CHATSWORTH, Calif.—As declared by the very handle he uses for several of his social media outposts, continually on the rise triple-X swordslinger Ricky Johnson has dubbed 2017 the "Year of the Ricky." And with both AVN's Best Male Newcomer and the XRCO's New Stud trophies under his arm, not to mention a breakout role in Brad Armstrong's banner Wicked Pictures drama Ethni•City, it's fair to say that Mr. Johnson's staked claim to this year just may be completely valid.
Coming up as we are on the halfway point of Ricky's year, and in light of his having taken command yesterday of one of our social media outposts (namely our Snapchat—find the story of his day under AVNMagazine), we thought this would be just the time to publish the following interview with our reigning BMN shedding a little light on his background (yes, he does in fact hail from Inglewood) and what he sees on his horizon.
AVN: What made you decide to do this crazy job?
Ricky Johnson: I was thinking about it for a while. I researched it for a year. I looked up a lot of information, current performers and past performers. I wanted to see if it was something I really wanted to do. I found out there is a lot of stereotypes about the industry because people see it from one side because they aren’t informed, because there’s not really that much information with regards to the industry. I looked it up enough to know that it’s different than how it’s perceived. I sent my pictures in to OC Modeling, to Sandra [McCarthy], and she called me and we talked on the phone for about two and a half hours. I interviewed with her and we talked for about two hours and she signed me.
AVN: How did you connect with OC in the first place?
RJ: I researched agencies. I was like, "How do you get in?" A lot of people don’t do it the right way. There were other ones I reached out to and I got a callbacks from them too, but when I saw Sandra, I felt like this was probably the best one for me.
AVN: You say you researched it for a year, but what was your knowledge of it before then?
RJ: I looked at porn growing up, but I really didn’t have any knowledge of it at all. It’s just every day I researched it, I learned more and more.
AVN: What are some of the things you found out in your research that surprised you or you didn't know before?
RJ: You have more control over what happens than most people think. A lot of people think it’s forced, more for the girls and female performers. That may be the case for some amateur or some stuff that’s not really legit, but the well known companies and the legit companies, everybody is comfortable and you have a say. You can call cut, or the director can call cut if you are feeling uncomfortable—it’s like a fair game sort of thing.
AVN: Did you have any idols or anyone you looked up to before you got into the industry?
RJ: Not so much idols, but there are people who I saw who were doing pretty well. I want to eventually get to that level, like Johnny Sins. He saved all his money, and he and his girl [Kissa Sins] are doing their own content. Also I have a lot of ideas and stuff like that. The way he did his career is pretty close to how I want to do mine. Like Keiran Lee and a lot of others are doing pretty well.
AVN: With all the research you had done, how did actually getting on the set and being a part of it compare to what you'd expected going in?
RJ: I did enough research to where everything happened pretty much how I thought it would happen. It was so surreal, like, "I’m really here." Like as I was having sex and everything, I thought, "OK, I’m really doing it." I made sure I didn’t show it, I didn’t want to look like, "OMG he looks like a guy who doesn’t know he’s here," but in my head I was like, "This is really happening!" Especially when I’ve seen performers that I grew up watching and they were like, "Oh, I’m performing with this person."
AVN: If you hadn't decided to go into this, what's something else you considered doing for a career?
RJ: Growing up, I wanted to be a cardiovascular surgeon. I was in school for biology. It sounds horrible, but I started to—I’m not sure I should say this—but I started to not like people in a sense, and I sort of lost my drive to become a savior for people. I love people. I don’t want that to sound wrong. It sounds like I hate people and I don’t hate people. I have reasons behind it. There are a lot of bad people in the world. I just went through some personal stuff in my life. It changed my ideals in a sense.
AVN: As far as the ramifications of making this decision go, how did you prepare yourself for what people would think of what you were doing?
RJ: Surprisingly, almost everyone I told was really supportive. I was on the track team at Long Beach State University, and I told my whole team there. My senior year, I knew I couldn’t do it if I was still running track, so I was talking to my team the whole year, and they helped me get my name. Every time we did warm up, we talked about it as a group, and they were like, "Wow—you really did it!" And they were really supportive of porn. I also knew that relationships—that would be a little harder. I knew that your relationship can only be someone with an open mind. Or you can try to keep it from them as long as possible, but you can’t do that because you are going to suffer in the end.
AVN: So what are your ambitions in the industry?
RJ: Well, I want to direct. Because I know a lot of people don’t think about what to do after your career until it’s that time. I want to think about the future. I want to think about where I’m at five years from now. I might start with POV scenes, little small stuff in the future, even features and stuff like that.
AVN: Do you have a particular directing style that you think you would go for, or is there a particular director whose work you respect?
RJ: I like MimeFreak, and the way he directs is pretty chill because he makes you feel so comfortable. And the people I’ve worked with at Babes, and Jonni Darkko, and Jim Camp at Dogfart. If they can make you feel comfortable then it’s going to be a good scene. If you have two performers on edge, and they feel things aren’t going right, they second guess and then it all just becomes uncomfortable, I think.
AVN: What are some of your outside interests?
RJ: I like working out a lot. I was thinking about being a personal trainer, but at the same time, I’m kind of lazy so I haven’t got that set up. But eventually, who knows? There are a lot of business things I want to do; a lot of behind the scenes stuff I want to get into. But right now, I’m just networking and performing and having fun.
AVN: Do you have a personal philosophy you'd like to share?
RJ: I live every day like it is the last, but I also think about, you might have two more days. Don’t make a super last decision, because you might survive. I literally live like you might have three days left!
Follow Ricky Johnson on Twitter and Instagram @yearofthericky, and find him on Snapchat under Climob.
