Karenjit Kaur Vohra[6] (born May 13, 1981),
[1] better known by her
stage name '
Sunny Leone' (pronounced
), is an Indian Canadian actress and
model,
[7] and former
pornstar,
[8][9] also possessing American citizenship. She has also used the stage name
Karen Malhotra.
[10][11] 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.
[12]
Early life
Sunny Leone was born in
Sarnia, Ontario to
Sikh Punjabi parents.
[5] Her father was born in
Tibet and raised in
Delhi, while her mother (who died in 2008)
[13] was from
Sirmaur, Himachal Pradesh.
[5] As a young girl, she was a self-described tomboy,
[14] very athletic and played street hockey with the boys.
[2]
Although the family was
Sikh,
[5] her parents enrolled her in
Catholic school
[5][15] as it was felt to be unsafe for her to go to public school.
[16] She discovered her
bisexuality at age 18.
[17] When she was 13, her family moved to
Fort Gratiot, Michigan, then to
Lake Forest, California a year later,
[15][18] fulfilling her grandparents' dream that the family be together in one place.
[5]
Career
Before working in the
porn industry, she worked at a German bakery,
[19] a
Jiffy Lube,
[15] and later a tax and retirement firm.
[20] She also was studying to become a nurse.
[14]
Leone at the 2002 Adult Entertainment Expo, one of her earliest promotional appearances
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.
[21] 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,
[22] Mystique Magazine,
[23] High Society,
Swank,
AVN Online,
Leg World,
Club International and
Lowrider,
[24][25] while her online credits include ModFX Models,
[26] Suze Randall,
[27] Ken Marcus[28] and Mac & Bumble.
[29]
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.
[30]
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.
[2] Her first movie released was titled
Sunny[31] 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.
[32] Taking only four days to film,
[19] 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,
[33] and
The Sunny Experiment also starring Monique Alexander and Brea Lynn.
[34] 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 fiancé, Matt Erikson.
[35] That summer she also received
breast augmentation,
[36] 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.
[37] 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[38] and
Voodoo.
[39] In 2009, Vivid released her only movie performing with other male actors titled "
Sunny B/G Adventure".
[40] Her final release under contract with Vivid – "
Undress Me", once again made her exclusive to performing with just one male actor, Daniel Webber.
[41]
In August 2009, she announced the launch of her own studio, Sunlust Pictures, with Daniel Weber as her partner.
[42] 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.
[38] 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.
[43] In June 2009, she held a casting call in Las Vegas for her second independent production titled
Sunny Slumber Party[44] (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,
[45] Roleplay (2011) and
Goddess (2012) which featured her first
anal sex scene.
[46]
Sunny Leone at Exxxotica 2009 Miami
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,
[47] AdultPokerParty.com,
[48] Brickhouse,
[49] Flirt4Free,
[50] Totemcash
[51] and Imlive
[52] 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.
[53]
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.
[54]
In addition to her film career, Leone has been part of the Vivid Comedy Tour,
[55] and has modelled for the Vivid Footwear collection.
[56] Leone has also participated in events like the Vivid/
ClubJenna Lingerie Bowl[57] and Vivid's Hot Rod Night.
[58] Doc Johnson launched a
pocket pal in 2006 moulded to her
vagina,
[59] and in 2008 released the Sunny Leone Exciter vibrator.
[60]
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.
[61]
She also indicated that she plans to launch her own line of lingerie
and other Sunny-branded products including a diamond jewellery line.
[38]
In September 2009, an
iPhone application consisting of a collection of non-nude photos, some videos and a porn star-penned blog
[62] was approved by
Apple for sale in the iTunes store, making it the first officially sanctioned application featuring a porn star.
[63] By February 2010, the app had been removed by Apple from the store.
[64]
Leone was voted number 13 (up from number 41 in 2007
[65]) on
Genesis magazine's "Top 100 Porn stars" list,
[66] number 34 on Desiclubs.com's Top 50 Coolest Desis of 2004,
[67] and one of the "40 under 40" ranking on
AVN Online magazine.
[68] In 2010, she was named by
Maxim as one of the 12 top female stars in porn.
