This is the cover story of the March 2020 issue of AVN magazine. Click here to see the full digital edition.
LOS ANGELES—It starts with The Smile.
It’s become Karla Lane’s calling card.
“I always joke that it was a big butt and a smile that got me to do things because people wouldn’t see me as just a plus-size performer,” Lane says. “They would see me as, ‘She’s a cute girl. I’ll put her in and see how that works.’”
So far, so good.
Lane in January joined the Class of 2020 in the AVN Hall of Fame, adding another accolade to a 15-year career in which she is credited with raising awareness for body positivity and inspiring greater inclusion across all genres of adult entertainment.
"I’m so honored,” Lane tells AVN. “It’s exciting. … Honestly, all the hard work and all the stuff that I thought maybe didn’t make an impact is making a bigger impact as a whole.”
The bubbly L.A. native sees the progress being made—an increasing number of established studios now are casting plus-size models—but she downplays any role she may have had in it.
“Look around… everybody looks different,” Lane says. “So if we can have that same idea in porn it just makes everybody more accepted.
“I was one of the first plus-size performers to do hardcore and to be a porn star—not just fetishized.
“So if that helps the average person feel more comfortable and sexy in their own body because they see me do it—and they see all the other plus-size performers because there’s so many now and when I started there was like six of us—it’s nice to think that has played a role in what people think is sexy and what we now call porn.”
Angela White thinks so.
The three-time AVN Female Performer of the Year and fellow Hall of Fame member says Lane leads by example.
“Karla is an amazing performer,” White tells AVN. “Her exuberant personality, her gorgeous curves and heartwarming smile, as well as her immense skill and professionalism are matched by her commitment to the well-being of and support for all performers.
“The plus-size performer community has always been an active one, and over my years of involvement in the adult industry I have seen many advocates advance the position of plus-sized performers. Karla is among a group of industry pioneers such as Courtney Trouble and April Flores, who have championed the interests of plus-sized performers. I have no doubt that Karla’s impact will be a lasting one.”
White teamed with Bree Mills, chief creative officer for Adult Time, in February 2018 to create a powerful episode of Pure Taboo called “The Weight of Infidelity” that featured her with Lane and three-time AVN Best Actor Tommy Pistol under Mills’ direction.
The Australian star also wrote the 2019 AVN Award-winning Best Featurette, noting that she came up with the original story with both Lane and Pistol in mind. In the episode, Lane played Karen, who was the mistress of Pistol’s character John, who was married to Angie (White).
John abused Angie psychologically, telling her that she had to lose weight for her to be more attractive. But what Angie didn’t know was that at the same time John was berating her, he was cheating on her with the more voluptuous and curvy, Karen, whom he was encouraging to eat more as part of his feeder fetish.
The groundbreaking episode was one of the first major porn productions to ever cast a plus-size model in a leading role. It also was made available for free on PureTaboo.com.
“I look back on the decision to shoot 'Weight of Infidelity' as being one of the most important creative decisions I have ever made,” Mills, who wrote and directed the 2020 AVN Movie of the Year and Best All-Girl Narrative Production, Teenage Lesbian, tells AVN.
“It almost didn't happen. When I was initially gathering feedback about the prospects of shooting the episode, I was advised against it out of worry that it wouldn't appeal to our traditional fan base.
“And the concerns of my peers weren't unwarranted—had this project simply just been another update for Pure Taboo, it wouldn't have been the most trendy or upvoted. But that's not what Pure Taboo is about. We're about breaking conventions and starting conversations.
“Most importantly, we're about collaborative storytelling and offering a platform for other voices to speak out. And I thank Angela for her conviction to tell this story as she had originally envisioned. She was the one who challenged me, in her polite and completely professional way, to have the balls to say, ‘Fuck it, we're making it anyway because it's important!’”
Mills continues, “And, after the experience of filming it, working with Karla for the first time and watching the edit, I knew we had to offer it for free … So we could get as many people to watch it as possible. Of all the projects I have directed, perhaps none have struck a chord quite like that one. It is certainly proof—and we've seen it countless times since—that you can tackle serious subject matter within adult in an intelligent and thought-provoking way. Now that we have Adult Time as a platform, there is no limit to the conversations we can start!”
