Lexington Steele
{{short description|American pornographic actor, director, producer, and former stockbroker}}
{{Infobox adult biography
| name = Lexington Steele
| image = Lexington_Steele_2014.jpg
| caption = Steele at the 2014 AVN Awards
| birth_name = Clifton Todd Britt
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1969|11|28}}
| birth_place = Morristown, New Jersey, U.S.
| death_date =
| death_place =
| alma_mater = Syracuse University
| occupation = {{hlist|Pornographic actor|director|producer|former stockbroker}}
| spouse = Savana Styles (divorced)
| height = {{height|ft=6|in=2}}
| alias = Lexington Steel, Black Bastard, Lex Steele, Lexington, Lexinton Steel, Lex, Hudson{{iafd name|id=LSteele|gender=male|name=Lexington Steele}} Smu doherty
| website = {{official URL}}
}}
Clifton Todd Britt{{cite web|url=http://dailyorange.com/2005/11/a-coming-of-age-tale-of-one-su-graduate-s-journey-from-stock-quotes-to-deep-throats/|title=A coming-of-age tale of one SU graduate's journey from stock quotes to deep throats|access-date=April 11, 2017|first=Joshua|last=Alston|date=November 10, 2005|work=The Daily Orange|location=Syracuse, New York|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160107055606/http://dailyorange.com/2005/11/a-coming-of-age-tale-of-one-su-graduate-s-journey-from-stock-quotes-to-deep-throats/|archive-date=January 7, 2016|url-status=live}} (born November 28, 1969), better known by his stage name Lexington Steele, is an American pornographic actor, director, producer, and former stockbroker. He is the owner of the adult production companies Mercenary Motion Pictures and Black Viking Pictures Inc.
In 2003, Steele became the first actor to receive the AVN Award for Male Performer of the Year three times. He has been inducted into the AVN and XRCO Halls of Fame. Steele has also made several mainstream appearances, including the film Crank: High Voltage (2009) and episodes of Weeds and Nip/Tuck.
Early life
Steele was born and raised in Morristown, New Jersey.{{cite web|last1=Hymes|first1=Tom|title=Lex Steele Also Made the Leap from Wall Street to Porn Like Paige Jennings, Lexington Steele began his professional career on Wall Street, as he explained in the Daily News today|url=http://business.avn.com/articles/video/Lex-Steele-Also-Made-the-Leap-from-Wall-Street-to-Porn-584613.html|publisher=AVN|access-date=April 11, 2017}} After graduating from Morristown High School, he attended Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia. After two years, he transferred to Syracuse University in New York. In 1993, Steele graduated from Syracuse's College of Arts and Sciences with Bachelor of Arts degrees in history and African American studies.{{cite web |url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-rise-of-racist-porn?via=twitter_page |first=Aurora |last=Snow |publisher=The Daily Beast |title=The Rise of Racist Porn |date=June 23, 2018}}
Career
Steele started out in finance as a stockbroker trainee at a brokerage firm. After earning his Series 7 trading license, he transitioned to working for Oppenheimer Financial at the World Trade Center. Steele believes he would've been a victim of the September 11 attacks had he continued working as a stockbroker.{{cite news|url=http://web.gc.cuny.edu/advocate/APR04Issue/html%20files/adult%20film.htm |title=Inside the Adult Film Industry: A Lexington Steele interview |newspaper=The Advocate |location=CUNY Graduate Center |date=April 2004 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060915145459/http://web.gc.cuny.edu/advocate/APR04Issue/html%20files/adult%20film.htm |archive-date=September 15, 2006 }}
In a 2015 interview in AVN magazine, Steele commented about his transition into the adult industry, "Once I was licensed, it opened the door to a whole new recreational side of the industry. The guy who trained me invited me to a party in a hotel suite, and it ended up being a sex party like the ones in [the film] Wolf of Wall Street. It wasn't long before a bigger director from Los Angeles gave me a job and suggested I attend the annual porn industry convention in Las Vegas" and with regard to his decision to switch careers and industries and in consideration for how lucrative securities trading can be, Steele stated, "I tell them it's not like I was already a master of the universe. I was working 12 to 14 hours six days a week. I made six figures, but my quality of life wasn't commensurate".