[69] She was voted number 82 in the Top 99 Women for 2012 in
AskMen.com's list.
[70]
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."
[71]
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 cannot block the website,
but will ask the operator to remove objectionable content."
[72]
In 2016 she was chosen as one of
BBC's 100 Women[73]
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.
[74] Other credits include
E!'s "Wild On!" and the Sundance Film Festival's 'After Dark'.
[75] 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.
[76] 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.
[77] She was courted by Indian directors in the past but felt uncomfortable with the roles that she would have played.
[21][78] 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.
[79] She has mentioned that
Aamir Khan is her favorite Bollywood actor,
[80] and that over 60% of her fans are from South Asia.
[81]
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.
[82] 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.
[83][84] 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.
[85]
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.
[86] Sunny has also been the hostess at events in clubs like the Mansion in Miami
[87] and the Highlands in Hollywood.
[88]
In 2005, she was mentioned in
Forbes magazine for a story on Vivid Entertainment.
[89] Leone has also been featured in mainstream publications like
FHM,
Front and
Jane magazine.
[90] 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.
[91] 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.
[92]
Leone at the
PETA's stray dog adoption campaign
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.
[93] In May 2008, she shot a promotional video for
Declare Yourself, a nonprofit, nonpartisan voter registration campaign targeting 18- to 29-year-olds.
[94] 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.
[95]
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.
[96]
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
[97] 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."
[98]
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."
[99] PETA named her their "Person of the Year" in 2016.
[100]
Bigg Boss
In 2011, she participated in the Indian reality series
Bigg Boss, entering the house on day 49.
[101][102] 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.
[103] It was reported that she caused a stir in the larger populace
[104] with her Twitter feed gaining 8,000 new followers in just 2 days
[105] and
Google saying searches for her experienced a "breakout".
[106] 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
[107] and
Anurag Thakur, member of
Lok Sabha and head of the
Bharatiya Janata Party's youth wing.
[108]
Indian cinema
Leone on the set of
Jism 2 in 2012
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.
[109] Leone's entered Bollywood in 2012 with the film
Jism 2 to weak critical reception but was commercially successful.
[110] Sunny Leone signed her second
Bollywood film, "
Ragini MMS 2".
Ragini MMS, sequel to
Ekta Kapoor's crossover horror movie
Ragini MMS.
[111] Sunny Leone featured in an
item number in the
Sanjay Gupta and
Ekta Kapoor's 2013 film
Shootout at Wadala.
[112][113] She further started filming for Kaizad Gustad's
Jackpot in which she plays a
femme fatale.
[114] Jackpot released on 13 December 2013 and was panned by critics.
[115]
Her first release of 2014 was the much anticipated horror film
Ragini MMS 2, which proved to be a box-office hit.
[116][117] Leone's performance received all round praise with critic
Mohar Basu calling her work a "revelation".
[118] Critic
Taran Adarsh also noted that Leone," carries off her character with supreme confidence"
[119] 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.
[120] She next appeared in the item number
Pink Lips for the film
Hate Story 2, .
[121] 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.
[122]
Leone then appeared in item song
Sesamma Bagilu Tegiyamma in
Kannada film
DK, which marked her debut in Kannada film industry.
[123] 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.
[124][125] The film met with mixed to negative reviews with collections of
₹27.47 crore (US$4.1 million).
[126][127] 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.
[128] She did her second
Kannada song "Kamakshi" from the film
Luv U Alia.
[129] Last in 2015, she appeared in a cameo in
Akshay Kumar's
Singh is Bling.[130] 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.
[131] One critic said "Leone may not be better than this film, but she’s the best thing in it.”
[14] 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.
[132] Her last release of 2016 was Rajeev Chaudary's
Beiimaan Love opposite
Rajneesh Duggal that released on October 14, 2016. Her performance was widely praised but the film met with negative reviews and flopped.
[133] She also appeared in song "Tu Zaroorat Nahi Tu Zaroori Hai" with
Sharman Joshi in
Fuddu and item song "Choli Blockbuster" for the film
Dongri Ka Raja.
[134][135] In December 2016, her song "Laila Main Laila" from
Raees with
Shah Rukh Khan was released.
