This article originally ran in the June 2015 issue of AVN magazine. Click here to see the magazine online.
In porn’s not too distant past, a woman Magdalene St. Michaels’ age likely wouldn’t have been considered for adult work. That is until Girlfriends Films founder Dan O’Connell “discovered” Magdalene as he was packing up his booth during the final moments of the 2007 Adult Entertainment Expo. “I was … lamenting that I hadn’t met the much-needed MILF I’d hoped to find at the show,” O’Connell recalls. Then, all of a sudden, I looked up and there she was! She looked like the perfect sexy MILF and I soon saw that she was a class act, much like Kay Parker. Maggie is full of energy, is a lot of fun to be around, is reliable, is a great performer, an accomplished actress, and loves women. It takes all that to be a great porn star.”
That great porn star would then go on to become one of the industry’s most reliable, hardest working performers—as well as one of the oldest active—whose mainstream acting background (which includes roles in Executive Decision and Turk 182) would come in handy when it came to heavy dramatic acting roles in features such as My Girlfriend’s Mother 1 and 2 for Sweet Sinner, and Girl Candy Films’ Mother Superior 1 and 3. Now the 58-year-old Michaels is prepared for the next stage of her career—directing—and she’s picked a topic that’s ripe for plenty of sexual encounters.
“What I’m doing right now is I’m starting to shoot my own movies,” says Michaels. She is releasing her first film—Stranded, in which each scene is related to sexual situations with an aviation theme—one scene at a time through Hotmovies.com via her MagdaleneVOD.com site. “I did a scene with Ela Darling, then I did Stranded 2 with Natasha Starr. Part three has Syren De Mer and Blair Summers, and there’s going to be another older/younger, then we’re going to make a DVD out of it. So that’s what I’m focusing on right now.”
Only parts 1 and 2 are available on Hotmovies.com as of this writing, which are all produced by Michaels’ own imprint, Magdalene Films. For Michaels’ second directorial effort she plans to produce and direct an all-MILF lesbian film with a tentative title Magdalene Loves MILFs. “Nobody seems to be doing older women/older women. I’ve had people tweet me saying, ‘You should work with Syren De Mer.’ This is just a first step. That’s what I’m doing. I’m happy to be doing that. It’s great to direct and come up with the scenarios and write and be creative that way.”
“I loved working with her,” said co-star Natasha Starr. “She was so professional. It is a great scene; we clicked right away and had great chemistry together. I'm looking forward to working with her again.”
Ela Darling described her experience being helmed by Michaels as “watching an artist at work. She doesn't spare passion when it comes to capturing the story she wants to tell. She knows nuances and details about her characters inside and out and when she performs, it's easy to get lost in the experience. She's dedicated, professional, and creatively complex. It's inspiring.”
For Michaels, she established herself long ago as the go-to MILF whenever the scene calls for an older performer who can not only perform sexually but deliver a heavy dramatic acting performance. Her many years as a mainstream actress not only prepared Michaels for the challenging roles some adult features require but also prepared her for her directing career. “It’s something I’ve been around coming from mainstream back in the ’80s and ’90s; I’ve been on hundreds of movie and TV sets and ... you pick up things along the way.” And she’s certainly become that go-to performer that O’Connell saw in her when he recruited Michaels. “I love working with Maggie because she has great acting skills and I can play her in a variety of parts. She is one of the few performers to get her own Girlfriends Films series, Imperfect Angels, which is perhaps our best series ever in regard to acting and story line. We always know we’re going to get a terrific scene out of her. Her first film for Girlfriends Films, I Like to Kiss, which has just three actresses in it, still remains my very favorite GFF movie of all time.”
Still, after eight years in the business and over 150 scenes later, Michaels yearns for new challenges and projects, including the opportunity to work with fellow MILF performers. With no intention of retiring anytime soon, Michaels hopes to make this wish come true at some point. “There are so many women in this business who are MILFs that I never worked with that I would love to work with. I’ve never worked with Tanya Tate or Syren. Veronica Avluv, she’s another one I’d love to do a scene with. People would love to see that.” As for boy/girl, Michaels is not closing the door on that either. She hopes to work with veteran male performer Evan Stone one day. “I think he would be great,” says Michaels.
One project very dear to Michaels’ heart is her recent performance in the Nica Noelle-directed film My TS Student for Noelle’s imprint TranSensual. It’s a taboo Michaels hopes to dismantle—taking away the stigma of mainstream performers working with TS performers. “For me it was important because ... from what I have heard there’s not too many women willing to do TS scenes. It was not only important for me to experience that as a person but it was important for me to get that out there to the world. People get stigmatized and it’s not a big deal to me, someone’s sexuality. By me doing this I’m hoping I’ll get other performers to do it.”
“I had a great time shooting with Magdalene,” says Michaels’ co-star in My TS Student, Chelsea Poe. “Our scene was a girl/girl scene where the things we did in the scene would be something you would see in any girl/girl film. I am thankful that Nica wanted to show how I have lesbian sex which is [rarely] shown in mainstream trans porn, and really fits the trans-positive vibe of the series. It was really great for me as a new performer to work with someone who has a history of shooting girl/girl porn and I think it is by far my most sensual scene I was ever involved in.”
“Magdalene did a brilliant job in this movie and it was an honor to shoot her first TS scene,” says Noelle. “It was clearly a very emotional moment for her to finally realize her dream to shoot with a TS woman and her scene with Chelsea Poe is really something special.”
“When I look at someone, I don’t see gender,” continues Michaels. “I think it needs to be accepted more and so I’m hoping by me doing it as a performer and as an individual person, and even with this interview, it will get others to think about it in another light. I see past the physicality of someone. I see their energy and their essence and their being and their soul as who they are as a person. People need to be who they are and I’m hoping by me doing it, it will have some impact.”
Wherever her career takes her to next Magdalene will undoubtedly have an impact. Perhaps the next stage of Magdalene’s career will have her opening doors for GILFs, a label which Magdalene has no problem wearing. “I can see that,” says Michaels. “Yes, realistically I would be a GILF. When . . . I see myself in the mirror I go, ‘God, I’m going to be 60 in two years.’ I [can’t] fathom that. I’ve always said this about myself ... ‘I’m not going to be a gray-haired, little old lady.’ To me the soul is ageless. I’m a child, I’m youthful and crazy sometimes ... and I have the wisdom and the old soul. So I don’t see myself as an old person.”
Find her online at MagdaleneStMichaels.com, MagdaleneFanSite.com and MagdaleneVOD.com, or follow on Twitter: @MagdaleneXXX.
Above, Magdalene St. Michaels; photo courtesy MagdaleneVOD.com
