LAS VEGAS—Jennifer White slipped into a form-fitting, red-sequin dress on Saturday evening, inspired by “Old Hollywood” glamour for the 2026 AVN Awards Show.
“Which I thought was a bit poetic with my showcase being titled Hollywood Whore,” White said.
What she delivered in that movie—and throughout the finest season of her career—was nothing short of carnal poetry on her way to winning the 2026 AVN Female Performer of the Year award at the 43rd annual ceremony.
By the time it was over, the L.A. native captured a total of five awards, including Best Star Showcase, Best All-Girl Group Sex Scene, Best Double-Penetration Sex Scene and Best Airtight/Gangbang Scene to go with the top individual performing honor in an unforgettable night of triumphs in front of a sold-out crowd of 3500-plus at The Theater at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas.
“This is so surreal,” White began, her voice shaking with emotion as she stepped to microphone clutching the AVN Female Performer of the Year trophy. “…This is 17 years in the making for me. This has been a 17-year journey and sometimes it felt like an unreachable dream.”
She thanked her agents, Mark Spiegler and George Jiries, her publicist Brian Gross, and her peers.
“Thank you to my husband, Mr. White, for your love and support on this journey and for your shared love and passion for this industry,” White continued.
Then she shared a message for her long-time fans and “all my fellow female performers who didn’t win tonight.”
“I know that shitty feeling because I felt it for 17 years,” White added with tears in her eyes. “If you have a dream, dream it. If you work hard, you can succeed. If no one will invest in you, then invest in yourself.
“And if you never give up, you can succeed…Thank you, I love you all. We fucking did this shit, yes!”
Indeed, the adult industry’s most iconic celebration did not disappoint on a chilly 45-degree evening in Sin City, where co-hosts Abigaiil Morris and ItsLo joined comedian Brittany Schmitt and multi-platinum rapper Wiz Khalifa on the industry’s biggest stage.
The legendary rapper got the crowd moving with a funky performance of “Bad Bitches” and “5 Star” to open the show before reviving an AVN tradition when he invited dozens of girls to join him in a sensational closing medley that included “Or Nah” and “Young Wild and Free.”
An international media contingent once again converged on the event, lining the three-hour red-carpet procession that created a parade of 1000 stars—that took over the casino.
Once inside the three-level Theater—the popular concert spot formerly known as The Joint—18 awards presentations commenced with the help of the Official Trophy Girls Ava Amira and Meagan Moore.
Some of the night’s big winners included Vince Karter, who repeated as the Male Performer of the Year; Aubrey Kate, who claimed Trans Performer of the Year for a record fourth time; Ryan Reid, who won Best Leading Actress for her performance in Deadly Vows (Digital Playground); Tommy Pistol, who accepted his record sixth Best Leading Actor trophy for his role in Strip (Dorcel); Ariel Demure, who received Best Trans Acting Performance for Transpirella (GenderXFilms)—her second in a row; and Lexi Luna, who lifted the MILF Performer of the Year trophy.
Dorcel’s Strip received the Grand Reel award for the most outstanding narrative movie, in addition to honors for Best Cinematography (Matt Holder), Best Screenplay (Shawn Alff) and Best Hair & Makeup (Milla Van Damme, Raven Lux, Iggy, Lilith Manson & Alexxx Moon).
Ricky Greenwood captured the award for Outstanding Directing—Individual Work for Deadly Vows and Best Directing Portfolio—Varied Range; and Sweet Sinner, the feature studio from Mile High Media, earned the Mark Stone Award for Outstanding Comedy for Her Best Friend’s Dad.
Cheerleader Kait, who started her adult entertainment career about five years ago during COVID, says when she climbed the stairs to the AVN stage that something about it just felt right.
“I don't know how to say it, but I just felt confident,” Kait told AVN backstage. “Like, I just felt like this is where I'm supposed to be right now.
“And I took a second to look out at the whole audience and I just felt so proud of myself and also so like, I love this industry and I love the community.”
Born and raised in Nashville and now residing in Tampa, Fla., the former high school and college cheerleader—she was a flyer—made a name for herself during four years as a content creator before making a splashy entry into mainstream adult in anal scene with Scott Nails for Brazzers last April.
She pointed to AVN Hall of Fame performer Riley Reid as a mentoring figure who shared advice when she was weighing her options.
