Kayden Kross

Kross grew up in the foothills between Sacramento and Placerville in a strict, religious household. She has described herself as "the book nerd" during her time as a high school student. Kross and her younger sister were raised by a single mother, which greatly impacted her childhood as the family struggled to make ends meet; her father left the family when he had another child. Kross began stripping at Rick's Showgirls in Rancho Cordova, California when she was eighteen years old to earn extra money to rescue a pony from a slaughter house, which she kept for eight months. Kross was a psychology major at Sacramento State, where she also studied philosophy. An agent who came to the club offered Kross the opportunity to model in adult magazines. == Career ==

Her movies with Vivid included ''Kayden's First Time, Hard Time, and Be Here Now''. Unhappy with the company, she became a free agent one year later when she did not renew her contract. She was named Penthouse Pet of the Month for September 2008. Kross' official website, ClubKayden.com, was launched on September 2, 2008. Kross has hosted a blog at UnKrossed.com and has written regular updates and opinion columns for MikeSouth.com, an adult industry gossip blog, among other sites. Kross became exclusive to Digital Playground under a multi-year contract on January 1, 2010. Her first movie with the company, The Smiths, topped sales charts immediately and has continued to be a best seller. She was given the lead in their big budget feature, Body Heat, in her third month of the contract. She won two Best Actress Awards for the role. Kross hosted the 2010 AVN Awards show, along with porn actress Kirsten Price and comedian Dave Attell. She was Penthouse magazine's "Cover Girl" for September 2008 and 2010. Kross was named by CNBC as one of the 12 most popular pornographic film actresses in 2011. In 2012, she hosted the Xbiz awards for the second time, and appeared in the ceremony alongside Wicked Pictures/Wicked.com contract star, Jessica Drake, and on the AVN red carpet with co-hosts Jesse Jane and guitarist Dave Navarro. In 2019, she launched Deeper, one of the Vixen Media Group's primary websites in its portfolio. Appearances in other media Kross has made appearances in the FX's comedy series The League, the G4 reality series The Block, and Family Jewels. In 2011, she was cast as Tara in Gregory Hatanaka's drama Blue Dream and briefly co-hosted a regular videocast, ''Kayden's Review'', for Triggla TV alongside the comedian Dane Hanson. From 2012 - 2013, Kross portrayed a main character in the second season of Tucky Williams' lesbian-themed web series Girl/Girl Scene. Starting from January 2013 Kross hosts the weekly call-in show Krossfire on Playboy Radio. In 2013, Kross also appeared in the featurette "Chicks 'N Guns" on the Breaking Bad 5th season DVD as a stripper. The scene takes place during the season 5 episode "Gliding Over All". Kross also appeared in two music videos from the band Nekrogoblikon, "No One Survives" (2012) and "We Need a Gimmick" (2015). Writing Kross writes columns regularly for publications such as Complex magazine, XBIZ magazine, and a blog for Xcritic.com. She has also contributed to ''Timothy McSweeney's Internet Tendency, and her short story "Plank" appeared in the 2012 short story collection Forty Stories: New Writing from Harper Perennial'', an e-book. As of August 2012, she was writing an autobiographical book about the porn industry. Adult industry activism In 2008, Kross was among those testifying against a proposed tax in California on all producers and distributors of adult entertainment. In 2014, she testified against a bill in the California State Assembly that would require pornographic film performers to wear condoms on set. ==Personal life==

In October 2008, Kross was charged with grand theft and violations of the California Civil Code, involving contracts for purchases of home equity mortgages. In July 2009, the grand-theft charge was dismissed, and the real-estate-fraud charge was reduced to a misdemeanor; Kross pleaded no contest to the resulting charges and was sentenced to one day in custody and three years of probation. She blamed her involvement in the situation on her naïveté and being scammed by the broker and mortgage lender. Kross and her French partner Manuel Ferrara have one daughter, born in January 2014. In 2013, Ferrara asked her to no longer perform with other men. Ferrara continues to shoot scenes with other women, occasionally scenes that are directed by Kross. They acknowledged the seeming double standard of their arrangement but agreed that his work would stay professional and that Kross maintains "veto" power over who performs with Manuel. He also stated that if she wished for him to stop performing altogether, he would. ==Awards==

;As a performer ;As a director ==Mainstream filmography==