from www.iesb.net – An adult film superstar and sex symbol, Jesse Jane is an all-American blonde, green-eyed, sultry Texan who has risen to international fame with the help of mega adult company Digital Playground. With global exposure on hundreds of magazine covers, including FHM, Maxim, Strip Las Vegas and Arena, and roles in film, television and music videos, Jesse Jane’s exuberant love of life and infectious personality have made her one of the favorite and most popular adult film stars today.

In this exclusive interview, Jesse Jane spoke to IESB about making a name for herself in the mainstream film industry, as well as the adult industry, and successfully juggling her career with her family.

IESB: How did you get into the adult industry? Were you a fan of porn, or were you just intrigued by the idea of being on camera?

Jesse: I’m from Ft. Worth, Texas, and my dad was in the military. I think I watched my first porn when I was 13 or 14, and it was a Traci Lords film. I just thought, “Man, that girl is crazy. She’s beautiful, and that just looks like so much fun.” I had seen it because I was young and curious, but I actually don’t watch porn, believe it or not. But, I’ve always wanted to be a sex symbol.

I started at Hooters, and that wasn’t sexy enough. And then, I did some Hawaiian Tropic bikini modeling, and it still wasn’t sexy enough. And, I just thought, “I could be a porn star,” ‘cause I love to have sex and I’m very open with my sexuality. I love the whole role-playing aspect, and getting to act out fantasies. So, I contacted Digital Playground, and they happened to like me. They flew me to L.A. and I signed a contract, the day they flew me there.

IESB: Where do you think that confidence in your body came from? Was it from your upbringing, or did being a dancer and cheerleader make you more comfortable?

Jesse: Being a dancer and cheerleader helped, but I’ve been a ham in front of the camera, since I was little, my mom always tells me. I had to not be shy and have confidence because, every two years, I would have to move because my dad was in the military. If I didn’t have confidence, there was no way I was going to make friends or adapt to the situation I was in.

I just learned, at a young age, that you have to put yourself out there and have confidence, if you want to succeed in anything, like when I was trying to make friends in a new state, when I was young. And then, just doing cheerleading and dancing, you can’t be shy. You perform in front of crowds, so I guess that’s helped. But, my mom said, when I was 3 and 4, I would run away from her at the mall and talk to strangers, and she would freak out. That’s just how I’ve always been.

IESB: When did you realize that you could actually make a career out of the adult industry?

Jesse: I’ve gotta tell you, I was smart when I came into it. I was a regional training coordinator at Hooters, so I have a business background and I know what I need. I have a family. I know what it takes and how to make my money, and I know what I want and what will make me successful. I knew what I was going to be getting myself into, before I got into it, and worked out the details to make sure that I had a comfortable living.

I left Hooters, which I had worked at since I was 17, so I wanted to make sure that I could make money out of it and have a future, so that when I’m out of the business, I can have something from the business that will help make me money when I retire.

IESB: Working with Digital Playground, how much of your career has been a collaborative process with them and how much are you in total control of what you do?

Jesse: It’s both. I’m from Texas, but I came from Oklahoma, when I started the business, and Samantha Lewis, one of the owners, tried to convince me to get out of porn. She was like, “If you want to be in mainstream, I can get you there, girl. You don’t need to do this.” I had to actually convince her that I was made for porn. She was like, “Honey, if you think this is going to get you into mainstream, it’s not. But, I know the right people to get you into mainstream.” I was like, “I wanna be a sex symbol.”

But, it took all of them to help build my image. It’s teamwork. I have to maintain myself the way that they like, but they don’t ever make me do anything I don’t want. I get to give them ideas on movies I would like to shoot, and fantasies that I have, and I’ve always put myself out there. They do the marketing, they’re a great company and they put out great product, but I have to carry the personality. You can’t make somebody have a personality. I’m crazy, and I think that freaked them out, at first, because I’m wild and all over the place. But, they’ve learned to like it and seen that it’s gotten me out there much more. It’s teamwork. It’s not just them, and it’s not just me. It’s been both of us together.

IESB: How much are you like your porn star persona in your personal life, and how much of who you are on film is someone that you leave on set?

Jesse: I’m actually crazier in my personal life, when I have sex, just because I’m married. I’ve been married for almost four years now, and I’ve been with him for five years, and I need somebody that can entertain me. I’ve always been crazy in bed, but there’s things I won’t do on film because I save it for my husband.