Lane, the 2016 AVN BBW Performer of the Year and 2019 AVN Niche Performer of the Year, points to her role in “The Weight of Infidelity” as the most significant of her career.
“It was huge,” she says. “I credit Angela for pushing me into a different bubble. She wrote it; she came up with it.
“I had never acted before that. But she gave me the opportunity to have the spotlight that is Angela shine on me a little—and it worked.
“Every time I see her now I give her hugs and I always go, ‘Thank you.’ Even years later I just say ‘thank you’ because that’s an opportunity that changed not just my career, but it also helped my fellow plus-size performers.”
White says it was “a privilege” to have Lane in “The Weight of Infidelity.”
“I never anticipated the extent to which the featurette would resonate with peers and consumers,” White adds.
“I’m still receiving messages about the impact ‘The Weight of Infidelity’ has had on the lives of viewers. And with the subsequent creation of Shape of Beauty and the growing frequency with which plus-sized models are being cast in ‘mainstream’ porn productions, the conversation about bodies and beauty is continuing to unfold in an amazingly positive and inclusive way.
“I have always been committed to using my participation in and position within the industry to encourage inclusivity and, wherever possible, push the conversation forward; and I am honored to have played a part, however small, in increasing the visibility of plus-sized performers.
"But in the final instance, the real credit needs to go to plus-size performers like Karla. Karla’s unapologetic confidence and her body positivity are inspirational. Her professionalism and beaming personality make Karla a joy to have on set and an instant favorite with fans.”
Indeed, the success of “Weight of Infidelity” laid the groundwork for Mills to launch “Shape of Beauty,” an Adult Time Original Series that kicked off in December 2018 with an episode starring Lane and Alex Duca.
“The reaction of ‘Weight of Infidelity’ from the plus-size community—both fans and performers—was so overwhelming,” Mills says. “It really gave us the confidence to develop 'Shape of Beauty' as a series, one that was show-run by Frank Stacey, who is one of Adult Time's creative directors and a very devoted fan of the genre.
“Karla had been such a positive part of that experience and is such an advocate for the community that it was a natural choice for us to make. When she believes in something, there is no stopping her! She is a total force and amazing influencer within not only the BBW world but, increasingly, mainstream porn, too! The number of girls who have hit us up asking to shoot with her is a long line!”
Lane grew up in the City of Angels, living within a 10-mile radius her entire life.
“I’m an L.A. bitch all the way. I always wonder, ‘Am I gonna move?’ And I’m like, ‘no!’” she says. “It’s just the idea staying where I grew up and having the environment I grew up with become me.
“I’ve always gone to the farmer’s markets; I love organic shopping. Trader Joe’s was my ‘it’ thing. I remember going at like 3 or 4 [years old]—going to Trader Joe’s because they’re the only ones who had organic milk at the time.
“I joke that ‘the city became me’—with the farmer’s market’s. I have chickens. I have like literally fat chickens; they’re all named after Spiegler Girls. It’s the easiest way to remember that many girls. … Yes, [agent Mark Spiegler] knows. They all know.”
Lane says when Spiegler Girl Asa Akira—a fellow AVN Hall of Fame performer—was pregnant that her chicken named Asa “decided she wanted to be a mom, too.”
“It was like are my chickens psychic or what?” Lane cracks. “It was so weird; it was cute.”
Not only is Lane conscious about what she puts into her body, she also is aware of her environmental footprint; she drives an electric car and recently purchased a second vehicle that is powered by hydrogen.
“It’s recycled hydrogen usually from garbage and everything that they refined. So you plug in your car and fill it up with gas but it’s hydrogen. So when the car uses the fuel it becomes water,” Lane explains. “It’s a new thing; there’s only two cars on the market that do it right now. It’s a little hard to find gas sometimes because not everybody has hydrogen. But we have like five or six stations within a 10-mile radius of us so we’re good.”
