LOS ANGELES — Kira Noir is an urban shaman, her dreadlocks a stylish headdress and her punk rock leathers a tribal shawl. Edgy-yet-slick, she blurs bisexual lines like a hazy opium den, for she is a vision quest, her narcotic musk rooted in the funk of mind-blowing herbals.
To drink her bodily is to sojourn spiritually through a bioluminescent wilderness, beautifully slain by a phantasmal huntress. And though this slayer is petite in frame, Noir nonetheless casts vast shadows, straddling chthonic crossroads like a primordial avatar.
Her faerie dust is an erotic absinthe, infusing sex scenes with such searing vividness, the nostalgic afterimages can be savored long after the credits roll. Like a street-fighter-turned-stripper, she also dominates the BDSM arena, packing a spiked punch that knocks out even the most hardened of swordsmen.
A totemic idol worthy of idolatry, she in turn idolizes Bonnie Rotten, Skin Diamond and Stoya, inspired by their fiercely independent “alt” audacity and uniqueness. They came, they saw and they conquered, because those who saw them… came quickly. Noir likewise aspires to the sort of greatness reserved for cutting-edge excellence, for those who disdain fading power structures, who turn puppet strings on puppeteers, with all the cat’s cradle crocheting of mobster piano wire — making them face the music.
She has an affinity for scissoring through yesterday’s news, jumping those front-page claim jumpers to serve warrants on unwarranted attention seekers. See, talent like hers starts with a slow burn, heralding in its flames the coming conflagration. In essence, Noir is that which shapes, far more than that which is shaped, though there is nothing cookie cutter about her scientific method.
Given so intriguingly cultured an ingénue, XBIZ ventured brazenly into this Spiegler Girl’s enigmatic depths, exploring the many sunken temples and dimly lit alleyways connecting her complex identity. Her legitimate nerd creds, inquisitive intellect and trailblazing fashionista threads greatly impressed.
XBIZ: Tell us how you’ve grown as a performer since your earliest days in porn. Who has shaped your career evolution the most? What have you discovered about yourself personally, since joining the adult industry?
Kira Noir: I have been an adult performer since I was 18. I went from stripping, to camming, to making my own amateur porn, to being in studio-shot porn. When I was a stripper, there was this dancer I liked who told me you should basically be a caricature of yourself. So, I make sure my real personality comes across, while highlighting all of the sexy parts, rather than just faking everything. I also like really stupid puns and really lame jokes, so my pubes are shaped like an arrow, haha.
Bonnie Rotten was kind of the reason why I started — when I first saw her feature dance, I saw how much fun she was having, how much energy she had and it really pushed me to want to get into the industry. Before her, I was just kind of thinking about it, Googling a little bit to see what was out there, recording amateur material. I love the fact she is such a great performer in porn and in real-life. Obviously, I’m not going to be the next Bonnie Rotten, because we’re very different from each other, but I’ll be my own version of her — having as much fun as she does, showcasing the parts of myself I like the most the same way she did.
I was also a big fan of Skin Diamond and Stoya. Before they came around, I imagined most porn stars looked like Jesse Jane — blonde, big boobs, that classic porn aesthetic. And, I never really thought of myself as sexy, because I didn’t have those same features. So, it was amazing to see girls like Skin Diamond and Stoya who were slim. Especially Skin, who was both “alt” and black, which you don’t really see that often in porn. It really opened my eyes to the fact there are a lot of different ways to be sexy. That helped my confidence when I was younger, because I had a boyfriend and we’d watch their scenes while we were fucking — it made me feel sexy knowing there are other girls that have the same kind of body type as me, succeeding in an industry as competitive as this one.
Also, until I started doing porn, I never knew that I had a drool or a foot fetish. People started asking me to do those things and at first it was just like, sure, I don’t mind sticking somebody’s toes in my mouth, as long as they’re clean, it’s okay. Then, I started realizing it was actually turning me on! So, I’m not sure if porn caused that or if porn just caused me to realize that about myself, exactly. But, I definitely didn’t think about people spitting in my face or cute girls’ toes, until porn.
