Kleio Valentien Breaks Out of 'Tattooed-Chick Box'

This article originally ran in the February 2016 issue of AVN magazine. Click here to see the digital edition.

Hometown: Houston | Age: 30 | Height: 5-foot-6 | Measurements: 32-29-36 | Hair: Blond | Eyes: Hazel 

Kleio Valentien (pronounced "cleo val'n-TEEN") started working in adult six years ago, in a scene for Burning Angel with Mr. Pete and Alec Knight: "So my first scene was a threesome, and it was an anal threesome," she says with a laugh. "Not my first time, but my first time on camera." At the time she was juggling two jobs, a surgical technician at a veterinary office during the day, and bartender at night. "I had also never flown before, and I was living in Texas so I got to experience a whole lot of new things for the first time that weekend. I flew out here, shot three scenes that weekend, and then went back home. And it was amazing." 

She has grown her hair down to her shoulders and let it revert to its natural ash blonde from the short-cropped white bob she wore when she got started to get out of "that tattooed-chick box" she started her career. "It took a little bit for people to look past my tattoos and see me as a performer. Since I've started working for other companies like Wicked, they see me do my scenes and say 'I totally forgot you had tattoos.'"

Valentien moved to the L.A. area a year ago. She commuted from in Texas when she started shooting, and then she moved to New York for three years "and I was webcamming, and going back and forth from there to here. After work started picking up, I decided it was financially better to just move out here. I took a leap and it's been great. It's nice to be able to take last-minute gigs."

She says one of her favorite roles was in Axel Braun's Batman vs. Superman, for which she won Best Supporting Actress at the 2016 AVN Awards. "I got to play Harley Quinn, and I got to do it with Batman, which has always been a fantasy of mine. I grew up with a lot of older cousins and we watched the show with Adam West and I read their comic books. I just loved it. That's how my thing for Batman started. I have Batman tattoos. When I got cast as Harley Quinn I asked if I could do anything with Batman. Axel said yes, and it was a dream come true."

Follow her on Twitter and Instagram: KleioValentien. Book her through Nexxxt Level.