Personality wise, I act out the characters that I have to act out on film, but if you ever watch the Behind the Scenes footage, that’s actually me. I’m a big dork. I like to make everybody laugh, and I will make stupid faces or do stupid dances.

But, I am very sexual. My mom will even tell you. She thinks I have this eye that I undress people with. She’ll say, “Stop!,” and I’m like, “What are you talking about?,” and she’ll say, “You look like you’re going to devour that person.”

IESB: You work in an industry where you’re having sex with different people for a living, but you also maintain a successful marriage and family life. Is that because you just see it as work and keep it separate, or are there moments of jealousy that you have to work through?

Jesse: First of all, I live in Oklahoma. I don’t get around the drama that people get into. The business has a lot of drama. If you live where it is, they try to split you up. If you’re successful, they don’t want you to work. But, my husband was in the business longer than I’ve been in it, and it just really helps that he has that understanding, and we both know it’s work.

I can put work aside. I’m a mom. When I come home, I’m just a fun-loving dork, who’s a football and baseball mom. I have friends, and we go out and do things, but I’m absolutely normal. I’ve dated people in the entertainment business, and they can’t handle it. We just have a successful marriage because he was in the business four years longer than I’ve been in it, and he has a total understanding that work is work and home life is home life. You have to be able to separate it, or the relationship will never work. And, you have to trust each other and be very confident within yourself, or the jealousy bone is going to end up ruining things.

He’s not in the business anymore, but I haven’t had jealousy issues or a fight about it, and it hasn’t become an issue. He’s great. Seriously, I probably have the perfect husband. It’s cool because he understands. He got to act out all his sexual fantasies for almost 10 years. I’m 6 ½ years into the business and I’m not done yet, but he understands that it’s a job and he’s just not jealous. I’m a natural flirt, anyways, and he just understands me. He knows I wouldn’t push the line. He knows I’m not going anywhere because I get to have sex on film.

IESB: Having been in the industry for a number of years now, are there things that you’ve learned about yourself that surprised you?

Jesse: I never knew that I was strong-minded enough to deal with people that I thought were my friend, but that turned out to be back-stabbers who talked about me because of jealousy. I’m surprised about how many people, especially in Oklahoma where you can’t even buy porn, think it’s cool and know who I am. I’m in the middle of the Bible belt. I’ve learned that I’m strong enough that, if somebody comes to me and says, “Oh, my God, you’re going to Hell,” it doesn’t bother me. Being in this business, I’ve figured out that I’m a lot stronger and hard-headed than I thought I would be.

IESB: Do you think that’s part of what’s helped you stay successful for so long, in an industry where so many girls come and go, so quickly?

Jesse: That could be part of the reason. But, I started at 22, and a lot of the girls that come into the business start at 18 or 19. They’re very young, they’re looking for a quick buck, or they’re doing something to piss their parents off, or they want to get back at an ex-boyfriend, and they don’t really have any business background. They’re gullible and naive and, when these directors tell them that they have to do this many scenes or these kinds of scenes, and they’ll throw so much money at them, the girls do it and then eventually get overshot, which is a problem.

At 18 or 19, these girls think this money is just going to keep coming in, and they never save it or do anything with it. They just don’t choose the right things to do with this career. I started older and I knew a little bit more about business. They don’t realize that it only takes one person to find out what you do. These girls think that nobody is going to find out what they do, and when their parents find out, they quit. I thought a lot of things through before I stepped into the business.

IESB: Because you’ve had so much success, do you feel the need to take the new Digital Playground contract girls under your wing and give them advice on maintaining a successful career?

Jesse: Oh, I love to! I get along with all of our girls, but my girl Riley Steele is my baby. She came to me a couple years ago, at the Hustler San Diego signing for Pirates, as a fan. She was beautiful and I was just staring at her. She was like, “Oh, my God, I love you!,” and I was like, “Honey, here’s a card. You should be in the business.” But, I told her to think about it, and she did. She waited a couple of years to see if it was something that she definitely wanted to do, and then she decided to do it. So, I think of her as my baby. She asks me for advice all the time. We’re actually really good friends, and I feel the need to protect her and tell her what she needs to do and the steps that she needs to take, and she’s doing so good. I love her.