Steele has said that his stage name came about back during the days when he worked as a stockbroker when he took the subway to visit a client (at that time, he had already decided to move in the adult film industry and use the last name Steele), who was located in Midtown Manhattan and, Steele said, "I got off the subway at Madison [Avenue], [...] on the corner of Madison and Lexington Avenues" [sic], where he was struck by the sound of Lexington as a first name.{{cite web|url=http://www.eros-ny.com/articles/2007-06-12/lexington_steele0612/|title=Lexington Steele|access-date=2007-06-19|author=Joanne Cachapero|date=June 12, 2007|publisher=Eros-NY|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927004729/http://www.eros-ny.com/articles/2007-06-12/lexington_steele0612/|archive-date=September 27, 2007}}Madison Avenue and Lexington Avenue do not intersect, but run parallel their entire courses with Park Avenue between them. Steele moved to Los Angeles and joined the industry full-time, initially shooting mainly for companies such as West Coast Productions and director Spunky, before appearing on videotapes produced by Anabolic and Diabolic. At the beginning of 2008, he joined Red Light District Video for a brief period. He appeared in about 1,300 videos in his pornographic career. He is known for his highly productive ejaculation capability and is popular on set.
= Directing =
Steele directs and performs exclusively for his own production company, Mercenary Motion Pictures (Headquarters in Encino, California), which he founded in 2009 and serves as chairman and CEO since 2009, with the company reporting annual net profits of $2.6 million in 2011.{{cite news|url=http://www.johnsonmedia.com/aucmag/getarticle.php3?id=march_2006&subid=1 |title=Interview |newspaper=AUC Magazine |date=March 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070101231315/http://www.johnsonmedia.com/aucmag/getarticle.php3?id=march_2006&subid=1 |archive-date=2007-01-01 }} In 2013, he joined the Evil Angel roster of directors.{{cite journal|author=Steve Javors|title=Lexington Steele Gets Evil IN|newspaper=AVN|volume=30/No. 4|issue=364|date=April 2013|pages=52–54}}
= Mainstream appearances =
Steele has worked as a model on the side and acted in minor TV roles.{{IMDb name|0824615|Lexington Steele}} He appeared in two episodes of Showtime's Weeds in 2003 (3x07 "He taught me how to drive by" and 3x08 "The two Mrs. Scottsons") playing himself at a movie shoot filming a scene with Jessica Jaymes and Kirsten Price. He appeared in the 2009 feature film Crank: High Voltage and also appeared in an episode of the FX series Nip/Tuck (5x05 "Chaz Darling") as a male escort at a party.
Personal life
File:Vanessa Blue, Lexington Steele at PSK 20060307 1.jpg
Steele dated for several years and was at one point engaged to adult film actress and director Vanessa Blue.{{cite magazine|author=AVN Staff|date=June 20, 2006|title=Vanessa Blue Leaves Mercenary Pictures|url=https://avn.com/business/articles/video/vanessa-blue-leaves-mercenary-pictures-49795.html|magazine=AVN|access-date=January 1, 2021}}{{cite magazine|author=AVN Staff|date=January 9, 2004|title=Lexington Steele Launches Distribution Arm and Signs Novelty Deal|magazine=AVN|url=https://avn.com/business/articles/video/lexington-steele-launches-distribution-arm-and-signs-novelty-deal-37487.html|access-date=January 1, 2021}} The two appeared together on Playboy TV and in several movies. On June 20, 2006, Blue announced that she would be leaving Steele's production company Mercenary Pictures. In 2008, Steele and Blue filed federal lawsuits against each other over the ownership of numerous videos that were released under Mercenary. The suit was ultimately settled in March 2009 after the two met with an alternative dispute resolution jurist.{{cite web|url=http://www.xbiz.com/news/news_piece.php?id=105919|title=Lexington Steele, Vanessa Blue Settle Suits Against Each Other|access-date=April 11, 2017|last=Pardon|first=Rhett|date=March 13, 2009|publisher=XBIZ|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303190704/http://www.xbiz.com/news/news_piece.php?id=105919|archive-date=March 3, 2016}}
In October 2016, Steele and French Canadian actress Savana Styles launched Mercenary Enterprises, a division of Mercenary Pictures focusing on fetish-themed productions.{{cite web|last=Freixes|first=Alejandro|date=October 27, 2016|title=Savana Styles, Lexington Steele Launch Mercenary Enterprises|url=https://www.xbiz.com/news/213725/savana-styles-lexington-steele-launch-mercenary-enterprises|publisher=XBIZ|access-date=December 30, 2020}} In a 2017 interview with AVN, Steele revealed he had been married to Styles for a year.{{cite web|last=Miller|first=Dan|date=February 13, 2017|title=Porn Couples Sound Off on Lasting Love|url=https://avn.com/business/articles/video/porn-couples-sound-off-on-lasting-love-718591.html|magazine=AVN|access-date=December 30, 2020}}
In 2019, Steele underwent hip replacement surgery.{{cite magazine|last=Neuwave|first=Robert|date=November 1, 2019|title=GoFundMe Created To Help Pay For Lexington Steele's Surgery|magazine=AVN|url=https://avn.com/business/articles/video/gofundme-created-to-help-pay-for-lexington-steeles-surgery-852794.html|access-date=January 1, 2021}} During recovery, he experienced complications that required another operation. In November 2019, a crowdfunding campaign through GoFundMe was launched to help pay Steele's medical expenses.
