Adam Champ relates his ascent to porn stardom exclusively to writer Ernie Alderete.
I left home after finishing college in 2000 when I was 24 years old. I am 33 now. My first stop on my international odyssey was Miami. Life was fantastic in South Beach. At that point everything was new to me, and I almost felt like I was in paradise. I was working as a personal trainer. Later, several porn companies attempted to induce me to work with them. At that stage in my life I rebuffed every proposal. The money was tempting, but the altar boy in me won out over the devil in me.
After a couple of years, I moved on to New York City where I started working as a flight attendant. I was flying long haul routes between Puerto Rico, New York City and South America.
Later, tired of life on the wing, but still in the Big Apple, I started dancing at the Gaiety Theater in the Time Squares area.
It was the first time in my life that people showered me with love, attention and affection, telling me I was handsome and beautiful. It was a sensory overload. Working there I met many people who were edging me ever closer to work in the skin trade. At that time I received the first official proposal from COLT Studio, in 2005.
A year later I crossed the continent to explore the fabled Golden Gate. It was there that I was enticed to work at the famous Nob Hill Theatre, a place I consider to be the cradle of my career in erotica. There in Baghdad-by-the-Bay I met most of the porn industry honchos. But COLT was still a distant thought in my consciousness.
When I was living in San Francisco I liked to visit Union Square, and I enjoyed long walks to Golden Gate Park. Also I liked very much strolling in the Castro Area, but I wasn't very familiar with the club scene. I was like a kid looking in on a candy store, but not really knowing how to get in.
I am a huge fan of the Folsom Street Fair, and of the GAYVN Awards, so I have never missed one when I was living there.
When I was dancing in New York I met Mexican television producers who invited me to work with them. The idea of appearing in Latin television seduced me from the first moment. So I didn't sweat it and gladly moved to Mexico City. There everything was great. Mexico City is the largest city in the world, with the largest gay community on the planet. I love Mexico, and I consider the ancient Aztec capital my second home. The warm and generous people, the colorful places, the floating gardens of Xochimilco, the dazzling flowers, the scent and flavors of chiles rellenos, the warmth of steam rising from piles of fresh handmade corn tortillas became an intrinsic part of me.
As I was preparing for my television debut I learned that I had to blunt my sharp gaucho accent. Nowadays you cannot identify my accent. I remember going to language school to learn how to speak Spanish without a tell-tale South American accent.
I was doing live appearances at clubs in Mexico City and many TV commercials, and I was the poster boy for one of the most important discos in the City. People there loved me, and still love me. I think that was the key of my success in that country. To become one with the people.
When I started working in a very popular soap opera I received the third proposal from COLT Studio. While on the telenovela I had so much fun, and I had the opportunity to meet many Mexican celebrities. I always appeared almost naked; I must admit I enjoyed that very much!
I appeared in three chapters of Barreras de Amor, which was filmed in Aguas Calientes with Aaron Diaz and Liliana Abud. I was also on some other TV programs: The Sabrina Show with Sabrina Sabrok, La Guia TV with Alejandra Bogue and Show de Margara Francisca with Lalo España.
After some disagreements regarding my contract, I decided to depart Mexico and accepted the longstanding COLT Studio proposal. It was then that I moved to San Francisco where my new, more sexual life blossomed.
I must confess I was not as interested in sex as much as my public might think. I was a very quiet and reserved person. Almost monk-like! But I enjoyed a lot of adult erotica. At this point I watched such material to absorb what I could from the major icons.
My first shootings were awesome. I felt remarkably comfortable. John Rutherford himself asked me more than once if I had not done porn before, because I was so natural onscreen. Of course, the reason I fell right into it was my pairing with the incredible Luke Garrett. Our personal chemistry made me oblivious to the cameras and the crew around us. I didn't need any little blue pills, Luke kept me hard during the entire session.
But I must confess that the one who captivated my undivided attention was sexy Italian Carlo Masi. I was single for five years, and the thought of a serious relationship was the last thing on my mind. But Carlo seduced me mind, body and soul; so we quickly decided to become boyfriends. Wonderful things began to unfold for us, as well as complications. We were living in San Francisco almost a full year, but later we decided to move Carlos's home city: Rome.