I was 20 when I first got into the biz and now I’m 22. I definitely thought I would begin feature dancing sooner — I had bigger expectations on how fast my track would be in the industry, but I’ve learned it’s more of a slow climb for some people. I feel like I have really great potential, though. No one’s had a problem with me on set as far as I know and I really love this industry, so I’m willing to stick it out and just keep performing, let people see what I have.
XBIZ: You’ve described yourself as a “Goth kid at heart,” drawing inspiration from Death Note and such to create your Kira Noir mystique. You also did a witchcraft-themed gangbang for Kink.com. In what other ways do you explore that inner darkness, either sexually or creatively?
Noir: Well, I recently started doing custom videos again, and I have this really awesome guy that’s into a blasphemy fetish. So, he got me a nun costume and has me talking about bringing him into the church of BBC, and that’s just so much fun. I’m definitely going to hell — I never thought I would have so much fun doing that, haha. Outside of work, whenever I say I’m a Goth kid at heart, it’s because I used to be kind of pretentious about the music I listened to, the kind of fashion I was into. Now, I’m a lot more open to various types of music and just dressing differently. I’ve gotten less picky — good music is good music and if somebody looks cute, they look cute, they don’t have to wear spikes and chains all the time for me to like them. And, oh gosh, I did a couple videos where I was talking about castrating people — it was pretty wicked, but at the same time, in my personal life, I’ve tried to figure out a good balance between the two extremes. I don’t want to ever go back to the way I was where I’d be like “yah, if you’re not screaming in the song you’re just pussy trash.”
And, I wear edgy clothes. All these buttons on my shirt are a pretty good representation of my sense of humor. Some are memories, like this button from the Museum of Death, where I had one of my first L.A. dates after moving here. I’ve got this Tank Girl patch and this is my favorite folk punk band, Days N’ Daze — it’s like banjos, but they’re still screaming about death and destruction, haha. I have these skull earrings and spikes, too. But, since I do both alt porn and girl-next-door stuff, I can’t go too crazy with tattoos. So, this rook piercing is the only kind of alt-y piercing I have. Belly button piercings don’t really count as alt, yah? As far as tattoos, I just have these “rings” on my fingers. Honestly, it was a stupid decision when I was 18 — I thought it was cool and I was going to get like a whole bunch of other ones. I was thinking about Rihanna while I was doing it. She had a lot of cool hand tattoos and I didn’t want to copy her exactly. People started noticing them while I was stripping, so I’m waiting until I’m done performing to get more. Whenever I know that I’m not going to be using videos as my main source of income anymore, I’m also going to shave my head. I want to be a Q-Ball for a little bit!
XBIZ: How do you distinguish your onscreen performances from other adult stars? What makes a girl/girl, boy/girl, group sex or BDSM scene with “Kira Noir” so unique?
Noir: I definitely think that my hair sets me apart, first of all. Right now, I feel like there’s a really great surge in ebony stars, but as far as I know, I’m the only one that has my natural hair in every single scene I’m in. I mean, there are other girls that sometimes have their little afros and braids and stuff, but I’m definitely the only one with dreadlocks in every single one of my scenes. In terms of scenes — boy/girl, girl/girl and all that kind of stuff — I am as bisexual as I can get. I don’t care what’s in your pants, so long as I get to touch it, haha. Whether it’s sucking on a girl’s clit or sucking on a dick, it’s going to be a good time for me. I don’t have to be gay or straight for pay.
Genre-wise, I definitely seem to do interracial anal the most. I don’t really prefer any sort of skin tone or personality or anything like that, but that does seem to be the most popular for me. I would like to get more into feature type of movies, though, with storylines and dialogue. See, porn is strange when it comes to race, because in a lot of other types of media you have a lot more people talking openly about diversity and representation, but if you suggest that in porn, some people think it’s kind of laughable. That’s where talent like Skin Diamond can make a huge impact. Because of her, people let me do the witchy gangbangs and things like that, where I can show more of my alt side. Her representation was extremely important to me and I definitely want to be the same kind of inspiration for other girls with natural hair. Like, I want a girl that has dreadlocks to look up a porno online and see me, then feel inspired to be more confident because of that.
XBIZ: What mainstream influences — be they literary, cinematic or musical — inspire your artistry? Which of them challenge you to expand your notions of self? Who is your biggest muse?