“I called up Riley Reid and I'm like, what do I do?” Kait recalled. “I had no intention of starting. And she's like, ‘Yeah, girl, try it—try Brazzers… Their hookup-style, that’s totally your avenue.’ And so from there, I just started hopping around and getting into literally whatever I could.”
The bubbly blonde, who was wearing a sheer, aqua-marine sequin dress that one of her top fans bought for her, said the transition turned out to be smooth.
“It really wasn't a hard transition at all because I was just so excited,” Kait said. "I was ready to try something different. I'm a huge go-getter, a very driven girl. So it felt good. It felt natural.”
In addition to winning the most coveted male performing award in adult, the French deal-closer Vince Karter also took home trophies for Best Double Penetration Sex Scene and Best Airtight/Gangbang Scene, giving him six in the past two years.
The Paris native, a former real estate project manager who entered adult 14 years ago, first came to America in January 2023 after spending five years in Budapest, Hungary.
He said winning in January 2025 “validated” him, making doing it again this year even sweeter.
“It proved to me I was doing the right things and it really helped me to continue in the same way,” Karter said. “I continue the same way to do what I do with love and with passion. And I see people recognize it and I'm very happy for that.
“You know, I can really be myself when I perform and I'm so happy always to show it and I'm glad that people like it. I'm so happy to go on set, I'm so happy to perform. And when I have this amazing chemistry that can happen with some girls, sometimes the magic happens.”
Speaking of magic, Brazzers contract star Ryan Reid won Best Leading Actress for her dynamite performance in Deadly Vows. The former cosmetologist from Pittsburgh played a sassy street brat turned professional bad-ass seeking revenge after being double-crossed and left for dead by her boyfriend and sister. Reid trained twice a day for three months for the grueling role, learning how to punch and kick while brushing up on her tumbling skills.
“It honestly makes me emotional to think about it because there were so many mornings I woke up and I was like, oh no, I have to go do this again,” Reid, who debuted in 2019, told AVN backstage. “But I want to make sure I’m prepared, I want to make sure everything’s perfect. [Director Ricky Greenwood] had such a big vision for this movie and I almost thought I wasn’t big enough for it, but in the end I was!
“Seeing how excited and confident Ricky was about the movie as a whole made me want to keep going. I wanted to make sure I gave it 110 percent, showed up and fucking did everything I possibly could to make it happen.”
Reid’s hardware led the way for Deadly Vows, which received a total of four awards, including Best Music; Best Editing (Mz Montage, Boris Dongson & Steve McQueef); Best Non-Sex Performance (Mike Horner) and Outstanding Directing - Individual Work for Greenwood.
When the Montreal native was in the winners circle to discuss his sixth directing award in the past five years, including his second straight for Outstanding Directing - Individual Work and third consecutive Best Directing Portfolio award, he wanted to talk anyone but himself.
He gave a special nod to fellow director Mike Quasar, who helmed the year’s top comedy.
“You guys made my night with Tommy Pistol, Mike Quasar and Ryan Reid … I was so happy. I'm screaming all night. It's the best night of my life to see all my friends are winning,” Greenwood said, before turning his attention to Deadly Vows.
“This movie was great. This movie was a lot of fun. It was a lot of work. We worked our ass off on it. The set design, the choreographies, stunt coordinating, everybody works on it. It was amazing. Every year I think that you guys are tired of me [winning], but I guess not … I appreciate all the love. When you talk to an actor and you say, ‘Trust me. If you do what I'm telling you to do, people will see how great you are.’ And when they put that trust in you like Tommy did for Strip and like Ryan did for Deadly Vows and you get the award at the end and they're so happy, they're so emotional. I appreciate that more than all of the awards."
The busiest man in show business, a native of Montreal, said that the Paris-based studio Dorcel is the company whose movies he watched when he was younger, so to have the opportunity to direct major features for them now is special.
“I know how much it means to them and how much they invest in America,” Greenwood said. “I'm super happy.”
He revealed that he first envisioned Strip as one continuous scene shot in one take, but that he and AVN Award-winning screenwriter Shawn Alff switched gears.
“And I realized that would create a less good movie, so we decided to change the script and create a traditional movie,” Ricky added. “And I think it was a good idea. But working with Shawn is always amazing, he wrote amazing scripts for me over the years. And this movie was perfect and I'm very proud of him and I'm very proud of you guys.”