At first it was a major challenge to adapt myself to European culture. The language, the way of life, the everyday Italian drama. I had never been in even casual contact with Italians, so total immersion in all things Italian was a shock to my system.
Carlo was my connection, my guide, my translator, my loving facilitator. He gently eased me into the stylish and glamorous Italian lifestyle that I have become enamored with.
I felt like a cultural chameleon. A simple boy from the grassy Pampas of the Rio de la Plata becoming fully Mexican by osmosis, then an American, and finally an adopted Italian. Three distinct and unique continents in the three short decades of my life. I could almost hear Madonna singing in my mind "Don't Cry for me Argentina...."
As my Alitalia flight approached Rome and I could see the Coliseum from my window, I thought about my fellow countryman, Argentine First Lady "Evita" Duarte Peron, who made the same cross-Atlantic journey at about the same point in her life many years before.
With Carlo at my side we established a stable, steady and durable relationship. We talk all the time about our work, and we try not to say things to upset each other. Luckily, the folks at COLT Studio have been fully supportive of us as a couple from the first moment. We have been together almost three years, and we have a multitude of plans for the future.
My actual persona is very different from the boy you watch onscreen. I know sex is an important thing in life, but it is not everything. Onscreen I am 110% sexual, and dominating. Actually, I am dominating in real life, but not so pervasively sexual. As I wrote before, I am a very quiet and calm man.
COLT Studio gave me the chance to attract attention from many sectors. I consider them my family. We may have had a scandalous separation earlier this year, but after protracted negotiations we settled on a mutually beneficial new agreement. COLT Studio is my family, and families battle, and struggle, but eventually pull themselves back together. So why not with my COLT family?
My last production was Hawai'i, where I encountered my first ménage à trois. Hawaii was great, and the production was fabulous. I already had been in Maui before, but this time I had the opportunity to explore the gorgeous island a little more extensively. I must admit that threeways are not my thing. I prefer my sex one-on-one, but I really liked this grouping. My partners were Frenchman Eric Valentin, who I consider my personal friend, and beautiful Gage Weston, who I really admire.
My favorite movie is Naked Muscles, where I was on the DVD cover and was featured in two scenes, one with Chris Wide, the other with my boy, Carlo Masi. Shooting the scene was very complicated. It was a blisteringly frigid and windy day. I had just started my relationship with Carlo, so everybody was fascinated by our chemistry. It is not easy shooting a scene with your boyfriend, or with someone you are involved with. When it is something solely physical, it is much simpler.
I also like my solo scene in Minute Man 29, where I also got the DVD cover. It took a very long time shooting that scene due to many technical difficulties; it was a very hot day and my tender skin burnt in no time. But it was worth the sunburn; that movie earned the 2008 GAYVN Award in the Best Solo category of which I am immensely proud.
My best experiences in the adult industry were meeting cool people including icons of the business like stars, directors and producers who I respect too much.
2009 is a very promising year. I have a new and exciting contract, and very soon I am working my way back to that city with cable cars by the Golden Gate to film all-new productions. Also, I am setting up a new tour of Mexico and Guatemala, while I and Carlo are fully booked with our live performances up and down the boot of Italy. My new project in Europe is staged through our own company, the Fush Fush Group. COLT Studio now offers websites in Spanish as well as English.
Carlo and I were thinking of getting married soon. Unfortunately, gay marriage is not legal in Italy yet. Pope Benedict XVI has blocked it. So we plan to get married in Spain where gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people have equal rights with the rest of society.
My life here in Rome is very subdued. I wake up late, around 10 a.m., then I head to the gym for an hour workout. After that I come back home and start working with my PC. My website requires a lot of time, and so does organizing live performances in Europe. Here in Rome I like to visit the innumerable historical, and cultural sites whenever I have a chance.
To be honest, I was not interested in sex until I was 24 years old. I knew I liked men since I was a little boy, but not in an overtly sexual sense. At least not that I was fully aware of. I did like to watch them naked, and my dick got hard. Later I discovered how to have fun with a naked man, of course! My first gay experience was with a gym buddy. I didn't fully comprehend his approaches at first. He had to practically throw himself at me for me to get his drift. I guess you could say I was very green, and naïve for my age. But I've made up for it since!
<i>A gallery of Adam's personal photos can be seen in the Photo Galleries section of GAYVN.com.</i>
