Page 53 - AVN MAY 2021

“That was the one award I was the
most proud to be nominated for
because it was just me.”
Vanna Bardot remembers there was a moment during the most challenging scene
of her porn career when she wasn’t sure if she could keep going.
The 22-year-old native of Miami danced for almost six hours in ballet shoes that
were a tad too small and then had sex with Kyle Mason on a piano—under the
direction of now three-time AVN Director of the Year Kayden Kross for Deeper.
Bardot’s sensational seduction in “Woman”—which was part of the 2020 DVD
release Dance for Me, led to her first AVN award—for Best Solo/Tease Performance
at the all-digital 38th annual ceremony on January 23.
She tells AVN the experience turned into a gut check.
“I didn’t think I was gonna be able to do it at one point,” Bardot admits. “I was
just so stressed out about my shoes, and then also about my dancing itself. But I
said I’ve just got to suck it up a little bit. And it ended up turning out so beautiful.”
Did it ever.
In a scene dripping with style that saw Bardot gliding on her tip-toes naked across
the stage inside an intimate theater in Burbank, one would never have known from
watching the finished product that the trained ballerina overcame a combination
of nerves and fatigue to deliver an AVN award-winning performance.
“Winning that was so, so special,” she says. “That was the one award I was the
most proud to be nominated for because it was just me.”
Now represented by ATMLA for bookings, the former hair salon assistant and
stripper has amassed more than 230 credits since 2018 and without question has
become one of the adult industry's fastest rising stars.
Her breakthrough month of January also included being crowned Penthouse Pet
and the Bang! Babe of the Month title. In March, she was named Nubiles Fantasy
of the Month and debuted on Vixen.com in a scalding session with Mick Blue in
which she plays a sexy chess player. She was the Cherry Pimps’ Cherry of the
Month in November.
“It’s pretty crazy,” Bardot says. “Those were all my goals when I first entered the
industry but I definitely had a little bit of a slower pickup than other girls. I had a lot
of self doubt, just wondering if I’m the kind of material that can reach those levels
or maybe the industry isn’t meant for me.
“But I learned there’s a lot of other factors at play, too. And I changed some things.
“… If you told me about a year ago when quarantine had started that I would
still achieve that much within the year I’d be so shocked. So yeah, I’m incredibly
grateful that all came together and I finally reached that level of being a performer.
It’s definitely very self-validating.”
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