Biography of Asa Akira

Asa Akira is an American pornographic actress and adult film director.

Akira was born in Manhattan, New York, the only child of Japanese parents. She lived in SoHo and moved to Tokyo at age 9 when her father, a portrait photographer, was relocated there for work. She returned to the United States at age 13 and moved to Downtown Brooklyn and later Clinton Hill.

Akira began working as a dominatrix when she was 19 years old. She later worked as a stripper at the Hustler Club in New York. In 2006ï¿½07 she was a regular on the Bubba the Love Sponge radio show and was known as the "Show Whore". She met pornographic actress Gina Lynn on the show and she offered her porn work. Her first boy-girl scene was with Travis Knight for Gina Lynn Productions, after having already done several girl-girl scenes, mainly with Lynn. She then signed a contract with Vouyer Media before becoming a freelancer six months later. Asa is her real first name, which means "morning" in Japanese, and the last name in her stage name was taken from the anime film Akira.

Approximately one out of every three scenes Akira does involves Asian fetish roles, such as portraying a mail-order bride or a masseuse, covering her naked body in sushi, or wearing a kimono.

Akira received several award nominations for her role in David Aaron Clark's 2009 film, Pure, in which she plays a telephonist at a fetish dungeon who has an affair with the head-mistress' husband.

Akira co-hosted the 30th Annual AVN Awards alongside pornographic actress Jesse Jane and comedian April Macie. She won the AVN Female Performer of the Year Award that night. She was also the most awarded person during that ceremony.

In 2013, she made her directorial debut with Elegant Angel's Gangbanged 6.

On October 9, 2013, Akira announced that she signed an exclusive performing contract with Wicked Pictures. Her debut film as a contract performer for the company was Asa Is Wicked.