[136]
Upcoming projects
As of October 2016, Leone is currently filming along
Arbaaz Khan for Rajeev Walia's romantic-drama
Tera Intizaar.
[137] She will appear in an extended cameo for
Sonakshi Sinha's
Noor that will release in April 2017.
[138] She has also completed filming for Dholakia's much delayed action thriller
Tina and Lolo, awaiting release.
[139] She has also shot for a special song with
Emraan Hashmi in
Milan Luthria's
Baadshaho.
[140]
Writer
In April 2016 Leone published an e-book of love stories entitled
Sweet Dreams.
[141] 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."
[142]
Personal life
In June 2006, Leone became an American citizen,
[19] but stated she planned to remain a
dual citizen of Canada.
[143] On 14 April 2012, Leone announced that she was now a resident of India
[144][145][145] 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.
[146][147][148]
Sunny Leone and her husband Daniel Weber arriving in India to promote
Jism 2
Although bisexual, she has stated that she prefers men.
[149] Leone was engaged to Matt Erikson, a vice-president of marketing at
Playboy Enterprises but they broke up in 2008.
[18][150][151][152] Sunny Leone had dated stand-up comedian
Russell Peters for a brief period in 2008.
[153][154] She mentioned in an interview at the start of 2011 that she was married to Daniel Weber.
[155] 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.
[156][157]
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."
[158] 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.[16]
2Break the kiss barrier (optional). If you're feeling brave, test the waters with a small kiss on the hand or the cheek. If the other person seems interested, it's probably safe to proceed with a kiss on the mouth.
3Set the mood with a romantic compliment. Go big and pay the other person the sincerest compliment you can think of. If you get it right, the other person might take the lead and lean in to kiss you.
4Consider asking for a kiss directly. If all else fails, go for broke and state your intentions. If your date hasn't picked up on any of your hints and you're dying to lock lips, you might as well be straightforward and just ask if you can kiss him or her. Don't worry, though — you can be direct while still being romantic and compelling. Try these phrases if you're at a loss for words:
5Go in for the kiss. Don't waste any time once you have the go-ahead — close your eyes, lean in and smooch! The next sections will discuss some kissing techniques, as well as how to handle kissing in different dating situations such as a first kiss or kissing after a date.
1Keep your lips soft. Tense puckers are for family members or people you're obligated to kiss, but keeping your mouth slightly parted and soft communicates a sense of openness.
2Do a few soft kisses. Start slow with soft, gentle kisses and skip the tongue and the teeth — for now. If your partner seems receptive, you can move forward to French kissing.
3Stay at a manageable level of saliva. Slobbery puppies are the last thing you want your date thinking of while you kiss him or her. Avoid this fate by swallowing excess saliva occasionally. If you notice that your lips are a bit too wet, pull away and discreetly purse them to bring the extra spit back into your mouth.
4"Lock" lips. If your initial kisses have gone well, try a lip lock, which can lead to closer kisses (and is a nice gateway for French kissing). Basically, you'll "stack" your lips so that (for instance) it looks like this:
5Make sure to breathe. Ideally, you'll be able to breathe softly through your nose while you're kissing. If that's not possible, though, break away for a second to take a breath.
6Use your hands. Don't just let your hands hang at your sides like two limp fettuccini noodles — put them to good use!
7Test using tongue. Once you're in a lip lock with your partner's lower lip between both of yours, lightly run the tip of your tongue over it. If you can move it slowly, even better.
8Try French kissing (optional). Using your tongue during a kiss is, in Western culture, referred to as a French kiss. Why do the French get the credit? Who knows! Here's how to get started:
9Mix it up. Don't feel obligated to keep the intensive tongue activity going forever. Alternate soft and hard, slow and fast, deep and shallow. You can even go back to using only your lips for a few minutes.
10Gently nibble your partner's lips (optional). Teeth aren't a necessary element of kissing, but a grazing them over your partner's lip can introduce another unexpected element. Here are some quick pointers:
11Increase the intensity with occasional breaks. Pull away for a moment to look into your partner's eyes, whisper something in his or her ear, or simply catch your breath and marvel at your good fortune.