Politics
During his time studying African-American studies, Steele developed an awareness of American politics and African-American rights. In 2008, he expressed his support for Barack Obama's presidential campaign.
Filmography
=Film=
| class="wikitable plainrowheaders unsortable" |
| scope="col"|Year
!scope="col"|Title !scope="col"|Role !scope="col" class="unsortable" |Notes !scope="col" class="unsortable" |{{abbr|Ref.|Reference}} |
|---|
| 1999
|rowspan="2"|Himself |rowspan="2"|Television documentary |
| 2004
| |
| 2009
|Striking Actor |Credited as Lexington Steel |style="text-align:center;"|{{cite AV media|people=Neveldine/Taylor (directors)|date=April 17, 2009|title=Crank 2: High Voltage|medium=Motion picture|location=United States|minutes=1:26:38}} |
| 2010
|Tsu'tey | |
| 2017
|Kuso |Jody |Horror anthology film |style="text-align:center;"|{{cite news|last=Beaumont-Thomas|first=Ben|date=July 21, 2017|title=Flying Lotus on his gross-out movie debut, Kuso: 'You've never seen black characters like this – ever!'|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/jul/21/flying-lotus-on-kuso-youve-never-seen-black-characters-like-this-ever|newspaper=The Guardian|access-date=January 1, 2021}} |
=Television=
Awards and nominations
File:Lexington Steele, Bobbi Starr, Jenna Haze 2010 AVN Awards Show cropped.jpg
| class="infobox" style="width: 20em; text-align: left; font-size: 90%; vertical-align: middle;"
|+ List of accolades received by Lexington Steele |
| colspan=3|
{|class="collapsible collapsed" width=100% !colspan=3 style="background-color: #D9E8FF; text-align: center;"|Awards and nominations |
| style="background:#d9e8ff; text-align:center;"
|style="text-align:center;"|Award |style="text-align:center; background:#cec; text-size:0.9em; width:50px;"|Won |style="text-align:center; background:#fcd; text-size:0.9em; width:50px;"|Nominated |
| style="text-align:center;"|
; AVN Awards |{{won|10}} |{{nom|33}} |
| style="text-align:center;"|
|{{won|1}} |{{nom|2}} |
| style="text-align:center;"|
; FOXE Awards |{{won|3}} |{{nom|0}} |
| style="text-align:center;"|
; XRCO Awards |{{won|4}} |{{nom|0}} |
| style="text-align:center;"|
|{{won|2}} |{{nom|0}} |
| style="text-align:center;"|
|{{won|1}} |{{nom|0}} |
| style="text-align:center;"|
|{{won|5}} |{{nom|0}} |
| style="text-align:center;"|
|{{won|2}} |{{nom|0}} |
| style="text-align:center;"|
; XBIZ Awards |{{won|0}} |{{nom|11}} |
| style="text-align:center;"|
; Other awards |{{won|4}} |{{nom|0}} |
|-style="background:#d9e8ff;"
|style="text-align:center;" colspan="3"|
; Total number of wins and nominations
|-
|{{won|Totals}}
|{{won|32}}
|{{nom|46}}
|}
| class="wikitable" style="width:75%;" |
| + AFW Awards
! width=5%|Year ! style="width:40%;"| Nominated work ! style="width:40%;"| Category ! style="width:10%;"| Result ! width=5%|{{Abbr|Ref.|Reference(s)}} |
| rowspan="3"|2004
|Best Sex Scene (Video) |{{won}} |style="text-align:center;" rowspan="3"|{{cite magazine|url=http://business.avn.com/articles/video/Evil-Angel-I-The-Fashionistas-I-Dominate-I-Adam-Film-World-I-2002-Movie-Awards-32060.html|title=Evil Angel, The Fashionistas Dominate Adam Film World 2002 Movie Awards|access-date=April 11, 2017|date=May 1, 2003|magazine=AVN}} |
| Up Your Ass 19
|Best Anal Sex Scene (Video) |{{won}} |
| Lexington Steele
|American Male Performer of the Year |{{won}} |
| class="wikitable" style="width:75%;" |
| + Venus Awards