Noir: Rihanna has been my biggest muse. She has an amazingly creative mind, I love her attitude online and I love the kind of music that she puts out. Pretty much every single one of her songs is a great song to strip to, which I think is great. She definitely makes “hoe music,” and I mean that in the best way possible. She’s a big inspiration especially because she has an alt feel to her, despite doing pop music. She’s covered in tattoos, like a skull tattoo nobody ever talks about, and it’s freakin’ cool. I’ve just been in love with her for a while now. Theatrically, “Rent” is one of my favorite musicals. I love the whole bohemian thing and going against the mainstream to show there is a different side to life.
I think my presence in porn helps with that and hope it shows people you don’t have to be afraid of girls’ natural hair or chicks with tattoos on their hands. Let’s see, cinematically? Dude, I’ve been obsessed with “Harry Potter” since I was a kid and that definitely influences more of the witchy stuff I’m into. I went to the Magic Castle for the first time when I moved out here — it’s basically the Hogwarts of Los Angeles. As far as influential shows, “How to Get Away With Murder.” I love everything about that show. It’s extremely diverse. There are black people that aren’t just thugs and welfare queens or anything like that. And Viola Davis is such an amazing actress.
I started watching that show because of Alfred Enoch, who plays Wes and was also in the “Harry Potter” movies. If anyone ever wants to do a parody of “How to Get Away With Murder,” I totally want to be in it! Like, there are so many gay sex scenes, interracial sex scenes… there’s so much potential there for a porn movie. If I ever win the lottery, there are so many porno parodies I’m going to do just for the fuck of it. Especially “Coming to America,” it’s at the top of my list. Like, the title itself is already built-in for porn.
Another major influence on my personality is my dad. He’s a huge nerd — Dungeons & Dragons, comic books, LARPing, all that kind of stuff. He was also really into showing me black superheroes. The animated DC Comics series “Static Shock” is one of the reasons I have dreadlocks now. He was one of my favorites growing up.
As far as video games, right now I’m really into “Yandere Simulator.” It’s part of this genre of anime and manga where a girl starts out really, really sweet, and then it turns out she’s psychotic, sometimes to the point of violence. In the game, you play an innocent high school girl who has a crush on a boy. Other girls in the school have crushes on him too, so you have to eliminate them one way or another, by spreading gossip around, getting them interested in somebody else… or just straight up fucking murdering them. If you kill them, they’re not just gone — you have to get away with the murder, clean up the blood and get rid of the body. That’s really fun. Before “Yandere,” my favorite game was “Lollipop Chainsaw.” You play a cheerleader who has a chainsaw. There’s glitter and hearts everywhere and you’re killing zombies. That should all paint a pretty clear picture of my personality, haha!
XBIZ: You’ve identified feature dancing and starring in a feature movie as professional goals. What steps have you taken to achieve those milestones?
Noir: I’ve been auditioning for more mainstream type roles, like I’ve been in Cinemax movies. I want to show my acting skills, so people see I can be taken seriously as an actress — I can be the hoe, the actress or both! I’ve also done a few indie projects, like a YouTube series that’s coming out at the end of the year about queer black people. I played this girl that’s a closet lesbian. See, I was a theater kid in high school. My senior year, we were supposed to do “Frankenstein” and I was going to play the monster — wear this muscle suit and platform shoes, to make me look big and tall. And, that was when my dreads were really short, so they were scraggly and all over the place. But then, ironically, lightning hit the theater right before we were about to start. I mean, that might’ve been perfect during the show! Haha. I also did a 1920s gangster version of “Romeo and Juliet” where I played Benvolio.
So, I think I’m a pretty good actress. I mean, if I just completely bomb with acting in the next year or so, I’ll start taking classes, but right now I don’t really feel like I need to — as cocky as that is to say. With feature dancing, I pole dance less than I used to, because whenever I learn new tricks, I get bruises and I don’t want to be bruised on set. But I do periodically put out videos to remind people I can do that. And, I’m getting my follower count up so they’ll hire me for feature dancing. I’d also like to get into directing and shooting my own stuff eventually. Hopefully by then, I’ll have enough connections and money to do more artsy stuff instead of just gonzo. I want to do both, but I definitely want to explore every genre in porn.
