Page 66 - AVN March 2022

“Things are really starting to click...”
The transition is often abrupt.
One month you’re shooting scenes in Catholic school-girl skirts or cheerleader uniforms—and a year later you’re pinning your hair in a bun to play someone’s stepmom. Most performers scoff the first time they’re cast in a MILF role.
But Sheena Ryder is different.
“I’ve actually embraced it,” she says.
Indeed, whether it’s investing in a new wardrobe, enhancing her breasts or
improving her acting skills so she can flourish in more character-driven scenes, Ryder has fully immersed herself in MILF culture. And it’s paying off.
The buxom brunette was one of the genre’s most in-demand performers in 2021, when she appeared in more than 50 scenes for blue-chip companies such as Brazzers, Adult Time and Team Skeet. The hard work propelled Ryder onto the list of 15 finalists for one of the most competitive categories of the 2022 AVN Awards: MILF Performer of the Year.
Although she didn’t win—the trophy went to Alexis Fawx—Ryder felt gratified to receive the first AVN nomination of her career.
“Things are really starting to click,” Ryder, 38, tells AVN. “The last two years have been a hardship for so many people. But for whatever reason, I’ve been more successful than I’ve ever been.”
And Ryder is grateful for every moment of it.
It was only nine years ago, after all, when Ryder was involved in a horrific motorcycle accident that could’ve easily ended her life.
In November of 2012, Ryder was a passenger on a bike that crashed into the median of South Carolina highway, instantly killing the driver while sending Ryder hurtling more than 40 yards down the asphalt, mangling her legs and feet. Ryder spent two months in the hospital and now has six pins, a plate and a rod in her right ankle. She was released the day before the 2012 AVN Awards and used a walker to stroll down the red carpet.
Ryder wears thigh-highs in all of her scenes to cover scarring from the wreck.
“I still feel survivor’s guilt,” Ryder says, “but it also made me more appreciative of my life, of my career. I’m so invested now. I’m like, ‘This is me. This is who I am now.
I’m never walking away.’”
66 AVN.COM | 9.21 | JESSICA RYAN