I’ve always gotten along with any of the girls that we’ve had, and I’ve always given them advice. I feel like I’m the mom of Digital Playground because I’m the one that’s been there the longest. I’ve been through all the contract girls. I still talk to Teagan Presley, and some of the other girls, because I’m open to help anybody with advice. That’s just the way I am. But, Riley is my favorite. She’s my baby. She’s really smart. She’s going to do very good, in this business.

IESB: Have you ever had instances of people recognizing you that have really surprised you?

Jesse: Yeah! I got recognized at Toys R Us. Someone came up to me and I was like, “Really? You’re going to come up to me at Toys R Us with your kid and my kid here? You really think my real name is Jesse?” But, it’s flattering. I’m not offended. I just wish some people would wait and approach me the right way.

But, I’ve had older people and couples, and I have a lot of female fans. It blows my husband away. He’s like, “I swear, I think you might have more girl fans than you do guy fans.” It’s really cool. It’s just neat, especially being in Oklahoma where you can’t buy porn, that a lot of people know who you are. That just really makes you feel good about yourself. If you can’t even buy porn here and you know who I am, obviously Digital Playground and I have done something right.

I’m wild. I just put myself out there. You’ve gotta make women feel comfortable. Plus, I love women.

IESB: Did someone talk to you and educate you about sex growing up, or did you have to figure that out on your own?

Jesse: It’s funny that you mention that because my parents aren’t prudes, but it was the uncomfortable sex talk about the birds and the bees, and they left it at that. I just naturally had it in me to find my own sexuality. I was curious and knew a lot more things than what I thought I should know.

I didn’t lose my virginity until I was 17, but I sure knew a lot. I just went with the feeling. I just got into it. Everybody’s different and everybody has an awkward moment. Some people like sex better than other people do, and some people are crazier. The guy I lost my virginity to was my first husband. We were high school sweethearts. The first time hurt a little bit, but I worked into it. And, the second time, I just took over and dominated that way, and tried to find what I like and really got into it. From that point out, I was like, “I want sex, every day.”

I still have sex every day with my husband, and we’ve been together for five years. I just like sex that much. I learned, with my own body, what I liked and I tried new things. It’s just something I like. I guess you could say I’m kind of a nympho.

IESB: Was it difficult to tell your family that you wanted to be in the adult industry? How did they feel about your chosen profession, when you told them?

Jesse: It was funny because I don’t hide things. I’m not embarrassed about what I do. So, I had gone to L.A. for the weekend and I signed my contract. I had to live in L.A. for the first two years, to build my name because it takes a lot of work to build your name. I knew there was no easy way to say it, and I’m not ashamed of it, but it’s still that feeling of, “Oh, no, I have to tell my parents?”

I walked into their house and I was just sitting there, and I said, “Guess what? I’m moving to L.A. to be a porn star.” There was no easy way to tell them, so I just told them like that. And, they just stood there for a minute, with their eyes wide open, and then my dad started cussing and my mom started crying. They were upset, but then my mom came to California, when I moved out there, so that I could show her what it was all about.

I had to explain it to her because, when a lot of people think of porn, they think of child pornography, or they think about women being beaten or degraded, and I’m not into that. I shoot five to six movies a year. I shoot very high-budget, high-quality, classy stuff. And, even though they obviously didn’t see what I shot, ‘cause that’s just weird, they saw the company that I worked for and how I handled myself business wise, and they knew that I’m not stupid, so they were like, “Okay, you’ve always known what you want to do and I’m not going to stop you. I might not like your job, but I’m going to accept it now.”

IESB: Do you enjoy getting to make the big-budget adult films and having the chance to play characters that are different from who you are?

Jesse: Yeah, I like to do it all. I like to mix it up. I like the vignettes where there’s no sound at all, and it’s just music and sex, ‘cause then you just have great sex. And, I like to play characters and act things out ‘cause I’m into role-playing. If you fall into a character that’s not you, it’s like you’re having sex as somebody else, and that’s fun.
I like to be able to get to do different things. I even like to shoot the Jack’s Playground gonzo stuff. It’s still fun. I like to do everything. If you do the same thing, over and over again, it’s boring. You need to sometimes do Pirates, Cheerleaders and Nurses, and just be somebody else and play a character. It makes it more fun and it turns you on more because you’re role-playing. It’s almost like you’re living in somebody else’s body and mind, as they’re being dirty, and that’s fun.

IESB: What do you get out of feature dancing and performing for a live audience that you don’t get from working on a set?