Lane attended a private high school that since has been turned into a 24-hour laundromat.
“I graduated high school when I was 15,” she reveals. “Because I was advanced and I didn’t want my mom to keep paying for private school as much. So I figured I would get the hell out.”
Then she enrolled at Pasadena City College, where she met another would-be adult performer who now goes by the stage name of James Deen.
“We went to school together,” she says. “He graduated high school early; so did I.”
Lane remembers wanting to do porn “at a very young age.”
“It was knowing if the guys went behind the curtains and got the video they would come out really happy,” she says. “And I always wanted to make people happy.
“I didn’t even understand what it was… I knew it was sex when I got older. Even at 18 I was like, I just know this is going to become an end product that’s going to make people happy.
“My mom’s like, ‘You always knew what you wanted to do and you’ve just done it.’ I’m like, ‘Thanks mom.’ It’s true.”
Lane recalls that Deen turned 18 a few months before she did and then got into porn. “So he became James Deen and I’m like, ‘I’m right behind,’” Lane says, adding that she used to tell Deen he should be in adult movies.
“He had a magical penis back then. He can cum on command. Not many guys can do that,” Lane says with a grin. “He was the first guy who ever put it in my butt. I thank him for that because usually the girl’s first-time experience is either magical and, ‘Oh my god, I want to do it again,’ or so bad that, ’I’m never doing that again.’ So mine was like, ‘Yeah, I’ll do it again.’”
Deen, who won the AVN Male Performer of the Year award in 2009 and 2013, tells AVN, “I think it is super cool that both Karla and I got to know each other as teenagers pre-porn, got into the adult film industry and still have our friendship today.
“We have lots of fun memories and stories from back when we were kids going to PCC being sexual hoodlums and ho bags. I adore her as much today as I did then and am happy she is kicking ass and smiling.”
Deen actually introduced Lane to her husband, Brian, she says.
“And I’ve been with my husband for almost 16 years now,” Lane says. “And then Mo is my boyfriend. So I’m poly. I have one husband, two boyfriends. Full-on, everybody knows each other.
“… It’s interesting to see what relationships can be if you’re just honest about it. Everybody knows what they’re getting into. When I’m with that person they’re 100 percent my partner. But then I go do something else and I’m 100 percent their partner. And I cook for everybody so everybody’s happy. The best way to keep a man happy—or anyone happy—is by cooking.”
Lane, who got tested a day after she turned 18 and did her first scene a short time after, booked her work directly for 14-plus years until signing with Mark Schechter’s ATMLA in the summer of 2019.
“This is what I’ve wanted to do,” she says. “I’ve always wanted to do it. And I happen to be good at it on camera.”
Schechter says seeing Lane on the cover of AVN in March 2020 is “extremely rewarding.”
“Representing Karla this past year has been equally rewarding for both ATMLA and Karla,” Schechter tells AVN. “We made the move together. After joking about it for sometime prior to actually moving forward, we had a more serious discussion and mutually decided it was a good move for both parties.
“Karla has landed several roles that will continue to give her great exposure and enhance her career, and definitely will continue to lead to more opportunities as studios start to realize there is an untapped market. Karla is truly an asset to ATMLA, and we look forward to her continued success and ambassador to the performer community.”
The enterprising Lane went to culinary school for two years after Pasadena City College, earning the equivalent of a bachelor’s degree. During that time she also did sex scenes.
She says one of the main things porn has taught her is about self-confidence.
“I’ve always been a very confident person but I think I’ve given myself the permission to be even more confident in myself and just walk into a room and go, ‘I’m here,’ and not apologize for who I am or what I am,” says Lane, who estimates she has performed in more than 300 scenes, including her first for Naughty America in 2019.
“Julia Ann gave me the best advice. She’s like, ‘You can’t save everybody. If you save yourself then other people will follow. So treat yourself with kindness and don’t make it feel like you have to save everybody around you.’
“… I call her my ‘tomato best friend’ because the first time I ever met her the whole conversation we had was about our tomatoes and what we were growing with them.”
