Savanna Samson's biography

Date of birth (location)

14 October 1974
Rochester, New York, USA Birth nameNatalie Oliveros

Height5' 5" (1.65 m)

Mini biography

Savanna Samson was trained as a ballerina, spending years at ballet school. That training eventually served her well when she decided to become an exotic dancer, and her talent and extraordinary beauty landed her a job at Scores, one of the country's top "gentleman's clubs", in New York City. Her entrance into the adult-film business was a bit unusual. She knew that her boyfriend had always wanted to see her have sex with another man, so when they decided to get married she secretly wrote to porn legend Rocco Siffredi, enclosing her picture and asking him if he would perform with her. He readily agreed, and she flew to Paris to make Rocco Meats an American Angel In Paris (2000) and gave it to her new husband as a wedding present. Needless to say, when porn producers got a look at her in that film the offers came pouring in, and her career as a porn starlet was off and running. In addition to performing in videos, she has made numerous appearances on the show of her friend Howard Stern and even on "Late Night with David Letterman" (1982).

Spouse

Danny (1999 - 2004) (separated) 1 child
Trivia

Measurements: 34C-24-33 (Source: Celebrity Sleuth magazine)

Trained as a ballerina, performing as recently as 1996.

Part Italian, Scottish, Irish and German

She began her ballet studies at thirteen.

She, along with Jenna Jameson and Taylor Hayes, had a pictorial spread in "Vanity Fair" magazine.

Has one son, born in early 2001.

Hi, I'm Savanna

Hi, I�m Savanna Samson I grew up in a small town in Northern New York called Watertown. I have four gorgeous sisters that are not only beautiful, but good girls. They would never dream of behaving the way I do. I studied classical ballet as a child and young adult and love to perform. I guess you can say I took it to quite a different level! I danced at Scores in New York, which opened so many doors for me. I have appeared on the David Letterman Show, MTV music awards with Kid Rock and the Ed Show. All of these experiences have enhanced my acting career and I am now a SAG member. I just signed a contract with Vivid Video, which has secretly been a dream of mine for a long time. Since that I had performed on their productions making movies like: 'Savanna Samson Superstar', 'Under Contract' or 'Eye Spy' where they take a peep at the hottest girls from behind closed doors! It's a secret fantasy world and it's for your eyes only. Shhhh!

Savanna: My Publisher Is Misleading Readers of Sex Novel

Having concocted a 2004 Italian red wine called Sogno Uno, Ms. Samson has joined the ranks of the Coppolas, the Lafite-Rothschilds, the Mondavis and the kangaroo on the Yellow Tail label as a harvester of the grape. In a move that left the snooty and sexless wine community a-chatter, wine guru Robert Parker gave the rare, enviable score of 90 to 91 out of 100 to the wine, which the porn star developed with the help of the Italian vintner who also works with the Vatican in its winemaking. In an astute marketing call, Ms. Samson, in a see-through gown, appears on the wine-bottle label, as "luscious and opulent" as her delicious libation.

In October 2005, The Book Standard talked to the blushing temptress of tipsy titillation about another of her cultural pursuits, that of belle-lettrist. That conversation appears below.]

Oh, the stodgy world of fiction. Even in its most risqué forms, it rarely converges with the cynical, sex-sells approach of the porn industry (Judith Regan notwithstanding). But now comes Vivid Entertainment�the megalithic porn outfit whose forays into print media have been, until two years ago, largely confined to the covers of dirty DVDs�to rattle the cage a bit.

Vivid has produced, with Thunder�s Mouth Press, a series of erotic novels in an attempt to leverage the �Vivid Girls� brand. Vamp and Day of the Dead, which were released earlier this week, are ostensibly written by porn stars, while also featuring those same stars as the stories� protagonists, and are full of elocutions as ridiculous as any uttered in adult entertainment: e.g., �I unbutton my jeans, which isn�t easy with a stiletto on your head.�

But despite Savanna Samson�s name appearing on the spine, title page and cover of Vamp (along with two come-hither photos), she insists that she is not the author.

This candid revelation came during a phone chat with the entertainer, who has been promoting the novel�set in a �nightclub devoted to the pleasures of the flesh��along with a remake of the classic 1970s skin flick, The Devil in Miss Jones. A ballet student, avid opera fan and co-writer of How to Have a XXX Sex Life (published, yes, by ReganBooks), Samson discussed her forays into literature as we tried to identify lessons the publishing industry might take from the business of adult entertainment.

The Book Standard: Are you really the author of Vamp?

Savanna Samson: No, I am not. I am only a character.

TBS: But your name is on the cover. Doesn�t that confuse people?

SS: Yeah, I�m not happy about that�that wasn�t the deal. Even the Thunder�s Mouth website has me as the author. When I write a book, it will be my book. This is someone�s fantasy; it�s not my fantasy. I was paid to be a character in the book.

TBS: So what is your book going to be about?

