appeared in Penthouse and Playboy magazines. She was the October 1990 Penthouse Pet of the Month and in Playboy's 1996 pictorial "Strippers". She lives in Las Vegas and works as a feature dancer at clubs across the country

Savanna Samson

Porn Star Savanna Samson (born Natalie Oliveros on October 14, 1974 in Rochester, New York) is an erotic actress. Her name sometimes leads to confusion with Savannah, the adult actress who committed suicide in 1994. Samson trained in ballet through out her childhood and teen years growing up in Watertown, New York, which gave her an edge when she became an exotic dancer at Scores Gentlemen's Club in New York City in the mid 1990s. She soon started making regular appearances on Howard Stern's radio and E! cable network shows. Her fiancee's fantasy was to marry a porn star, so Samson made an adult movie with Rocco Siffredi in 2000 and gave the video to her husband on their wedding night. The movie, along with her appearances on Howard Stern, grabbed the attention of Vivid Entertainment producers. In 2002, Samson became a contract actress for Vivid (a "Vivid Girl"). She has recently become an author, contributing chapters to How To Have A XXX Sex Life (published by Regan Books). She also started a wine company in 2006, Savanna Wines. Her first vintage is called "Always Savanna Vino Rosso". Samson has four sisters and a son who was born shortly before Samson signed her Vivid contract. Despite her career and lifestyle, Samson says she is a devout and practicing Catholic. She is currently separated from her husband of five years. In 2000, Savanna made appearances in the TV programs Ed and Better Days. Savanna won several AVN Awards in her career, including 2006 Best Actress for The New Devil in Miss Jones, 2005 Best All-Girl Sex Scene with Jenna Jameson for The Masseuse, and 2004 Best Actress for Looking In. Savanna was the host of the 2005 AVN Awards. In 2005 Savanna scored a major role in a moderate budget remake entitled "The New Devil in Miss Jones" who she co-starred with Jenna Jameson. Savanna along with co - star Jenna Jameson walked away with an award for the Best All-Girl Sex Scene for 2005. On February 3, 2006, Samson, Jenna Jameson, and several other Vivid Girls hosted the first ever Vivid Club Jenna Super Bowl Party at the Zoo Club in Detroit Michigan, with a $1,000 ticket price that featured a lingerie show, but no nudity or sex acts. When announced, the party caused controversy with the NFL who did not sanction this as an official Super Bowl event.

Nikki Dial

Nikki Dial was born Nicole Grenier on October 5, 1973 in Erie, Pennsylvania and she was active during the early 90s. Dial was known for her "girl next door" looks, huge clitoris and large breasts on her small frame. Before entering the porn business, she worked in bondage and BDSM-oriented clubs; she claims that work of this nature helped her to overcome her natural shyness. Although she retired after only two years and roughly fifty movies, she worked for many of the major adult studios including Legend, VCA, and Vivid. She won several awards during her adult film career, including ones from XRCO and AVN. Dial retired from adult films in around 1995, but still occasionally appears as a feature dancer. She has also done voice acting in English dubbed hentai anime.