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’m Ophelia Fae — a lesbian pornstar, fansite and clip creator, and, as of very recently, a blogger. I left behind six successful years climbing the corporate ladder to get started in porn. Not for clout, not for a quick cash grab, but because I knew this line of work would bring me a sense of creative, spiritual, and yes, sexual fulfillment unlike any other career path I could have chosen.
I shot my first scene on Valentine’s Day 2024. In my first year, I worked with many of my dream companies and performers, received two AVN nominations, and was named one of PornCrush’s Best Fresh Faces of 2025. I’ve also made countless memories and friendships I’ll cherish for the rest of my life.
My goal with this blog is to provide resources for new and prospective performers — so you can make an educated decision about whether this career is right for you, and lay the foundation needed to reach your full potential as a performer, artist, and businessperson.
A Few Disclaimers Before We Begin
First: I’m writing from my perspective as someone who chose porn. My education and family support allowed me to pursue any career I wanted, and this is the one I went with. I’ll be assuming you’re coming from a similar position — especially when it comes to advice on whether porn is the right path for you. Other health and safety tips may be relevant to a wider range of people, but I want to be upfront: pursuing porn as a dream job is a privileged position to be in. If you’re here for similar reasons to me, it’s worth acknowledging that.
Second: I’ll mostly avoid naming specific agencies, rates, and other fast-moving details. I want this blog to stay evergreen, and the adult industry evolves too quickly for set-in-stone recommendations. The industry is genuinely welcoming — I strongly encourage building community, in person or online, where you can have real-time conversations about what’s current.
Third: I don’t know everything. I can only speak to my own experiences and what friends in the industry have shared with me. Everyone’s path looks different, and some things just have to be learned on the job.
Before Your First Porno
1. Know Your Why
Do you feel called on a soul level to share your sexuality with the world? Do you want to achieve remarkable feats as a sexual athlete? Do you want to use your mind and body to create art that makes an impact? Do you want to combine your entrepreneurial spirit with your hotness to strategically build a business that — after a lot of time and effort — can bring you financial freedom? Are you just a super horny, freaky person who loves to fuck and wants to turn that insatiable carnal energy into a career?
These are a few examples of great reasons to pursue a serious, long-term career as a pornstar. Whatever your main motivation is: remember it. Let it be the guiding force behind the choices you make and the goals you pursue. There are tons of flashy markers of success in this industry, and it’s easy to get pulled in a dozen different directions and find yourself lost. Coming back to your why will keep you on the right path.
2. Know Your "Yes," "No," and "Not Yet" Lists
I’ll go deeper on this when I write about sexual fluidity and sexual eclecticism in a future post, but when you’re first getting started, the most important things to know are: what you want to be a staple of your early career, and what you will never be willing to do. This includes the types of scene partners you have, the sex acts you’re open to, and the themes in scripts you’ll be given.
If you’re shooting with anyone other than yourself and your regular partners, there may come a time when chemistry doesn’t come naturally — conjuring that spark is literally your job now. Similarly, whether you’re following a director’s creative vision or fulfilling a custom request, scenes will sometimes ask you to do things that aren’t exactly “your thing.” I strongly advise against doing anything that would categorically be a bad time for you.
Your boundaries will likely evolve. But if you’re experimenting with something you don’t know how you’ll feel about, keep it off camera entirely — or do it with someone you trust to delete the footage if it’s a no. When it comes to limits you know you’ll enjoy pushing, you’ll need to decide how quickly you want to introduce those to your repertoire.
If you’re in it for the long haul, there’s rarely harm in sitting on a “first” for a bit. The more your name is out there, the better your collaborators and execution will be — and the more anticipation builds around anything new you do. That means you’ll get to choose whether to optimize a “first” for publicity, money, or cool factor (ideally all three, but go back to your why for how you prioritize). That said, a hardcore scene early in a career can make a big splash and accelerate your trajectory — just only go that route if you already love more intense sex, actively want a reputation as a hardcore performer, and will genuinely enjoy living up to it.
It’s never too late to close the door on something you started doing. But the more you shoot a certain type of content, the more demand there will be for it. Having constant demand for something you’re phasing out is a pain in the ass that’s entirely avoidable if you stick to what you actually like from the beginning.
