SUNNY LEONE

SUNNY LEONE - Film Actress

Sunny Leone (born Karenjit Kaur Vohra; May 13, 1981) was born in Sarnia, Ontario to Sikh Punjabi parents. Her father was born in Tibet and raised in Delhi, while her mother (who died in 2008)  was from Sirmaur, Himachal Pradesh. 

Although the family was Sikh, her parents enrolled her in Catholic school as it was felt to be unsafe for her to go to public school. There she had her first kiss at 11, lost her virginity to a basketball player at another school at 16, and discovered her bisexuality at age 18. When she was 13, her family moved to Fort Gratiot, Michigan, then to Lake Forest, California a year later, fulfilling her grandparents' dream that the family be together in one place. She graduated from high school in 1999 and enrolled in college. Before working in the porn industry, she first worked at a German bakery, then at Jiffy Lube, and later in a tax and retirement firm. 

While studying to be a pediatric nurse in Orange County, a classmate who was an exotic dancer introduced Leone to John Stevens, an agent who in turn introduced her to Jay Allen, a photographer for Penthouse magazine. When picking a name for her adult career, she has said that Sunny is her real name and Leone was picked by Bob Guccione, former owner of Penthouse magazine. She posed for Penthouse magazine, and was named Penthouse Pet of the Month for the March 2001 issue, followed by a feature in the Holiday 2001 edition of Hustler magazine as a Hustler Honey. In 2003, she was named "Penthouse Pet of the Year" and starred in the video Penthouse Pets in Paradise alongside Tera Patrick and Kyla Cole. In 2005 Adam & Eve appointed her as their West Coast Internet Sales Representative. 

Leone's last two movies under her contract with Vivid were  It's Sunny in Brazil, which was filmed in Brazil. and The Sunny Experiment also starring Monique Alexander and Brea Lynn. The movies were released in October and December 2007 respectively.In August 2009, she announced the launch of her own studio, Sunlust Pictures, with Daniel Weber as her partner. She also indicated that she plans to launch her own line of lingerie and other Sunny-branded products including a diamond jewellery line. 

Leone's first mainstream appearance was in 2005, when she was a red carpet reporter for the MTV Awards on MTV India. She has also had a cameo in the film The Girl Next Door, performed in Ja Rule's video "Livin It Up" and a video for Kidd Skilly. Other credits include E!'s "Wild On!" and the Sundance Film Festival's 'After Dark'. Leone was a contestant in the second season of the Fox reality show My Bare Lady 2: Open for Business, in which a group of adult actresses were given classes and training on how to pitch investment ideas and competed for success in the business world. In addition to filming her scene for Debbie Does Dallas in 2007, Leone was also part of a Showtime documentary of the same name detailing the production of the movie and the personal lives of its stars.

She has indicated that for the right price she would seriously consider a career in Bollywood She has been courted by Indian directors in the past but has felt uncomfortable with the roles that she would have played. Director Mohit Suri reportedly asked Leone to play the lead role in his film Kalyug, but instead cast Deepal Shaw as he could not afford Leone's $1 million acting fee. She has mentioned that Aamir Khan is her favorite Bollywood actor, and that over 60% of her fans are from South Asia.

In 2008, Leone announced that she would be starring in a mainstream action adventure movie titled Pirates Blood, which was shot in Oman. The shooting was completed in two weeks and was to be released in winter 2008. Leone also landed a role in Middle Men, producer Chris Mallick's indie feature about the birth of the online porn industry set for wide theatrical release in 2009.

She appeared in the film The Virginity Hit playing a version of herself, where she is hired to take the virginity of the lead character. 

Leone has made appearances at events such as the 2002 SEMA International Auto Salon, the 2002 Extreme Autofest Pomona and the 2006 World Series of Poker in Las Vegas. Sunny has also been the hostess at events in clubs like the Mansion in Miami and the Highlands in Hollywood. 

In 2011, she participated in the Indian reality series Bigg Boss, entering the house on day 49. During her stay in the Bigg Boss house, Sunny was approached by a famous Bollywood director Mahesh Bhatt who entered the house briefly to offer her the lead role in Jism 2 (the sequel to the 2003 film Jism starring Bipasha Basu). She accepted it, which will result in Pooja Bhatt's production house, Fish Eye Network and Leone's agent discussing the movie further. The first look of the film Jism 2 poster was released anticipating the actress entry in Bollywood. Jism 2 was released on August 3, 2012.

Sunny Leone signed her second Bollywood film which is Ekta Kapoor's Ragini MMS sequel. Ragini MMS, a crossover horror movie was one of the most talked about sleeper hits of 2011. Sunny Leone features in an item number in the upcoming Sanjay Gupta and Ekta Kapoor's film Shootout at Wadala. 

In June 2006, Leone became an American citizen, but plans to remain a dual citizen of Canada. Although bisexual, she has stated that she prefers men. In her spare time she enjoys abstract paintings, horse riding, reading, playing World of Warcraft, watching The Simpsons and the Discovery Channel. She used to play on a women's soccer league team in California. Her favourite holiday destination is Hawaii, and her favourite cuisine is Italian. 

Leone was engaged to Matt Erikson, a vice-president of marketing at Playboy Enterprises. She currently resides in Hollywood, California with her cat and drives an Audi A5. In 2010, Leone's father died of cancer, which he had been first diagnosed with in 1999. 

Leone has a strong interest in health and fitness, and has been featured in several mainstream fitness publications. Leone has modelled fitness clothing for the sports brand Fantasy Fitness and shared that she keeps her body in shape by working out as much as she can despite her busy schedule and as quoted in Men's Fitness magazine, "I try to eat very healthy – lots of vegetables, drinking my milk every day."

In 2013, Leone posed for a PETA ad campaign, encouraging dog and cat owners to have their pets spayed and neutered. 

Leone was voted number 13 (up from number 41 in 2007) on Genesis magazine's "Top 100 Porn stars" list. She was voted number 82 in the Top 99 Women for 2012 in AskMen.com's list.