# Belladonna (actress)

Michelle Sinclair (born 1980 or 1981), known professionally as Belladonna, is an American former pornographic film and erotic actress, director, producer, and model. Since announcing her retirement from pornography in 2012, she has acted in several mainstream films, including Inherent Vice and The Ladies of the House.

## Early life

Sinclair grew up as the second of seven children in a Mormon family in Salt Lake City. Her father was a retired Air Force captain and former bishop in the LDS Church.

## Career

Sinclair started performing in pornography in Los Angeles at age 18. One of her early films featured a rough group sex scene with her and twelve men, staged in a prison. She has since appeared in over 300 adult films, including titles such as Service Animals 6 & 7, She-Male Domination Nation, Bella Loves Jenna, Back 2 Evil, Weapons of Ass Destruction, and Fashionistas Safado: The Challenge. In 2002 she featured in the multi award-winning BDSM themed Fashionistas; its director John Stagliano described her as "a woman with the most incredible sexual abilities I’ve ever seen." As well as Stagliano she has often been directed by Nacho Vidal, Jules Jordan and Rocco Siffredi.

### Appearances

She has appeared several times in the reality television series Family Business, which focuses on the life of porn director Adam Glasser a.k.a. "Seymore Butts". In 2004 she was one of a number of porn stars photographed by Timothy Greenfield-Sanders for a "coffee table book" on the adult industry, XXX: 30 Porn-Star Portraits; she also appears in the HBO documentary Thinking XXX about the making of the book.
In 2011, she was named by CNBC as one of the 12 most popular stars in porn. CNBC noted that while she had stepped back from acting to pursue directing and producing, she has maintained a loyal fan base, and has been nominated for 42 AVN awards and won 10 in the course of her career.

### Primetime special

Her career in the pornography business was followed for two years by a crew from ABC Television, culminating in a January 2003 interview for ABC's Primetime with Diane Sawyer. In the interview, she broke down in tears while talking about experiencing abuse and depression. The segment led to backlash from other pornography performers but also boosted her career.

### Retirement and later career

In August 2007, Sinclair decided to semi-retire from performing with other people over concerns about sexually transmitted infections, specifically herpes. She thought she had contracted herpes in 2002 and was worried the disease had spread; however, it was later discovered that it was a skin rash rather than herpes.
In 2008, she came out of retirement, and filmed a number of hardcore scenes. She appeared in Digital Playground's Pirates II, the sequel to their top-selling DVD, Pirates. She has also appeared recurringly in James Gunn's PG Porn.
Sinclair was featured on the cover of the second album of British metalcore band Asking Alexandria, titled Reckless & Relentless, released in 2011. She also later featured in their short film Through Sin + Self Destruction.
In July 2012, she announced via Twitter that she was "no longer interested in having sex on camera" and would be pursuing her other interests. In 2014, she made her non-pornographic feature film debut in John Wildman's The Ladies of the House (working title Stripped), a horror film about a group of female cannibals. She appeared in Paul Thomas Anderson's film Inherent Vice as Clancy Charlock in 2014 and in a short film titled Dream Murder Machine in 2018. She also considered becoming a sex positive speaker and instructor.

## Personal life

Sinclair's husband Aiden Kelly worked as a website developer for the pornographic film distributor Evil Angel. She gave birth to a daughter in 2005.

## Awards

| Year | Ceremony | Award | Film |
| 2003 | AVN Award | Best Supporting Actress (Film) | The Fashionistas |
| 2003 | AVN Award | Best Tease Performance | The Fashionistas |
| 2003 | AVN Award | Best All-Girl Sex Scene (Film) (with Taylor St. Claire) | The Fashionistas |
| 2003 | AVN Award | Best Oral Sex Scene (Film) (with Rocco Siffredi) | The Fashionistas |
| 2003 | XRCO Award | Best Single Performance (Actress) | The Fashionistas |
| 2003 | XRCO Award | Best Girl-Girl Sex Scene (with Taylor St. Clair) | The Fashionistas |
| 2003 | XRCO Award | Female Performer of the Year | — |
| 2003 | XRCO Award | Orgasmic Analist | — |
| 2003 | AFWG Award | American Female Performer of the Year | — |
| 2003 | AFWG Award | Best Supporting Actress (Film) | The Fashionistas |
| 2003 | AFWG Award | Best All-Girl Sex Scene (Film) (with Taylor St. Claire) | The Fashionistas |
| 2003 | AFWG Award | Best Anal Sex Scene (Video) (with Lexington Steele) | Up Your Ass 19 |
| 2003 | NightMoves Award | Best Actress (Editor's Choice) | — |
| 2003 | Ninfa Prize | Best Actress | — |
| 2004 | AVN Award | Best Sex Scene Coupling (Video) (with Nacho Vidal) | Back 2 Evil |
| 2007 | AVN Award | Best Group Sex Scene (Video) (with Melissa Lauren, Jenna Haze, Gianna Michaels, Sandra Romain, Adrianna Nicole, Flower Tucci, Sasha Grey, Nicole Sheridan, Marie Luv, Caroline Pierce, Lia Baren, Jewell Marceau, Jean Val Jean, Christian XXX, Voodoo, Chris Charming, Erik Everhard, Mr. Pete, & Rocco Siffredi) | Fashionistas Safado: The Challenge |
| 2007 | FAME Award | Dirtiest Girl in Porn | — |
| 2007 | Ninfa Prize | Special Jury Award | — |
| 2007 | Ninfa Prize | Most Original Sex Scene | Fashionistas Safado: The Challenge |
| 2008 | AVN Award | Best Director (Non-Feature) | Belladonna: Manhandled 2 |
| 2008 | AFWG Award | Directrix of the Year | Iodine Girl |
| 2008 | Urban X Award | Best Interracial Star | — |
| 2008 | NightMoves Award | Hall of Fame | — |
| 2008 | NightMoves Award | Triple Play Award (Dancing/Performing/Directing) | — |
| 2009 | AVN Award | Best All-Girl 3-Way Sex Scene (with Aiden Starr & Kimberly Kane) | Belladonna's Girl Train |
| 2009 | AVN Award | Best Supporting Actress | Pirates II: Stagnetti's Revenge |
| 2009 | AVN Award | Best All-Girl Couples Sex Scene (with Jesse Jane) | Pirates II: Stagnetti's Revenge |
| 2009 | XBIZ Award | Director (Body of Work) | — |
| 2009 | XRCO Award | Orgasmic Oralist | — |
| 2009 | XRCO Award | Orgasmic Analist | — |
| 2009 | FAME Award | Favorite Anal Starlet | — |
| 2009 | FAME Award | Favorite Director | — |
| 2011 | AVN Award | Hall of Fame | — |
| 2012 | AVN Award | Best Girl-Girl Sex Scene (with Dana DeArmond) | Belladonna: Sexual Explorer |
| 2012 | NightMoves Award | Best Director – Non-Parody (Fan's Choice) | — |
| 2013 | XRCO Award | Hall of Fame | — |