! width=5%|Year ! style="width:40%;"| Nominated work ! style="width:40%;"| Category ! style="width:10%;"| Result ! width=5%|{{Abbr|Ref.|Reference(s)}} |
| 2005
|rowspan="2"|Lexington Steele |Best Actor (USA) |{{won}} |style="text-align:center;"|{{cite magazine|url=http://business.avn.com/articles/Private-and-Americans-Win-Big-at-Venus-Fair-36898.html|title=AVN - Private and Americans Win Big at Venus Fair|magazine=AVN|date=October 22, 2003|access-date=April 11, 2017}} |
| 2006
|Best International Director |{{won}} |style="text-align:center;"|{{cite web|title=Steele Named Best International Director|date=5 May 2006 |url=https://www.xbiz.com/news/14797/steele-named-best-international-director|publisher=XBIZ|access-date=January 6, 2021}} |
| class="wikitable" style="width:75%;" |
| + Urban Spice Awards
! width=5%|Year ! style="width:40%;"| Nominated work ! style="width:40%;"| Category ! style="width:10%;"| Result ! width=5%|{{Abbr|Ref.|Reference(s)}} |
| rowspan="2"|2008
|rowspan="2"|Lexington Steele |Crossover Male |{{won}} |style="text-align:center;" rowspan="2"|{{cite web|url=http://www.xbiz.com/news/95013|title= Urban Spice Awards Announces First-Ever Winners|access-date=April 11, 2017|author=Steve Javors|date=November 6, 2008|publisher=XBIZ}} |
| Urban Spice Award – Visionary
|{{won}} |
| class="wikitable" style="width:75%;" |
| + Hot d'Or Awards
! width=5%|Year ! style="width:40%;"| Nominated work ! style="width:40%;"| Category ! style="width:10%;"| Result ! width=5%|{{Abbr|Ref.|Reference(s)}} |
| 2009
|Lexington Steele |Best American Male Performer |{{won}} |style="text-align:center;"|{{cite magazine|author=Paul Fishbein|title=Pirates II, Evil Angel Big Winners at 2009 Hot d'Or Awards|magazine=AVN|url=http://business.avn.com/articles/36568.html|date=October 21, 2009|access-date=April 11, 2017}}{{cite web|url=http://hot-dor.fr/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=2&Itemid=4|title=Hot d'Or archives presse x, articles sur les Hot d'or|publisher=Hot d'Or|access-date=April 11, 2017|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140316035017/http://hot-dor.fr/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=2&Itemid=4|archive-date=March 16, 2014}} |
| class="wikitable" style="width:75%;" |
| + Inked Awards
! width=5%|Year ! style="width:40%;"| Nominated work ! style="width:40%;"| Category ! style="width:10%;"| Result ! width=5%|{{Abbr|Ref.|Reference(s)}} |
| 2015
|Lexington Steele |Male Performer of the Year |{{won}} |style="text-align:center;"|{{cite web|url=https://avn.com/business/press-release/video/winners-of-2015-inked-awards-announced-613259.html|title=Winners Of 2015 Inked Awards Announced|access-date=16 November 2015}} |
References
{{reflist|3}}
External links
{{Portal|Erotica and pornography|Biography}}
{{commons category}}
- {{Official}}
- {{IMDb name|0824615|Lexington Steele}}
- {{afdb name|id=1723|gender=male|name=Lexington Steele}}
- {{iafd name|id=LSteele|gender=male|name=Lexington Steele}}
{{AVN Male}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Steele, Lexington}}
Category:African-American pornographic film actors
Category:American pornographers
Category:American male pornographic film actors
Category:Male actors from New Jersey
Category:People from Morristown, New Jersey
Category:American stockbrokers
Category:Syracuse University alumni
Category:Morristown High School (Morristown, New Jersey) alumni
Category:21st-century African-American male actors
Category:21st-century American male actors
Category:20th-century African-American people