Meanwhile, the AVN Hall of Fame leading man Tommy Pistol continues to add to his legacy as one of the greatest actors of all time. This time the New York native played the sleazy, gambling-addicted manager of a strip club on the brink. For the role, Tommy donned a fake bald, comb-over cap and two gold front teeth.
“I loved playing this character,” Pistol said in the winners circle. “I never got to dive into somebody so serious and give him a backstory. Like, why is this guy like this? And he looks … you see him as the villain, but I think he's just somebody who had to survive through a rough world.
“And that's the kind of idea that I had about creating this character. And developing him with Ricky was amazing. I've been waiting 20 years to get a role like this.
“It actually was—besides maybe Pee-Wee Herman that I did for Vivid—this was definitely the most challenging and the most rewarding one.”
It also was rewarding for superstar performer Riley Reid, a 2025 AVN Hall of Fame inductee who plays the female lead in Strip in her return to features after an extended break from studio work since 2022.
“I always loved scripted feature films,” Reid told AVN backstage. “That was the biggest thing that inspired me and on top of that it was also a company I’ve never shot for, so that was another thing that was a home run for me.
“Because I love the adult industry so much and I wanted to be able to provide some content for a company that didn’t have any Riley to make some money off of. So I was really happy to be part of their company and diversify myself a little.”
The dynamic, U.K.-based star Mama Plugs won the Fan-Voted AVN Award for Favorite Independent Female Creator for the second straight year. A 12-year industry veteran from The Midlands, U.K., who now resides in Cornwall, Mama Plugs got into content creation when she was 18, cultivating one of the most loyal fan-bases in adult with her flair for comedy and her high-quality, anal-driven content.
A former “emo-scene kid” who took her stage name from her Tumblr persona in 2008, Plugs says “social media is where I kind of thrive” and in the past year since her first win, that she’s gained a lot more confidence.
“I really enjoy comedy so I do a lot of skits, so a lot of the time personality is on the forefront and sexy is like 10th,” Plugs said with a laugh. “It's funny like my lowest viewed videos are always the sexy ones but the ones where I'm doing weird stuff everyone loves.”
The veteran cam model known as Skitty on MyFreeCams won the Fan-Voted Favorite Cam Girl award. Originally from California, Skitty started her live streaming career in 2014, taking a lot of breaks before going full force in mid-2016 when she quit her job and got her own place.
The September 2020 AVN CAMStar, who also presides over Skitty.TV, calls her shows “Erotic Nude Performances,” with a broad range of talents that includes burlesque, aerial shows, pole dancing, oil shows and props like a smoke machine in her elaborate in-home studio that even includes a stage.
“It’s kind of my life and I don't mind it, it’s not a bad thing. I like that it’s my life,” Skitty told AVN. “From the moment I'm awake it’s the first thing I think about. It’s how are my guys doing? And how are my girls doing also. My best friends are cam girls and my best friends are from MFC. So It's kind of an all-the-time thing. There's a business part, too, but for the most part, there's really good guys in my room and they genuinely care about me, so it's nice.”
Skitty explained that her converted garage studio now is like a full-scale production house.
“I can never have enough stuff,” Skitty joked. “And now I have all these crazy props and crazy wings and feathers and all kinds of things hanging from the ceiling. Just to make it fun and never a dull moment, ideally. We do a lot of laughing and a lot of giggling, but I do put on a show.”
Trans mega-star Aubrey Kate reclaimed her throne, winning her record fourth Trans Performer of the Year trophy after receiving the honor back-to-back in 2017-18 and again in 2021.
She also has won the Fan-Voted award for Favorite Trans Porn Star for the fourth times. The native of Orange County, Calif. also produced the Best Trans Movie or Series winner, Transtoinette, through her Aspen Kate Enterprises studio and Evil Angel; in addition, the movie received awards for Best Trans Group Sex Scene for her tryst with Brittany Kade, Angellica Good, Pierce Paris, Austin Rex, Sage Roux, Steve Rickz and Dom Cruise.
Kate wore a white wedding dress with a veil for the occasion.
“I'm married to the game baby,” Aubrey said backstage. “I needed to take a break and clear my head when I moved to New York. And I missed it. And I made a project called Transtoinette with Brittany Kade and Angellica. And I did that all on my own. And I brought it to [Evil Angel founder] John Stagliano and I said, this is what I want to do.”
