Briana Banks (born Briana Bany; 21 May 1978) is a German-American pornographic actress and model. She was the ''

Penthouse Penthouse most often refers to: *Penthouse apartment, a special apartment on the top floor of a building *Penthouse (magazine), ''Penthouse'' (magazine), a British-founded men's magazine *Mechanical penthouse, a floor, typically located directly u ...

Pet of the Month This is a list of the models who have appeared in the American edition of '' Penthouse'' magazine and were either named Pet of the Month or Pet of the Year from September 1969 to the present. Pet of the Year names are in bold type and are typic ...

for June 2001.

Early life

Banks was born in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

, Germany to a German father and an American mother. They moved to Britain when she was four, then to the Los Angeles suburb of

Simi Valley Simi Valley (; Chumash: ''Shimiyi'') is a city in the valley of the same name in the southeast region of Ventura County, California, United States. Simi Valley is from Downtown Los Angeles, making it part of the Greater Los Angeles Area. The ...

when she was seven. Her father still lives in Germany. Banks moved out of her mother's house when she was 16, taking her 14-year-old sister with her."Briana Banks"
interview by Melissa Monet, June 10, 2001, Pornstarempire.com. Retrieved 2007-05-08. She got custody of her sister when she turned 18.

Personal life

Banks was engaged to fellow adult film star

Bobby Vitale Bobby Vitale, also known as "Jerry Forde" (June 30, 1965 - August 29, 2017) was an American pornographic actor of Mexican/ Irish descent. He entered the adult film industry in 1995 and had performed in over 418 titles. His filmography included fi ...

between 2003 and 2006.

Career

upleft, Banks in 2008 Banks modeled as a teenager, appearing on a cover of ''Teen'' magazine."Briana Banks: From Teen Magazine Cover Girl to Vivid Porn Queen"
, Mike Ramone, ''

AVN Insider ''Adult Video News'' (also called ''AVN'' or ''AVN Magazine'') is an American trade magazine that covers the adult video industry. ''The New York Times'' notes that ''AVN'' is to pornographic films what ''Billboard'' is to records. ''AVN'' sponso ...

'', 2002-05-17. Retrieved April 28, 2007. She entered the industry under the name "Mirage", but began calling herself "Briana Banks" in 1999, after having the first of two breast enlargement operations."In Tight with Briana Banks"
TeraBabes interview, January 8, 2003. Retrieved May 6, 2007. Having had aspirations of being a supermodel, she chose the professional surname "Banks" after model

Tyra Banks Tyra Lynne Banks (born December 4, 1973), also known as BanX, is an American television personality, model, producer, writer, and actress. Born in Inglewood, California, she began her career as a model at the age of 15, and was the first Africa ...

.She explained this in an interview included among the DVD extras for the documentary ''

Thinking XXX ''Thinking XXX'' is a 2004 documentary television film about the process photographer Timothy Greenfield-Sanders went through to create his book ''XXX: 30 Porn Star Portraits''. Content The film shows Greenfield-Sanders as he shoots portraits o ...

''. Her first appearance using the new name was in the film ''Decadent Whores 9''. In June 2001, Banks was ''

'' magazine's

. On October 13, 2006, Banks reportedly filed a federal lawsuit seeking more than US$75,000 in damages against Doc Johnson Enterprises, charging that they had created unauthorized products from molds of her genitals."Porn Star Briana Banks Sues Over Sex Toys"
,

WTAE-TV WTAE-TV (channel 4) is a television station in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, affiliated with ABC. It has been owned by Hearst Television since the station's inception, making this one of two stations that have been built and signed o ...

, October 13, 2006. Retrieved April 28, 2007. Starting in 2006, Banks went on hiatus from performing in videos and returned in 2008. That same year she was also nominated for five

AVN Award The AVN Awards are List of movie awards, film awards sponsored and presented by the American adult video industry trade magazine ''AVN (magazine), AVN'' (''Adult Video News'') to recognize achievement in various aspects of the creation and m ...

s at the 25th annual

Adult Entertainment Expo An adult is a human or other animal that has reached full growth. In human context, the term ''adult'' has meanings associated with social and legal concepts. In contrast to a " minor", a legal adult is a person who has attained the age of major ...

in Las Vegas. In 2011, Banks starred in the

porn parody A pornographic parody film is a subgenre of the pornographic film industry genre where the basis for the production's story or plotline is the parody of a mainstream television show, feature film, public figure, video game or literary works. This ...

version of the

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

animated series ''

American Dad! ''American Dad!'' is an American animated sitcom created by Seth MacFarlane, Mike Barker and Matt Weitzman for the Fox Broadcasting Company. Since 2014, the series has been airing new episodes on TBS. ''American Dad!'' is the first television ...

'', ''American Dad XXX: An Exquisite Films Parody''. Banks portrayed the character of

Francine Smith Francine Lee Smith (formerly Ling; née Dawson) is a fictional character on the American animated sitcom ''American Dad!'' She is the wife of the main character, Stan Smith and the mother of Hayley and Steve Smith. Francine is voiced by Wendy ...

and was featured on the video's box cover. The video was released in September 2011. On December 28, 2015 Briana Banks announced that she was making a comeback in 2016 after a 5-year hiatus. The same year she was inducted into the

XRCO Hall of Fame The XRCO Hall of Fame lists well-known adult entertainment works and workers. The list is managed by X-Rated Critics Organization and inducted annually during the XRCO Award The XRCO Awards are given by the American X-Rated Critics Organizat ...

Appearances

Banks was featured in the thirteen episode cable television series ''Vivid Valley'' produced by World of Wonder that was broadcast in Europe in 2005 and later had a successful run on

Playboy TV Playboy TV (originally The Playboy Channel) is a pay television channel based in the United States. History The channel first launched on December 9, 1980, as Escapade by Rainbow Programing Services (a joint-venture of four cable companies, ...

. The series featured stories about the real lives of then

Vivid Girl Vivid Entertainment Group is an American pornographic film production company,

Jenna Jameson Jenna Marie Massoli (born April 9, 1974), known professionally as Jenna Jameson (), is an American model, former pornographic film actress, businesswoman, and television personality. She has been named the world's most famous adult entertainme ...

Savanna Samson Savanna Samson (born October 14, 1967) is the stage name of Natalie Oliveros, an American former pornographic actress. The winner of several AVN Awards, she has spent most of her career as a contract performer with major producer Vivid Entertain ...

, Mercedez, Tawny Roberts, Banks, and others.

Other ventures

In 2002 Banks was one of the first porn actresses to have an

action figure An action figure is a poseable character (arts), character model figure made most commonly of plastic, and often based upon characters from a film, comic book, military, video game or television program; fictional or historical. These figures are ...

made in her likeness, by Los Angeles-based Cyber F/X and Sota Toys."Briana Banks: Action Figure"
, Carly Milne, ''

'', 2002-06-28. Retrieved May 6, 2007.

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* * *
2009 podcast interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Banks, Briana 1978 births American pornographic film actresses German emigrants to the United States Living people Penthouse Pets People from Simi Valley, California Pornographic film actors from California 21st-century American women