On screen, San Dimas doesn't necessarily stand out among her costars. In porn, promiscuity and sex appeal are common. What distinguishes her, and what interests me, is a consciousness that seems to exist entirely independent from her onscreen persona. I have had enough sex starlets try to convince me of how truly slutty they are that I appreciate talking to adult actresses whose personalities seem completely divorced from their pornographic body of work. The best compliment I can give San Dimas has nothing to do with her appearance or her competence in the art of sex. It's that her way of viewing the world ignites my imagination. I don't strain to invent questions for her; in fact, I must consciously cut myself off at our interview's time limit.
When my voice recorder is put away, San Dimas and I hang out for a few minutes talking shit about
certain celebri-sluts at
Exxxotica who are trying to cash in on uninspired
sex scandals. We discuss the famous comedian who repeatedly texted San Dimas, wanting to pay her for sex. She neither accepted his money nor the money
TMZ offered her for the rights to reprint the comedian's proposition. Integrity isn't a word often used to describe a
sex star, and yet it is not the only peculiar trait possessed by San Dimas, or at least the metal chick living in the porn star's skin.
Is it true you wanted to be a professional ventriloquist?
I did. I used to be fascinated by the art of puppetry. I just realized it is not a —
—A viable profession?
Right. It's not. I wanted to have a sexier — I would say 'funner' but that's not a word — a more exciting job than being a ventriloquist.
Do you think you could throw your voice while deep throating?
No, not the way I learned to throw my voice. I'm not very good at it anymore. The only time I still do it is when a makeup artist is putting on lip liner and I still want to talk to people. I just smile and talk through my teeth.
At 18 you worked in a porn store. What did that job teach you about the adult industry?
At first I wondered why more cute girls didn't work at porn stores. Well I found out very quickly: because you get creepy stalkers. I only worked there for about six months. I would read the store copy of AVN magazine behind the counter. I saw and ad for Vivid Alts, which was Vivid but with alternative looking models. I never thought that I could be a Vivid girl because of what I look like. I had always kind of idolized the Vivid girls like super-heroines as a child, which is horrible but true. When I saw that ad I realized I could actually do porn and become famous.
Did your desire to be a porn star dovetail with your original desire to be a ventriloquist; you wanted to perform and be in the spotlight?
Yeah, I always did. I was always into acting and singing and things like that as a kid. My family was more into sports. I played sports. I was okay. But I wanted to do other stuff and I just happened to be a big porn fan, so I set out to do porn.
After watching the movie Cheerleader Camp you wrote to Playmate turned porn star Teri Weigel when you were 14. She wrote you back. What did she say?
I had actually just figured out that the Internet existed. I was very sheltered. I lived out in the middle of nowhere. No one I knew had a computer. In the movie she has a
sex scene with Leif Garrett. It's a B slasher movie but I thought she was the most beautiful girl ever. I found out she was a porn star. I wrote to her. She wrote me back and it was all misspelled, so I know it was really her because of how she tweets now. The message was very short, but she still wrote me back.
Have you spoken to Teri since getting into porn?
I saw her once. She actually gave my phone number to this famous comedian — I won't say his name — who wanted to pay me for sex. I never texted him back. It was just funny that I met her, gave her my phone number, then five minutes later I had this guy hitting me up for sex. I've heard from three different women that she has done the same thing with the same guy.
I heard she wears a fanny pack when she is feature dancing at strip clubs.
She's like an ex-pro wrestler. They wear fanny packs a lot too. There are a lot of parallels between pro wrestling and porn.
Your body breaks down after years of using it to perform hardcore stunts?
Yeah and you kill yourself when you are like 50. Drugs.
When you worked on the mainstream film Drive, were you star struck by Ryan Gosling? Did you experience what it's like to be one of your timid fans who wants to fuck you?
It's kind of funny. I thought I was going to get this fabulous makeup that day because it was mainstream—
- Andy San Dimas and Ryan Gosling in Drive
They made me look like a crack whore. All the other stripper extras got to do their own makeup. They were beautiful and I was the one girl who looked like a crack whore. I was probably the only girl on set that day who didn't want Ryan Gosling to look at me or talk to me. He was really nice. Very talkative. Not weird at all. He just kept asking questions about making porn.