Stagliano gave her the green light and also welcomed her to his elite directing roster.
“And I think I did 37 professional scenes this year,” Aubrey continued. “And I just went full force. I took every scene that was offered to me, which I normally haven't done in the past. And I literally did everything and anything that I could and I really wanted this so bad. And I know this might make a lot of girls unhappy but being a four-time winner I feel like now I achieved my goal and I can kind of step back and start directing and giving them all this opportunity.
"I just want the girls to be successful and I want them to want it as much as I want it.”
Ariel Demure went back to back in the Best Trans Acting Performance category, basking in AVN glory for her lead in Transpirella, which was based on the comic book character Vampirella and also her first feature role.
“And I just wanted to make my porn dad, Jim [Powers], proud,” Demure said. “I’m very fortunate in that I have a porn dad and I have a porn mom. Brittany Andrews has taught me the business, Jim Powers has taught me to perform."
The South Florida native now is in her sixth year in adult said that Powers had her specifically in mind for Transpirella.
“And he trusted me to bring everything that I have to the character, so I was able to let go and just get the fucking piss fucked out of me, literally. I peed a little on camera, but it was in a good way. It was amazing,” Ariel added.
“So this movie means the world to me because my dad actually really enjoyed the non-sex stuff that I sent and edited for him, too. We grew up watching vampires. We love vampires in my family for some reason. We love Jesus, but we also think vampires are pretty cool. And he was really authentically proud of me.”
Another popular winner on Saturday was the incomparable Lexi Luna, the former elementary school teacher from Indianapolis who has become known as “The Gentleman’s Porn Star.”
The December 2025 AVN magazine cover girl who became a brand ambassador for Adult Time in 2024 enjoyed a breakout year as an actress en route to winning the MILF Performer of the Year award. The accomplishment comes over nine years since she started her adult career in Florida, where she joined the FetLife community and learned how to play with discretion at the Woodshed in Orlando.
“It's amazing to be here,” Lexi said backstage. “I just feel like I've done more in those nine years than I ever could have in any other job and career and I just am so proud of myself. Because I did it my way. I didn't do anything that I didn't feel was right for me. And that's really the best gift, is being able to say that I've stayed true to myself the whole time.”
With more than 800 pre-nominations, the Best Boy/Girl Sex Scene award was without question one of the hardest categories to conquer.
So perhaps it came as no surprise that a familiar duo emerged victorious as Chanel Camryn, the 2024 AVN Best New Starlet, and the 2025 Favorite Male Porn Star Milan Ponjevic teamed to win AVN gold for their sensational performance in a pairing titled “Midnight Movie” from the DVD If It Feels Good 5 from Vixen Media Group’s Deeper imprint.
The pair also took the AVN Awards stage last January, when they won Best Oral Sex Scene.
In the winners circle Camryn called the vibe on set that day “fucking high energy.” When their scene ended, they even received a round of applause from the crew.
“They were in fucking awe,” Camryn recalled. “That was the first time that ever happened to me. And it being my first time working for that company, I was like, oh my god.”
Ponjevic recalled his first trip up the AVN stairs last year.
“It was with her, and this is my second time going on stage with her,” the debonair Serbian star told AVN backstage. “So basically, just book us once a year, and we'll give you an award.”
Brazzers contract stunner Kira Noir, the 2023 AVN Female Performer of the Year and 2024 Best Leading Actress, returned to the AVN stage with a win for Best Girl/Girl Sex Scene with Miss B Nasty for “Domming Her Husband’s Side Piece” from Brazzers’ Hot and Mean 38.
Noir noted the scene actually was Miss B’s first and only professional scene.
“So I'm so happy for this one,” Kira said. “Miss B Nasty was a cam girl first and started doing OnlyFans. She really rose to prominence in like the 2021 COVID lockdown era. She did a lot of really interesting videos where she was like squirting in her car and doing all sorts of crazy stuff. And I think that she wanted to do a professional scene, but she didn't want to switch over entirely. And she liked Brazzers, she liked me and some other girls that were on Brazzers.
“And so they decided to go ahead and put it together. I'm so happy that she let me be a part of it because I was already a fan.”
In the first award of the evening, Kylie Rocket and Isiah Maxwell won Best Oral Sex Scene for their pairing in Wanted from Digital Playground, marking Rocket’s first time on the AVN stage as a winner.
