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Joanna Angel

Joanna Mostov (born 1980), professionally known as Joanna Angel, is an American pornographic film actress, director, and writer of adult films. She founded the website BurningAngel.com in April 2002 with her roommate Mitch Fontaine, and has been credited with helping the growth of the alt porn genre. Launched as a response to websites such as SuicideGirls, the website featured alternative performers acting in exclusively hardcore scenes with a stronger focus on a punk aesthetic.

Early life

Angel was born in Brooklyn, New York, to an Israeli mother and an American father. She was raised in River Edge in Bergen County, New Jersey, where she attended Cherry Hill Elementary School and graduated from River Dell Regional High School in 1998. After graduating, she enrolled in Rutgers University, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English literature with a minor in Film Studies.

According to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Angel is believed to be the first person in the pornography industry to have been raised in Orthodox Judaism. She worked in a kosher fast food restaurant in Teaneck during high school, then at an Applebee's and another restaurant called Happy's Health Grille during college. She eventually relocated to the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, New York, and with Mitch Fontaine created the website BurningAngel.com.

Pornography career

Angel is a former model for SuicideGirls, a softcore pornography website. In her early 20s she founded the "indie-punk-porn" site BurningAngel.com, featuring interviews and stories of sex with band members, along with nude photographs. Drawing inspiration from a live sex performance by porn actress Nina Hartley, Angel later began making hardcore movies for the site.

According to Encyclopedia of the Zombie, Angel is "regarded as a major influence in the mainstreaming of alt porn", and is credited with making the genre financially viable. She has produced and performed in several zombie-themed hardcore films: Re-Penetrator (2005), Dong of the Dead (2009), Evil Head (2012), and The Walking Dead: A Hardcore Parody (2013). She said in a 2006 interview, "I think [alt porn is] a movement. I think I've started something."

Angel has written, produced, directed and starred in films available exclusively through BurningAngel, as well as appearing in more traditionally distributed adult films. She was under an exclusive contract with VCA Pictures, which expired in March 2007, and was, at one time, represented by the adult talent agency Bad Ass Models.

Appearances

Following the success of BurningAngel, Angel has been featured in numerous magazines and newspapers, including The New York Times.

Angel briefly wrote a monthly sex advice column for Spin. She also contributed a chapter to the book Naked Ambition, edited by Carly Milne.

In 2010, Angel appeared in a public service announcement for the Free Speech Coalition on the topic of Internet copyright infringement of adult content, directed by Michael Whiteacre. The spot, entitled the "FSC All-Star Anti-Piracy PSA", found her in the company of adult performers such as Lisa Ann, Julie Meadows, Kimberly Kane, Ron Jeremy and Wicked Pictures contract stars, Alektra Blue and Kaylani Lei.

In 2011, Angel was named by CNBC as one of the 12 most popular stars in porn. CNBC noted that she owns her own studio and that the "punk look" that she and her other actors share has created a new genre in the porn industry, called alt porn. Also, in 2011, Angel made a cameo on the Adult Swim show Childrens Hospital, in the season three episode "Night Shift." She played herself as a porn star and family friend of Rob Corddry's character Dr. Blake.

Angel sometimes appears on Cracked.com as a friend of the columnists and appears in the music video for "Sound Wave Superior" by Emmure.

In 2013, Angel appeared in the independent film Scrapper, starring Michael Beach and Aidan Gillen, along with the ensemble cast musical comedy Skum Rocks! In 2014, she had roles in the crime drama The Owl in Echo Park and the Kevin Nealon comedy series Racquetball. She also appeared in the documentary film Doc of the Dead, which features Interviews with Max Brooks, Stuart Gordon, Jacqui Holland, Robert Kirkman, Greg Nicotero and Judith O'Dea.

Personal life

Angel dated fellow porn star James Deen for six years, between 2005 and 2011. On December 2, 2015, she appeared on The Jason Ellis Show to give more details about her "violent and scary" six-year relationship with Deen.

On October 31, 2016, Angel married Aaron "Small Hands" Thompson, another adult film actor.

Angel identifies as a Democrat. In 2015, she endorsed Bernie Sanders for President of the United States in the Democratic primaries for 2016 U.S. presidential election.

Publications

Porn Made Me Like My Parents. February 14, 2024. ISBN 978-0-9905571-6-6. (2015). In Lee, Jiz (ed.). Coming Out Like a Porn Star: Essays on Pornography, Protection, and Privacy. Berkeley, Calif.: ThreeL Media. pp. 209–215. ISBN 978-0-9905571-6-6.