3. Research the Current State of the Industry
Before you get started, do your homework. Who are the top performers right now? Who are the legends you look up to — and what makes them great? What studios and directors are on your wish list? Are there people you’re genuinely inspired by, beyond just their follower count? Can you perform like what you’re seeing on your screen? What would it take to get there?
These aren’t rhetorical questions. Deep dive on all of them before you shoot a single frame.
4. Film Yourself and Watch It Back
Do this solo, or with someone you trust completely to ensure the footage never goes anywhere (unless you both decide to sell it). But before the whole world watches you fuck, you need to know that you like what they’ll see.
When I filmed myself and watched it back, my immediate thought was: “Oh fuck yes, let’s go.” If your reaction is different, ask yourself why. Is it a technique issue? Refine your technique. Do you feel like your body isn’t camera-ready? Find your own balance of physical and internal work to show up on camera with confidence. And if your reaction is “oh god, no one can ever see this” — good thing this clip is on your phone and not on some director’s SD card where you won’t see it until your Twitter notification goes off and it’s already on the internet forever.
5. Figure Out Your Starting Strategy
Everyone’s path looks different. Some people get a big break right away. Some are already famous for something else. If that’s you — great, you’re starting with a massive advantage. But if you’re starting from ground zero, here are the three most common early-career paths:
Indie Only
The most time-intensive path, both in hours and in growth trajectory. You’re doing all your own marketing from scratch, without studio checks to tide you over. This means posting constantly across platforms, keeping your fan sites active, keeping fans engaged — all while still paying rent. Most people keep a day job until they can quit (or get fired for doing sex work), figure out a shooting schedule that doesn’t create too much chaos at home, or supplement with other adult industry gigs that pay more immediately, like camming, stripping, or dungeon work. Your main objective: become as well-known as possible, as fast as possible.
Selective Studio Work
Whether you have an agent but are being discerning, you’re self-booking, your boundaries rule out a lot of work (in my case, I don’t do scenes involving men or dicks), or your look is a more specific niche — you’re doing studio shoots, but they’re not keeping you fully booked. Studio gigs alone won’t make ends meet early on, so you’re still grinding on fan sites and self-promotion. Since gigs are fewer and farther between, you need an extremely flexible schedule to drop everything for opportunities. You’ll also hit a catch-22: the companies you most want to work with are often less inclined to book new talent without a body of work to vouch for you. A great agent helps, but your own networking and relationship-building is crucial. Your main objective: establish enough credibility — socially and in your performances — to overcome your smaller initial output.
The Newbie Gauntlet
If you’re a woman who’s into men, and especially if you have a younger look (regardless of actual age), you’re eligible for the newbie gauntlet. This isn’t an official term or a specific set of scenes — it’s the massive influx of gigs from “pro-am” studios that specialize in shooting new girls. Most scenes are boy-girl, with some solo and girl-girl mixed in. Your scene partner will generally be much more experienced, and ideally they’ll take a kind leading hand while showing you the ropes. These scenes are usually unscripted, not particularly glamorous, and often follow a casting couch format, with themes of “corrupted innocence” being a genre staple.
For reputable studios, that’s a fantasy you’ll play out, and your limits will be respected. But bad actors exist, and some will attempt to manipulate you into going further than you want. Do not attempt the newbie gauntlet without an agent you trust.
The benefits are real, though: if it’s done safely and those themes are your thing, you’ll have a blast. You’re shooting constantly, which means more opportunities to refine your craft, more eyes on you, and more money in your pocket right now. These could be some of your highest-volume months in terms of studio bookings — and not having a fan site during this window would be a massive missed opportunity. Your main objective: prove your staying power once the gauntlet is over. Prove it to fans by showing them your personality and what makes you worth following. Prove it to the industry by honing your craft and showing up with grace and professionalism on every set. Prove it to yourself by treating your body like the professional athlete you now are.
6. Tell the People You Love
They’re going to find out. Your friends, your family, your middle school bullies. And if you let some asshole be the one to break the news to the people you care about, they’re certainly not going to let your loved ones know that this was a carefully thought-out decision made by someone who is going about it smartly and safely.