“Honestly, it was a shocker for sure,” said Rocket, a native of Jacksonville, Fla., who has blossomed into a major star six years into her career. “I wasn't expecting to win that one. It felt great. Finally, I got my chance to go up there and show people what my throat goat skills are. And gosh, I'm literally shaking right now. I’m just so shocked and honored. And obviously, I want to thank Ricky [Greenwood] and Digital Playground, which I didn't get to say out there.
“I had so much fun and I learned a lot from this scene, and I realized what my acting abilities were. And from there on, I've just translated it to all my other scenes.”
The Mark Stone Award for Outstanding Comedy went to Her Best Friend’s Dad, from Sweet Sinner, as AVN Hall of Fame director Mike Quasar walked to the microphone to accept with Chanel Camryn and Blake Blossom.
It marked Quasar’s first time on the AVN stage in his colorful, three-decade-plus career.
“Every day on set with Quasar is hilarious,” Chanel Camryn said. “He makes you feel comfortable. He's super funny. He cracks jokes every day. He mostly cracks jokes at himself. Yeah, I'd say if you're a girl, you're going to be completely comfortable. If you're a guy, you're going to get fucked with. Quasar will fuck with you, but I love him. I love working with him.”
In one of the show’s signature moments, Zac Wild picked up the petite Emma Rosie and spun her around as they met on stage to accept the Best Anal Sex Scene trophy for their sensational hookup in Gape for Days 5 from Evil Angel.
It marked Wild’s second straight win for Best Anal Scene, while it was Rosie’s first AVN Award.
“I do remember that day because I was so excited to shoot with Zac and I loved shooting with [director Pat Myne] and Evil,” Rosie told AVN. “They’re just so phenomenal. I remember shooting the tease. I got so horny because Pat hypes me up so much and I just get really excited touching myself. And then I see Zac walk in, and he's getting ready for his shoot, and I get even more horny.
“I'm just so proud of my holes and for Zac using them so perfectly.”
“You are the trophy,” Wild replied. “You deserve to be shown off. Honestly, I've met so many women, obviously, over my eight years in this industry. But when I looked at Emma, I was like, wow, she's such a cacophony, an amalgamation of so many great performers and women that I've met over my life and over my career.”
AVN Hall of Fame star Angela White won four Fan-Voted awards, giving her a total of 80 AVNs in her career. She collected Favorite Female Porn Star for the second year in a row and eighth time overall; Most Spectacular Boobs for the ninth consecutive year; Hottest All-Girl Creator Collab with Mia Malkova and Riley Reid, marking White’s fourth consecutive win in that category; and Hottest Boy/Girl Creator Collab with Damion Dayski for the second year in a row.
Speaking of all-time greats, Jennifer White now takes her place in industry history as one of the best to ever do it as she put on a clinic in hardcore at the highest level of porn in 2025.
Hollywood Whore: A Jennifer White Showcase Film became a labor of love for her, Mr. White, Hall of Fame director Mike John and the dedicated team behind the scenes at Elegant Angel.
Just completing the star-studded gangbang alone, which involved 19 of the top swordsman in the world mounting Jennifer in two different shifts in a warehouse in downtown L.A., was a feat in itself.
But somehow they all made it look rather easy. White told AVN that even in her toughest moments in the past year, it was about “just keeping my eye on the prize.
“And realizing that if you want something, you can’t stop,” Jennifer said. “It all depends on how much you want it. And people are going to reject you. That’s the core of this business is acceptance and rejection.
“So there's the highs, there's the lows, and that's never going to change. But as long as you can just focus on your goals and stay consistent with your performance, with connecting with people … words are hard right now … as long as you can just focus on the goal, then you can accomplish anything.”
Jennifer’s agent, Mark Spiegler, who was in Vegas but under the weather and unable to attend the awards show, could not have been more proud of what she had achieved when reached by phone Monday.
“It is well overdue and you could see even many of the other nominees were happy for her in that category because they know she earned it,” Spiegler, who has represented 10 of the past 13 AVN Performer of the Year winners, said.
“She might even have gotten it a couple years ago, but she’s been the Susan Lucci of porn awards. She really went all out this year with performing and producing and that definitely put her over the top.”
For the full winners list, click here.
Photography by Toby Acuna and Jeff Koga
For photo galleries, click here.