Jesse: I love feature dancing! I’ve done it for two years now. I waited awhile because I had never stripped, but I love it because I love to dance. I have a dance background, in actual, real dancing. And, I love to put on my feature costumes, which are insane. I love to be in front of a live audience and feed off everybody’s energy.

Dancing is a break for me. Dancing is something that I get to do, that I enjoy. Because I’m so busy, I don’t get to go out dancing with my friends, so it’s just fun. I like to meet my fans ‘cause I love my fans, and I like to feed off their energy. It’s funny to watch people either go crazy or just stare. They’re meeting somebody they watch on film and they fantasize about being with you, so it’s funny to watch their reactions. I have so much fun feature dancing. It’s probably one of my favorite things about this business.

IESB: What do you enjoy most about what you do, and what are the biggest challenges of it?

Jesse: I enjoy the traveling. I’ve gotten to go all over the world, and that’s something I always had a dream of doing, since I was a kid. Being with Digital Playground, I’ve gotten to go to several different countries and all over the U.S., several times. I’ve seen the world and met really cool people.

But, that’s also the challenge because, the more popular you get, the more you travel, and sometimes that takes a toll on you. It’s hard, when you have a family, but you have to do it for your career. You’re only going to be able to do your career for so long. So, it’s the fun part and the challenging part of the business, but I wouldn’t change anything that I’ve done. It’s overwhelming sometimes, but it’s really cool. I can’t believe what I’ve gotten to do, and I can’t believe it’s already been 6 ½ years. Time flies, when you’re having fun. All the places I’ve been and how many times I’ve been there is just crazy, when you think about it.

IESB: Have you given any thought at all, as to where you’d like to see your career go next? Are you looking to have your own production company or direct in the future, or do you just want to stay in front of the camera?

Jesse: I’m gonna stay in front of the camera for four to five more years, until I’m ready to be done. I’m coming out with my own toy line with Digital Playground and they’re changing my website, so that I can do live webcam shows and be more interactive.

I don’t want my own production company, and that’s just a personal thing. The Internet has ruined DVD sales, so it’s not as glamorous or as money-making as it was before, and I really don’t want to waste my time. I wouldn’t mind directing some of my own movies, but right now, I’m having fun with what I’m doing. I’m just going with the flow. I’m so busy right now that I don’t have time to even try to direct.

IESB: You’ve done a lot of mainstream work with magazine layouts, music videos and acting roles. Was that something that you were looking to do, or were you surprised that all of that happened?

Jesse: It just happened, and it’s been great. I have a few movies coming out. I shot the Adam Sandler movie, Born to Be A Star, but I play myself. I got a bigger part in it, but I couldn’t shoot one of the days and they couldn’t back that day up, so the big part that I got was cut to a smaller part. But, it’s still a mainstream movie that will be in theaters in 2010.

And then, I got to play myself in Middle Men, with Luke Wilson and James Caan. And, I did Let the Game Begin, with Thomas Ian Nicholas and Natasha Henstridge. And, I did Entourage. Those all just fell into my lap. All that stuff just came about, and it’s something I didn’t expect. Honestly, I would never try to pursue mainstream, and I don’t want to ever leave the adult industry, but I love doing mainstream projects.

IESB: Would you like to do some roles where you’re playing more of a character?

Jesse: I would love to do anything that’s offered to me. I could have had a lot more opportunities, but living in Oklahoma makes it difficult. People call you, thinking you live in L.A., and they need you the next day. Even if I did live in L.A., you can’t book me the next day because I’m booked a month in advance. Unless it’s a really big thing, I can’t change my scheduling around.

But, I would definitely love any opportunity to act out any character. I’d love to play different characters, like a bad-ass, a psycho, a sweetheart or the bubbly girl-next-door. I love to do anything. I like the challenge, and I just have fun doing it. I’ve gotten to meet really cool people and have a lot of opportunities, and it’s just been fun. Any opportunity I get to do anything, I’m always up for it.

IESB: What accomplishment are you most proud of, both personally and professionally?

Jesse: Personally, just the experiences I’ve gotten to have, with the traveling I’ve gotten to do and the money that I’ve made. I bought my house, my cars and my truck, and I’ve been able to provide some bad-ass things for myself and my family, and go on cool vacations.

Professionally, I’m proud of the fact that, 6 ½ years later, I’m still doing good, I still have fans and I haven’t been kicked out.

Fans can see more of Jesse Jane at www.DigitalPlayground.com.