Had he seen your work?
If he watches porn, I don't think he pays attention to porn stars. A lot of people who watch porn are like that.
But he knew you were a porn star?
Yeah. He just wanted to know if I directed movies.
He didn't ask weird sex questions?
Right. He was all about wondering what goes into making porn. But he was very nice. I just didn't want him to look at me.
I saw a video interview of you on Vice.com where you weren't wearing makeup. Do you like the fact that you look much different in your professional and private life? Is it like Kiss wearing makeup on stage and then being able to live relatively incognito personal lives?
Yes, but it can be a problem. Right now I am dressed up like Andy and I look like myself, or not myself, but the person I am supposed to be right now. Usually when I come to porn conventions I dress like this grubby little metal girl and I don't give a fuck. People don't recognize me. No one buys anything from me and then I really stop caring.
I thought that particular interview was going to be written. When I came in I hadn't brushed my hair in like a week or taken a bath. I smelled. I had been at some girl's dirty apartment in like Bushwick for a week. What's strange is I thought people would think I was really disgusting. Instead I got a huge response from people saying, "Oh my God she looks so much better like this. I like her like this."
Have you thought about shooting porn as "yourself"?
They don't let you. The makeup artists have a certain way they like to make you look and this is it.
What was your reaction to that recent Internet story that showed a makeup artists' "before and after" photos of porn stars?
I thought it was great. She did my makeup a really long time ago and took a "before and after" but I guess it was too far back in her feed for anyone to notice. Honestly I was kind of bummed mine wasn't in there because I know I look good without makeup. I was actually really excited because some of these girls, I am not saying anyone specifically, but some of these girls with huge names, it takes a lot of work to make them look as good as they do. I've never had plastic surgery or anything. I guess I am just really lucky, but I feel like I should get some credit for it over the people who are just buying their appearance ... I've seen some dogs in this business.
Why did you pick your stage name from the city in Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure: San Dimas?
Growing up I had a crush on Ted, Keanu Reeves, and my sister had a crush on Bill, Alex Winter.
You know his real name? I didn't think anyone did.
Yeah. My sister printed out photos of him for her "Alex Winter Scrapbook."
I didn't realize he was in more movies than Bill & Ted and Lost Boys?
He was in a few. He made a movie called Freaked that he directed. He and Keanu are still friends. But me and my sister, when we watched Bill & Ted, we would touch the screen where they were and our fingers would follow them around. We hated the princesses. We'd be like, "You fucking ugly princesses. You're not good enough for our men." I still hate those princesses. I'm not excited about the new one.
There's going to be a new Bill & Ted?
Yeah. Bill & Ted aren't supposed to get old. Plus I saw a picture of Keanu the other day that just broke my heart. He doesn't look so good ... Men shouldn't get nose jobs.
Do you have a website?
I own AndyXXX.com, but it's a blog I stopped updating a long time ago. Having a website is kind of pointless right now. Your content is going to get stolen. You're doing it all for free.
So how do you make money now in porn? Just by shooting for other studios?
Yeah, shooting and feature dancing.
So you just shoot scenes for your talent fee as opposed to building a catalogue of content for a website and monthly membership fees?
I mean, I do own a bunch of content that I have never done anything with, that I am talking with a bunch of different distributors about selling on DVDs, but who knows. I'm not interested in keeping the content. It all gets stolen anyway. I'm just not interested in being swindled anymore. I would just rather shoot a scene and get paid and leave it at that.
Why are you cast in so many more mainstream roles than other porn girls?
Because I can memorize scripts easily. I can read it twice and know it. That's why I do features a lot. Not because I am better looking or better at sex. I'm just good at dialogue. A lot of girls don't even think about timing or delivery. I do. Also, a lot of girls don't realize you have to make the crew like you. If you make the crew like you, you'll get hired all the time. Other girls treat the behind-the-scenes guys like peasants. I've never been like that.
Follow Andy San Dimas on Twitter at @AndySanDimas, see more explicit pictures of her at AndySanDimas.tumblr.com, and book her through LADirectModels.com.
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