Belladonna Biography
Summary
"Belladonna" (born "Michelle Anne Sinclair" on May 21, 1981) is an American pornographic actress. She derived her stage name in part from a friend in Utah named Bella, then an early agent suggested Bella Donna as it meant 'beautiful woman'. As of early 2008 she has appeared in nearly 250 movies and been credited as the director on 40 films.
Biography
Early life
Michelle Anne Sinclair was born in Biloxi, Mississippi of German, Scottish and Cherokee ancestry.
Sinclair got her first tattoo at age 12, and at age 14 she attempted suicide. She dropped out of high school and moved out of her parents' house at the age of 15.
Career
Belladonna got into the adult film industry after she moved to Los Angeles to become a nude model. Her career began in 2000 when she was only 19. She has appeared in over 250 adult films with the majority of them being anal-themed. She now owns and operates Belladonna Entertainment with her partner and husband, Aiden Kelly. She produces her own movies under the Belladonna Entertainment and Deadly Nightshade Productions labels, exclusively distributed by Evil Angel.
She has appeared several times in the reality television series "Family Business", which focuses on the life of porn director Adam Glasser a.k.a. 'Seymore Butts'. In 2004 she was one of a number of porn stars photographed by Timothy Greenfield-Sanders for a 'coffee table book' on the adult industry, "XXX: 30 Porn-Star Portraits"; she also appears in the HBO documentary "Thinking XXX" about the making of the book.
Media attention from "Primetime"
Her career in the pornography business was followed for two years by a crew from ABC Television, culminating in a January 2003 interview with Diane Sawyer as part of a "Primetime Thursday" segment on pornography. During the interview she broke down in tears. Following its broadcast Belladonna condemned what she felt had been unfair treatment at the hands of Sawyer and the ABC staffers, saying the segment had portrayed her as a victim and that the interview was edited to convey the misleading impression that she had been forced to perform against her will.
One topic discussed in the interview was the fact that she had contracted chlamydia.
The interview has since been used by a number of anti-pornography groups to support their case that pornography is exploitative of the women who appear in it; nevertheless, Belladonna remains an active performer in the industry. In later interviews, Belladonna claimed that she had never intended to make 'anti-porn' statements, and that "Primetime" had deliberately taken many of her statements out of context to give the segment a negative slant. In one interview, when she was asked if she was happy how the interview came out, her reply was:
ABC contacted her once to do a follow-up to the interview; Belladonna refused saying, 'No thank you. I don't want to be embarrassed again.'
Semi-retirement
In August, 2007 Belladonna decided to semi-retire from performing with other people over concerns of STDs, specifically herpes. She contracted herpes in 2002 and was worried the disease had spread. However, according to her blog, she has since come out of retirement, and has filmed a number of hardcore scenes . Digital Playground has announced that she will appear in "Pirates II", the sequel to their top-selling DVD, "Pirates".
Personal life
She was formerly engaged to fellow porn actor Nacho Vidal. On April 11, 2004, she married Aiden Kelly in Las Vegas, Nevada. Her daughter, Myla, was born on January 11, 2005.
Awards
2002 AVN Award for Best All-Sex Video - "Buttwoman Iz Bella"
2003 AVN Award for Best All-Girl Sex Scene (Film) - "The Fashionistas"
2003 AVN Award for Best Oral Sex Scene (Film) - "The Fashionistas"
2003 AVN Award for Best Supporting Actress (Film) - "The Fashionistas"
2003 AVN Award for Best Tease Performance - "The Fashionistas"
2004 Night Moves Award for Best Gonzo - "Belladonna's Evil Pink"
2004 AVN Award for Best Couples Sex Scene - "Back 2 Evil"
2005 AVN Award for Best All-Girl Feature - "ConnASSeur"
2006 AVN Award for Best All-Girl Feature - "Belladonna's Fucking Girls"
2006 XRCO Award for Best Girl/Girl Movie - "Belladonna's Fucking Girls"
2006 F.A.M.E. Award for Favorite Gonzo Movie - "Belladonna: No Warning"
2007 F.A.M.E. Award for Dirtiest Girl in Porn
2008 AVN Award for Best Director, Non-Feature - "Belladonna: Manhandled 2"
2008 Night Moves Adult Entertainment Award - The Triple Play Award
External links
Interviews
(Interview 2005) at FoundryMusic.com
(Interview #1 (January 2002)) and (interview #2 (March 2003)) at RogReviews.com
(Belladonna interview) at Eros-Zine.com, March 2007
(Belladonna QA) at Good Vibrations, April 2007
(Audio Interview) at Adult DVD Talk, June 2007
(Exclusive Interview) at Freeones on September 11th 2007
(A mum in disguise) Audio interview at Maynard.com.au May 2008
(Audio Interview) at Adult DVD Talk, May 2008
Credit
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article about Belladonna.