The AVN Hall of Fame star Julia Ann, who cast Lane in her Women by Julia Ann project from Girlfriends Films in 2016, calls her personality “infectious.”
“There is something about her,” Julia Ann tells AVN. “I recall when I shot with her—[AVN Hall of Fame director Mike] Quasar was actually doing it. He was shooting the camera and just her overall radiance and positive, sexual vibe and her overall humanity I think we were both really envious of.”
Julia Ann continues, “I take great joy to see her bridging that gap outside of the BBW genre and into what would be considered more of the mainstream porn side of things—that she proves to everybody that said, ‘Nobody will buy that. That can’t be done. How can that can’t be marketed? That’s not attractive.’ It gives me great elation to see people being proven wrong.”
An avid gardener, Lane says she was brought up with an understanding of the importance of consuming healthy foods.
“I eat everything, but the quality of protein and animal products that we put in our body in our house is the best you can get,” Lane says. “So we buy a pig and have half a pig delivered every six months.
“And the pig is raised I think this year right out of [Ojai, Calif]. So we got half a pig out of Ojai and then we get a cow share from [Lompoc, Calif.], and then we get our seafood from Alaska. That gets delivered to us every few months. We just want to be able to control the quality we put in. It just makes our bodies happier and healthier.”
Lane turned her appreciation for nutritious food into a business last year. She is the owner of L.A. Farm Girl Catering, which soft launched in 2019 and officially kicked off in January.
“I wanted it to be a year of just playing around—a year of grace of learning how to do this well,” Lane says. “I see this being part of my life as long as porn has been a part of my life. I’m not retiring from porn; I’m just going to pivot at one point.”
Lane continues, “I didn’t know I wanted to do it. I always kind of joked I didn’t want to cook for other people because I always assumed cooking would be working at a restaurant.
“But my husband and I celebrated our 10-year wedding anniversary and we threw an amazing party. And I enjoyed setting everything up, party planning, figuring out the food and the drinks. So I was like, ‘Wait, why am I not doing this for other people?’
“So when April Flores got married to her husband she was like, ‘Hey, can you do my wedding?’ And I’m like, ‘Yes I can.’ And then another friend asked me, ‘Hey, can you do my graduation?’ And it just started adding up where everybody would refer me and I decided I was going to make it into a business.”
Lane in 2020 also wants to continue producing and directing her own studio brand, Body Positive Productions. Queer porn pioneer Courtney Trouble is her distributor and editor.
“Last year I worked on catering. This year it’s both. I’m going to start juggling the balls better. Being in porn you have the ability to make as much money as you want,” Lane says. “Our goal is five films this year, showing diverse performers having fun.
“Courtney is an icon in what she does. She created a niche of queer porn. … She’s one of the first people that said, ‘I don’t have to go into your box, but I still can create.’ She’s very much my go-to person on this stuff.”
Lane also runs production for her official site, KarlaLaneXXX.com, shooting at least two new scenes a week for the past three years. Because she is also juggling regular posts on AVN Stars, OnlyFans and Snapchat, in the fall of 2019 she decided to hire a digital assistant—and in four months tripled her income.
“She does the things that I slip on,” Lane says.
When it comes to managing her affairs, Lane says she learned a lot from Abigail Mac, who was the February 2020 AVN Star.
“That woman is a businesswoman,” Lane says. “That woman has taught me some things. It’s nice when you’re able to talk to fellow performers and find out what’s working for them and not working for them and use that as your road map.”
The AVN Award-winning performer Mac describes Lane in “one word: iconic.”
"Yes I can say she is beautiful, sexy, and has a smile that can get her just about anything she wants, but she is so much more than that,” Mac tells AVN. “She is a leader. She is a voice. She stands up for her peers and is helping to bend this industry into a brighter future.
“She has been killing it for over a decade and that snowball is rolling down the hill. Now everyone sees what a superstar she has always been. I am grateful to have Karla as a peer and proud to call her my friend.”
Photos 1-6 and AVN cover by Keith Ryan; photos 7-9 courtesy of AdultTime.com.
