LOS ANGELES—Will Pounder’s pathway into porn went through the Marine Corps, MMA fighting and mainstream acting. The 32-year-old six-footer has been part of the adult business for “about a year and a half.”
“I was in for a good six months and then I blew my left knee out [jiu-jitsu mishap] and I was out for another six months, and then I came back in.”
Before porn he was “a project manager, an operations manager, then went to underwear modeling and acting, and then acting took off and became a full-time job, with military TV shows and stuff like that.
“I was in the Marines from 2007 to 2012. I got out with an honorable discharge and then I was gonna fight for a living. I ate, slept and breathed martial arts.”
But complications from an old back injury took him out of fighting and into rehab. “The next two years were recovery. Then I tried the whole corporate life. I mean, it was fun but 9 to 5 is just brutal.”
When a couple of mainstream gigs fell through, he took up a porn star’s offer to shoot content with her. He now has well over 50 scenes to his credit.
“Oh, I love it,” he says of the adult biz. “I’ve found that most people, there’s a lot more genuinity in the porn industry than I’ve found in mainstream acting. In porn people do have fronts and façades and egos, but it’s easier to get past to the real person if you are being genuine.”
His favorite kind of scenes are “story-driven, character ones, like Pure Taboo ones.” He shot a scene for Pure Taboo opposite Lisey Sweet. It was all character-driven. And we played that throughout the actual sex. I don’t remember the title for it. I really love Craven [Moorehead] and Bree Mills. I’m bad at titles.”
His favorite colleagues include Ivy Wolfe, “one of my really, really cool friends. She lights up the whole energy in a room, she walks in and the place becomes vibrant.”
And then there’s Cherie DeVille. In one of his first scenes, “Cherie was playing a dom to Vienna Black. I’d never met a dom before. I walk in and meet Cherie, she’s like super nice. Then the director said ‘Action’ and she went into straight dom mode, and I went straight back to friggin’ boot camp. I was like, ‘What the fuck did I get myself into?’”
For pastimes Will likes “jiu-jitsu, rock-climbing, hiking, training dogs. Like my dog. I taught him to count. I’ll hold up fingers and he’ll bark that many times. Old English bulldog.”
With his injuries behind him (“I’m all knitted up”), he’s ready to keep rockin. “I want to make this a career. I really enjoy it.”
To book Will Pounder, contact ATMLA.
Follow him on Twitter and Instagram: @TheWillPounder.
Photos of Will Pounder at AVN's Talent Night by Rick Garcia/@IndustryByRick
