Stoya, born Jessica Stoya in Wilmington, North Carolina, to a Scottish father and Serbian mother, began dance lessons at age three and was home-schooled, earning her high-school diploma before sixteen. She moved to Philadelphia, worked various jobs including as a go-go dancer, and relocated to Los Angeles in fall 2009.
She entered the adult industry in 2007 via alt-porn modeling, signing an exclusive three-year contract with Digital Playground in October 2007, marking her as their first alt-porn contract girl. Her career highlights include scenes in *Stoya Video Nasty* and *Jack's POV 9*, and in 2012, she was named one of CNBC's 12 most popular porn actresses. In 2013, she worked on *Voracious* sequel with Evil Angel. By 2014, she left Digital Playground to focus on directing, launching TRENCHCOATx with Kayden Kross and financing her first film that year. She also founded zerospaces.com in 2018 with Mitcz Marzoni.
Awards include 2008 Eroticline for Best U.S. Newcomer, 2009 AVN for Best New Starlet and Best All-Girl Group Sex Scene in *Cheerleaders*, 2009 XBIZ New Starlet of the Year, 2009 XRCO New Starlet, 2012 AVN Hottest Sex Scene Fan Award for *Babysitters 2*, 2014 XBIZ Best Scene for *Code of Honor*, 2018 FEST Beograd Best Actress for *Ederlezi Rising*, and 2019 XBIZ Best Actress for *Talk Derby to Me*.
In mainstream work, she appeared in the 2009 short *The Kingpin of Pain*, starred in the 2016 series *Dagger Kiss*, and in the 2018 film *A.I. Rising* (as Nimani). She acted in Off Broadway plays *Harakiri Kane* (2017) and *The Last Bar at the End of the World* (2018).
As a writer, she has contributed to *Slate* (co-writing "How to Do It" since 2019 under Jessica Stoya), *Vice*, *The Verge*, *Refinery29*, *The New York Times*, *New Statesman*, *Esquire*, *The Guardian*, and *Porn Studies*. She published the 2018 book *Philosophy, Pussycats, and Porn*.
She was in a brief relationship with Marilyn Manson in 2009, followed by a several-year relationship with James Deen, ending in 2015 when she accused him of rape on Twitter; Deen denied the claims, and multiple women later alleged assault against him.
As of 2024, Stoya remains active in adult and mainstream media.
,webp/022/220/548/v2/526x298.228.webp)
,webp/017/501/366/v2/526x298.259.webp)
,webp/024/052/240/v2/526x298.231.webp)
,webp/021/084/306/v2/526x298.222.webp)
,webp/018/865/600/v2/526x298.209.webp)
