Before 1999: Modeling and acting Van used to work in
corporate, when he became a
masseur to earn extra income. He had minor roles in the movies
The Adventurers (1995), in which he played the role of Xiao Hei, leader of the San Francisco-based Vietnamese Black Tiger gang; and
Who Am I? (1998), in which he played Takashi (uncredited).
1999–2007: Fame and recognition in gay porn Van's first porn video was
TitanMen's
3 Easy Pieces, which was shot in 1999 but released in 2001; while the first to be released was Can-Am Productions'
Lords of the Lockerroom (2000). Muscle Bound Productions'
White Rope (2001), featuring
bondage, was the first video he wrote, directed and produced. In just a couple of years in the gay porn industry, Van became "the world's biggest gay Asian porn star". In 2002, he attended the Nation.02 gay party in Singapore held on the occasion of
National Day, and an Internet auction for "Dinner with Van" fetched $12,000— with 100% of the proceeds going to Action for AIDS (Singapore) and other development programs for the
GLBT community. Van, a
shibari aficionado, started utilizing this Japanese style of tying in his bondage and photographic work in 2004.
2008–present: Kink.com and other appearances After reading an article about
Kink.com, Van— who had been a
BDSM enthusiast since the mid-1990s— contacted the founder
Peter Acworth; and in 2008, the company launched a gay bondage site named 'Bound Gods' with Darkholme as the director, under a new gay-focused division,
KinkMen.com. Van gained further recognition as a bondage master after he started working for Kink.com. In 2009, his photographic work was featured in
visual artist Trevor Wayne's self-published magazine
Pin-Up Show.
Paul Chan made a drawing titled
Oh Van Darkholme as a part of his Sade project in the same year. Van appeared as himself in an episode of the TV series
BadComedian in 2011. and that he grew up fantasizing about whipping the muscular football players he saw on TV. Describing his relationship as a director with models who take the
submissive roles in his films, he says— “I respect and love the subs when I’m working . . . I care for them a lot.” He started
streaming on
Twitch in 2020, and started a
YouTube channel as well. == In popular culture ==