2015 AVN AWARDS show red carpet ELA DARLING las vegas
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read the story at www.lasvega ssun.com/vegasdeluxe
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Added: 2 months ago
From: Richard Corey
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From lasvegassun.com:
Our final story gleaned from the 2015 AVN/Adult Entertainment Expo at the Hard Rock Hotel last week is the torrid tale of a stuffy librarian who swapped reference books in favor of XXX-rated movies.
You won't find this story on the shelves of your local library, but I can assure you that it is fact and not fiction.
Meet rising porn star Ela Darling!
Q: How long was the journey from being a librarian in Massachusetts to the bright lights of Hollywood and now the Adult Entertainment Expo in Las Vegas?
It's been a little over five years now. I retired from being a reference librarian in 2009 to come out to Los Angeles and do porn and some other stuff. I could not be more thrilled, although I do miss the library.
You should support your local library. In fact, if my fans show me their library card, I undo my top and show them my chest as a reward because it's important to me that they support their local library. I don't think I can do it in this dress, but if you show me a library card, I promise you a peek later.
Q: The difference in the two careers is night and day?
It's really interesting. When I was a librarian, I was called the sexy librarian, and now people call me the smart porn star. I'm not the only one, though. There are many intelligent people in my industry. It's interesting that I'm more appreciated as a porn star for my intellect than I was as a librarian, which I got a master's degree to do.
Q: You also have a master's degree?
I have an MS. I'm a master's of science in library and information science. I got it at the No. 1 library school in the country (the University of Illinois), and I finished when I was 21 years old. It was pretty quick. I got my bachelor's and master's in four years, so it was quick.
Q: How do you mentally make the jump from serious education to the wild, wanton ways of wicked movies?
It started as a slow journey. I had been modeling for a few years. I started doing some very hard-core bondage shots, but it was not naked, so I felt safe. Then I did my first nude shoots. Then I felt that if I can do bondage and I can do nude, why not put those two together?
That's basically porn, and if I move to L.A., I'll have so many opportunities to do that. I could have been a librarian for the rest of my life, but I don't want the rest of my life to start when I'm 22. So I gave it a year at the library, then I retired and came out west.
It's fun because all of my old library co-workers - I almost called them co-stars! - my co-stars at the library are so incredibly supportive. I was so nervous to tell them. I didn't tell them for years, and they found out via Facebook and they've all been so cool about it.
Q: You also do comic book characters. You were Batgirl at Comic-Con in San Diego. Why are you so fascinated with Harry Potter and Batgirl characters?
I like Batgirl because Barbara Gordon was a librarian just like me. I like Harry Potter because J.K. Rowling has constructed an intricate, very complex world. Harry Potter Fandom has actually done so much for me personally, but also for the world.
There's an organization called the Harry Potter Alliance, and it just succeeded after a four-year struggle to get Warner Bros. to switch their chocolate providers to Fair Trade Chocolate because before that, children in slave labor basically made it.
So I love Harry Potter because it inspires people to do great things. It inspires people to greatness in an incredibly complex world. It also changed the publishing industry for young adults, for everyone to come to the library and read.
Q: But Harry Potter began as books for kids?
Yeah, but just because it's books for kids doesn't mean it can't be poignant and important and very socially strong. It has a lot of social commentary. When you read it when you're a kid, you miss it. But then when you read it as an adult, you realize how much she really has to say about slave labor, about race relations, about homosexuality, about so many important social issues.
Q: Did any of that guide your life? Did any of that play a part in what you now do with sex on camera?
Certainly. The Harry Potter Fandom was there for me in a very hard time when I was in grad school. I became a librarian in Massachusetts because that's where the Harry Potter Fandom was localized. My Harry Potter friends have helped transition me through each point of my life since then.
I'm so blessed to have the Harry Potter Fandom in my life. I know it sounds silly, but my nerd culture runs deep. My very first convention I was in a stroller for a Star Trek Convention. It's like a family, a sea of nerddom.
Q: Which leads me to this convention. How many years have you attended this Adult Expo in Las Vegas?
This is my fifth. I'm getting more recognized now and getting a lot more press right now because I just transitioned to doing boy-girl porn this past year, which is kind of the big leagues.
I didn't realize at the time, but when I was just doing girl-girl - I was a little bit older and I have tattoos - I was limiting myself to one small peninsula of the grand land that is pornography. Now it's so great being able to explore it all.
Q: Do you ever get embarrassed with anything?
I get embarrassed about plenty of things, but not about porn or sexuality. I don't think there's anything to have shame about there. This convention is great. I have a great time meeting my fans. When I come to Las Vegas, it's for work scenarios like this.
If I'm being honest, I don't like some of the culture in Las Vegas. I don't like this whole "what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas" thing because I think it encourages people, especially men, to be considerably less respectful. I'll have guys literally block my way so I can't keep walking and refuse to let me move past them. Twice in five minutes, I had that happen.
I was just like dead straight "no, thank you, no, no, no." These were tourists, people who don't live in Las Vegas. The people who live in Las Vegas are awesome. It's some of the tourists who suck with their behavior. Tourism is great for the community, but sometimes the visitors are out of control.
Q: Has this particular Adult Expo done you good?
This convention always does me well. I love it. Sometimes I actually book movies out of this convention. Honestly, the red carpet is really good for me because people get to see this part of me that they don't really get to see on film.
They get to see how articulate I can be when I'm doing interviews. I think it makes people really understand the legitimacy of what I do and myself as a performer.
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Our thanks to Richard Corey for his YouTube video of my interview with Ela. I'm off to the library once I find my card!
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