SS: It�s completely out of the ordinary. It�s about what men want and what women need. It�s not a how-to book or a novel of any kind. It�s just something that�s asked of me often.

TBS: So what is it that men want and women need?

SS: All sorts of things. A lot of it is sexual, but I always felt that I could adjust to any situation, and I think that if women could be more like that, their relationships would last longer and both sides could learn to give and take.

TBS: Do you at least like Vamp?

SS: It�s taken me a long time to get through it because it�s turned me on so much.

TBS: Do you often read erotic novels?

SS: No. When I was young I would look through my mom�s books for anything that might be sexual in nature because of my curiosity. For me, a John Sandford book with Lucas Davenport as detective�that�s masturbation material.

TBS: But why should anyone buy a book when there is perfectly good porn available?

SS: I think with porn, we tend to get jaded. [But with a book], you�re reading and your mind is working and you�re using your imagination. It�s really a turn-on once you turn on your mind like that and let it run wild.

TBS: I get the sense from the way the book is marketed that Vivid has total control over you. Is it hard to work on things that interest you outside of porn?

SS: Vivid has opened so many doors for me and given me so many opportunities, so I don�t want to break away from Vivid.

TBS: A lot of people in the publishing industry are worried about the impact book digitization will have. Back in the �70s, the original Devil in Miss Jones played in mainstream theaters. Now people can get their porn on DVDs and the Internet. How has digital media changed porn?

SS: I wouldn�t have had a chance back then to do the things I�m doing now. With the Internet and the invention of the VCR, [sex] is more open and out on the table.

TBS: Can we look forward to Vamp, the movie?

SS: As I read the book, I�m like, �We�ve got to do Vamp, the movie.� But it would have to be a series of movies, because in the book every room you go into is another orgasm. How many guys can have that many orgasms in one night?

***

Postscript: Savanna Samson's entrepreneurialism has extended beyond porn and literature of late. She is now an oenophilic proprietor, having herself concocted a 2004 Italian red wine called Sogno Uno. In an astute marketing call, the star of The New Devil in Miss Jones appears on the label in a see-through negligee-gown. Wine guru Robert Parker has given it the rare and enviable score of 90 to 91 out of 100.

Savanna Samson hits it big as wine-maker

NEW YORK (Reuters) - It seemed like the perfect gimmick: a celebrity porn star would launch her own wine, with her alluring picture on the label.

Savanna Samson did just that, but when it received a score of 90 to 91 out of 100 by wine guru Robert Parker, the project became serious. It turns out Samson, the star of "The New Devil in Miss Jones," has produced an exceptional wine, becoming the toast of two industries: wine-making and pornography.

"I never wanted to just do gimmick. That would just happen with me being a porn star, me having a photographer shoot the label, how risque could I get on the label -- all those things," Samson, the stage name for 31-year-old Natalie Oliveros, said in an interview.



The seriousness of the idea was lining up a respected wine maker. So she convinced Italy's Robert Cipresso -- also a vintner to the Vatican -- to join the project.

Samson went to Tuscany and tasted dozens of Cipresso's Italian-grown varieties, then she selected a mix of 70 percent Cesanese, 20 percent Sangiovese and 10 percent Montepulciano. She ordered over 400 cases.

"I knew I wanted Roberto to make my wine -- I just love his passion for wine," said Samson.

The result is Sogno Uno, a 2004 vintage of an Italian red wine packaged under the Savanna name with a label of Samson in a see-through gown. It was launched last month.

Parker has been called the most influential wine critic in the world, and a score of 90 to 95 denotes "an outstanding wine of exceptional complexity and character."

"Trust me, I didn't add any points for Ms. Samson's personal presentation," Parker wrote in his review.

NAUGHTY AND SPICE

Samson is one of the biggest names in pornography, having won best actress in the Adult Video News Awards (AVN), the pornographic equivalent of the Oscars, and another AVN Award for a scene she shared with Jenna Jameson in last year's "The Masseuse." She has made two dozen porn flicks.

The wine "really represents who I am," said Samson.



"There's spiciness -- the Cesanese has the naughty side of me. And yet it's an elegant wine. I love the opera, and I'm a classically trained ballet dancer. And there is some chocolate undertone, which I just love. There's a little bit of sweetness. Like, 10 percent of the time I'm sweet," she said.

She is working on a white wine -- Sogno Due -- that could be out later this year, and also has ideas of expanding into champagne, ice wine and grappa.

Samson, who was raised Catholic in upstate New York, said it was pure coincidence that Cipresso also sells wines to the Vatican. She met him through her husband, a wine merchant.

"My priest said in Mass once, 'Violence or pleasures of the flesh. What is the greater of two evils?' I think we all know the answer. I felt like he was saying that toward me," she said.

Still, she never had her parent's blessing for her career choice as an adult movie star. "They were so devastated. They were terribly, terribly upset."