This feature appears in the May issue of AVN magazine.
LOS ANGELES—Indra, a 33-year-old newcomer to the industry, recently fell down a rabbit hole of aughts-era porn after getting her hands on a DVD player. She’s since been digging up movies from 2000 to 2005 on eBay, studying the stories and style of the time.
“I’ve gotten so many porn DVDs because I want to—like, I don’t know—do my homework,” she said. “I really enjoy seeing the trends in porn—there’s something for everyone. Obviously, with the internet, all of this is more and more available. But going down this hole and watching these DVDs, I’m coming to better appreciate narrative, because I’d never actually sat down and watched an hour or more of a porn movie before.”
Despite her newfound love for scripted features, Indra isn’t quite ready for her close-up. But at 5-foot-10 with striking features and an athletic build, this former dance and theater major commands a room without saying a word.
“Growing up in dance, I was accustomed to being on stage, and physically commanding that space came naturally,” she said. “But I’m a pretty quiet person. Something about talking and having to enunciate and taking on personalities that aren’t my own—I don’t know. I really admire people who do it well.”
Raised between Portland, Oregon and Santa Barbara, California, Indra moved to New York after college, co-founding a fashion brand and taking on the role of art director. After 11 years, she grew overwhelmed and fatigued, prompting a professional pivot.
“Making things in a world that increasingly doesn’t need more things in it, you get a little bit disillusioned,” she noted. “We were probably pulling four all-nighters a week and, after a while, that takes away from life.”
She continued, “Adult has always been in my periphery. Somehow, it feels like a natural change, even though it’s a dynamic shift. I feel I’ve met the initial goals that I wanted to meet before diving into the industry—because I wasn’t sure I’d be able to straddle both—so, yeah, I’m excited to finally go for it.”
Indra moved back to Los Angeles and signed with OC Modeling shortly after meeting with the agency at the AVN Adult Entertainment Expo in January, and soon after made her debut for ExcogiGirls.com. “It was totally fun. They definitely catered to my naïveté in a kind way,” she recalled. “It gave me the bug to keep going.”
Once the sheets had settled, she paused to take it all in.
“I think part of a new career endeavor is to put yourself in a position to learn,” she said. “Like, I was happy about the scene at that moment but after watching myself, I’m critical. But it’s helpful in a lot of ways to see yourself on camera because it’s a brutally honest look at everything. I just want to get more scenes under my belt, more practice, and a better sense of why things are the way they are and what works and what doesn’t work.”
But porn won’t be all work and no play for Indra. She’s eager to live out personal fantasies that have long eluded her and, perhaps, bring them to the screen one day.
“Something I’ve always pursued in my personal life—but that has never come to perfect fruition—are DPs and group things,” she said. “I feel like, from a civilian standpoint, it can be hard for people to feel comfortable in such intimate and close situations. So that would be fun to explore with the pros. Aside from that, my big ambition—coming from art direction and cinematography—is to direct someday. But I really adore sex and performing, and I want to properly earn my stripes before venturing into that.”
Photography by @kogafoto
