Casey Calvert is an American pornographic actress and film director. She has won several awards in the pornographic film industry, and has written about it in mainstream media publications. Calvert entered the adult media industry with early work as an art model and fetish model at age 21. She chose her stage name after one of her college professors, Clay Calvert.
She began working in adult film in 2012. She received an XRCO Award for her film work in 2015. This was followed by an AVN Award in 2017, and another XRCO Award in 2018. In 2015, Calvert began writing for publications including GameLink and The Huffington Post. She was a contributor to the 2015 book Coming Out Like a Porn Star, edited by Jiz Lee.
Calvert expanded her film career, from acting to directing and producing. She was an actor, writer, and casting director on the Pure Taboo production, The Starlet: A Casey Calvert Story. Erika Lust hired Calvert to direct a feature series Primary. By 2020, she devoted half her career to her work as a film director.
Early life and education
Calvert was raised Conservative Jewish and attended synagogue every Shabbat (Saturday) morning until her Bat Mitzvah. Her family switched to a Reform synagogue and began attending only on Jewish holidays. She spent her early life in Gainesville, Florida. Calvert attended the University of Florida where she studied filmmaking. She chose her stage name in honor of Professor Clay Calvert after taking his class on Mass Media Law as a sophomore. She said, "It felt right because really if I hadn't taken his class, I wouldn't be where I am right now," referring to learning during his class that pornography was not illegal as she had initially thought. Pornography and legal case law related to the film industry were a focus of the media class. She also studied the First Amendment to the United States Constitution and learned that pornography is a form of protected freedom of speech in the United States. Calvert said that her first name, "Casey", is derived from the initials of her celebrity crush's children—K. and C.—but has not specified who they are.
Career
Modeling and acting
Before appearing in adult films, Calvert worked as a nude model, doing fetish and art modelling in the spring of her junior year of college, at 21. She learned about the fetish scene from contacts in Orlando, Florida. Calvert features in The Mammoth Book of Erotic Photography. She modeled for Hustler's Taboo. She entered the adult film industry on November 5, 2012, with her first scene for SexArt studio. Calvert has described her career as: "just like having any other job, except you're naked on the Internet". Calvert launched her website in January 2014. She received a nomination for an XRCO Award (X-Rated Critics Association) for Best New Starlet in 2014, the first year she was eligible.
The XRCO recognized Calvert with an Unsung Siren Award in 2015 recognizing her as, "the female star who consistently demonstrates excellence without due recognition from the media". Sociologist and XRCO member, Chauntelle Tibbals, commented on Calvert's selection praising her "performance work in a variety of genres" and "her considerable contributions to the adult industry". Calvert made fetish and BDSM part of her niche as an actress in adult films, appearing in a featured performance Jessica Drake's Guide to Wicked Sex: BDSM for Beginners directed by Jessica Drake in 2015. Writing for Bustle, Amanda Chatel observed, "Unlike adult performers of the past, Calvert is an educated woman who didn't stumble into porn, but headed there because that's what she wanted." Calvert worked with Bobbi Starr on BDSM film shoots and appreciated her respect for performers. Calvert contributed to virtual reality pornography, where her likeness was digitally scanned and uploaded to an avatar.
Calvert gained early experience directing by creating custom videos. She took requests from clients for selectively made films to make a profit in the face of online piracy. Priced at up to $10,000 per request, Calvert saw this as a way to interact directly with her fans and create her own content. She found billing them difficult because of restrictions by payment processors related to adult content. Calvert has tried to pursue a mainstream acting and modeling career, but potential employers have refused to hire her because of her work in porn. She says she has been recognized even while auditioning under her legal name.