And even if they miraculously don’t find out — outright hiding your porn career from the people you love will likely estrange you from them. This isn’t some meaningless desk job you forget about the second you clock out. If you care deeply enough about your career to have read this far, it’s going to become a major part of who you are. Your relationships will suffer if that part of you has to stay hidden.
If you’re keeping your work a secret for safety reasons, your first priority is a plan for if they find out anyway. You need to feel safe — in your home and your community — for any of this to be sustainable.
Personally, I told my parents in the form of a letter. I wanted to clearly articulate my reasons and address the concerns I anticipated them having — and I knew that if I tried to have a verbal conversation, I’d get flustered, which would only make them more worried. I’m deeply lucky to have such supportive parents, but I do give my letter some credit for how immediately cool they were about my decision. I may share that letter, or excerpts of it, publicly at some point.
7. Pick an Artist Name
For this section, let’s imagine my legal name is Stacy. (It’s not — unless you’re a troll, in which case yes, my full government name as printed on my birth certificate and passport is Stacy Fakename, you completely caught me, please spread it everywhere.) It’s just easier to make my point with a placeholder.
I am an out and proud sex worker. I don’t hide my identity as Ophelia from anyone who knows me as Stacy. I don’t put on a different front as Ophelia than I do as Stacy. Outside of my immediate family, whether someone knows me by one name or the other says nothing about the closeness of our relationship. I don’t even personally like the term “real name” — Stacy and Ophelia are functionally the same person to me.
So if the artist name isn’t about shame, or compartmentalization, or building a larger-than-life persona — why bother? Because Stacy Fakename is tied to legal documents, addresses, family members, and all the kinds of information that are best kept away from people with bad intentions. An artist name isn’t about hiding that you’re Ophelia from people who know you as Stacy. It’s about putting some barriers between your legal identity and people who might misuse it.
On top of that, your name is an opportunity to say something about who you are. Choose something that feels genuinely “you” and has famous-person energy. Make sure it’s available on your fansite(s) of choice, Instagram, Twitter, and Pornhub, and grab it before someone else does. And I’d recommend avoiding names currently being used by active major performers.
8. Start Posting (and Nuke Your Old Stuff)
The exact importance of social media will depend on your path in the industry — but even if you’re on set every single day during your newbie gauntlet, being active across multiple platforms is essential for growing your audience, networking, and making friends. Social media is also where fans get to know you as a person, which matters more than people realize.
Before you launch your new presence: private or delete any accounts tied to your legal name. Untag that account from other people’s posts. Make sure the profile picture isn’t a photo of you. Clean the slate.
9. Get Tested (Now with More Swabs)
You should already be getting tested frequently if you’re sexually active. But as a pornstar, you need to get tested like one — meaning within two weeks of every shoot, at a PASS Certified facility. PASS certified tests are logged in an adult industry-specific database, which allows for ultra-fast contact tracing and protects performers from people trying to fudge their results with a fake screenshot.
Make sure your test includes Mgen — an STI that the general population largely doesn’t know about or get screened for, despite being more prevalent than gonorrhea. The test itself involves a throat swab, a couple of small blood draws, a urine sample, and a rectal swab. The whole process takes about five minutes. Results generally come back within 24 hours.
10. Get Out There and Fuck on Camera
Congratulations. You’ve contemplated your motivations for getting into sex work. You’ve thought carefully about your sexual orientation, your performance abilities, and your relationship with your body on camera. You understand the current state of the industry and feel confident that joining it is the right call. You’ve laid out a game plan to build your brand while keeping food on the table in the early stages. You’ve had tough conversations with your loved ones — and as painful as that might have been, there’s a weight off your shoulders now that it’s done.
You have a name the world will know you by. You’ve started your socials under that name and privated everything tied to your legal identity. You’ve started building your brand, followed some hotties who may one day become your costars and community, and you have a clean bill of health.
Have your agent get to work — or politely start some conversations in DMs. It’s time.
Read more of Ophelia’s writing at howtobeapornstar.substack.com
