# Kayden Kross

Kayden Kross (born 1985) is an American pornographic actress and director. She is a member of the AVN and XRCO Halls of Fame.

## Early life

Kross grew up in the foothills between Sacramento and Placerville. She has described herself as "the book nerd" during her time as a high school student. She says she had a strict, religious upbringing. Kross and her younger sister were raised by a single mother, and says this greatly impacted her childhood as the family struggled to make ends meet. Kross began stripping at Rick's Showgirls in Rancho Cordova, California when she was eighteen years old to earn extra money to rescue a pony from a slaughter house, which she kept for eight months. Kross was a psychology major at Sacramento State, where she also studied philosophy. She was later contacted by an agent, whose business relationship provided Kross with the opportunity of modeling in adult magazines.

## Career

Her movies with Vivid included Kayden's First Time, Hard Time, and Be Here Now. Unhappy with the company, she became a free agent one year later when she did not renew her contract. She signed an exclusive contract with Adam & Eve after one month of being a free agent. She was named Penthouse Pet of the Month for September 2008. Kross' official website, ClubKayden.com, was launched on September 2, 2008. Kross has hosted a blog at UnKrossed.com and has written regular updates and opinion columns for MikeSouth.com, an adult industry gossip blog, among other sites.
Kross became exclusive to Digital Playground under a multi-year contract on January 1, 2010. Her first movie with the company, The Smiths, topped sales charts immediately and has continued to be a best seller. She was given the lead in their big budget feature, Body Heat, in her third month of the contract. She won two Best Actress Awards for the role.
Kross hosted the 2010 AVN Awards show, along with porn actress Kirsten Price and comedian Dave Attell. She was Penthouse magazine's "Cover Girl" for September 2008 and 2010. Kross starred in the 2010 AVN Best Feature The 8th Day and portrayed the role of Elin Nordegren, wife of Tiger Woods, in Adam & Eve Pictures' film Tyler's Wood.
In 2012, she hosted the Xbiz awards for the second time, and appeared in the ceremony alongside Wicked Pictures/Wicked.com contract star, Jessica Drake, and on the AVN red carpet with co-hosts Jesse Jane and guitarist Dave Navarro.
In 2019, she launched Deeper, one of the Vixen Media Group's primary websites in its portfolio.

### Appearances in other media

Kross has made appearances in the FX's comedy series The League, the G4 reality series The Block, and Family Jewels.
In 2011, she was cast as Tara in Gregory Hatanaka's drama Blue Dream briefly co-hosted a regular videocast, Kayden's Review, for Triggla TV alongside the comedian Dane Hanson. From 2012 - 2013, Kross portrayed a main character in the second season of Tucky Williams' lesbian-themed web series Girl/Girl Scene. Starting from January 2013 Kross hosts the weekly call-in show Krossfire on Playboy Radio.
In 2013, Kross also appeared in the featurette "Chicks 'N Guns" on the Breaking Bad 5th season DVD as a stripper. The scene takes place during the season 5 episode "Gliding Over All". Kross also appeared in two music videos from the band Nekrogoblikon, "No One Survives" in 2012 and "We Need a Gimmick" in 2015.

### Writing

Kross writes columns regularly for publications such as Complex magazine, XBIZ magazine, and a blog for xcritic.com. She has also contributed to Timothy McSweeney's Internet Tendency, and her short story "Plank" appeared in the 2012 short story collection Forty Stories: New Writing from Harper Perennial, an e-book. As of August 2012, she was writing an autobiographical book about the porn industry.

### Adult industry activism

In 2008, she was among those testifying against a proposed tax in California on all producers and distributors of adult entertainment. In February 2012, she and conservative pundit Wendy Murphy appeared on Stossel, with host John Stossel, to discuss legislation in California that would require that condoms be used during the production of adult movies.

## Personal life

In October 2008, Kross was charged with grand theft and violations of the California Civil Code, involving contracts for purchases of home equity mortgages. In July 2009, the grand-theft charge was dismissed, and the real-estate-fraud charge was reduced to a misdemeanor; Kross pleaded no contest to the resulting charges and was sentenced to one day in custody and three years of probation. She blamed her involvement in the situation on her naïveté and being scammed by the broker and mortgage lender.
Kross and her French partner Manuel Ferrara have one daughter, born in January 2014. In 2013, Ferrara asked her to no longer perform with other men. Ferrara continues to shoot scenes with other women, occasionally scenes that are directed by Kross. They acknowledged the seeming double standard of their arrangement but agreed that his work would stay professional and that Kross maintains "veto" power over who performs with Manuel. He also related that if she wished for him to stop performing altogether, he would.

## Awards
### As a performer

| Year | Award | Category | Film |
| 2007 | Adultcon | Top 20 Adult Actresses | — |
| 2009 | Hot d'Or | Best American Starlet | — |
| 2010 | Erotixxx Award | Best U.S. Actress | — |
| 2010 | NightMoves Award | Best Female Performer (Fan's Choice) | — |
| 2010 | Venus Award | Best Actress International | — |
| 2011 | AVN Award | Best All-Girl Group Sex Scene | Body Heat |
| 2011 | AVN Award | Wildest Sex Scene (Fan Award) | Body Heat |
| 2011 | XBIZ Award | Acting Performance of the Year (Female) | Body Heat |
| 2012 | AVN Award | Hottest Sex Scene (Fan Award) | Babysitters 2 |
| 2013 | XBIZ Award | Best Scene – All-Girl | Mothers & Daughters |
| 2014 | XBIZ Award | Best Scene – Feature Movie | Code of Honor |
| 2015 | XBIZ Award | Best Scene – All-Girl | Misha Cross Wide Open |
| 2019 | AVN Award | Hall of Fame | — |
| 2022 | XRCO Award | Hall of Fame | — |

### As a director

| Year | Award | Category | Film |
| 2015 | XBIZ Award | Director of the Year – Non-Feature Release | Misha Cross Wide Open |
| 2018 | AVN Award | Best Director – Non-Feature | Sacrosanct |
| 2019 | AVN Award | Director of the Year | — |
| 2019 | XBIZ Award | Director of the Year – Feature | — |
| 2019 | Urban X Award | Director of the Year | — |
| 2019 | NightMoves Award | Best Feature Director (Editor's Choice) | — |
| 2019 | XRCO Award | Best Director – Features | — |
| 2020 | AVN Award | Director of the Year | — |
| 2020 | AVN Award | Best Director – Dramatic Production | Drive |
| 2020 | XBIZ Award | Director of the Year – Body of Work | — |
| 2020 | NightMoves Award | Best Feature Director (Fan's Choice) | — |
| 2020 | XRCO Award | Best Director – Features | — |
| 2020 | XRCO Award | Best Director – Web | — |
| 2021 | AVN Award | Director of the Year | — |
| 2021 | AVN Award | Best Directing – Drama | Muse |
| 2021 | AVN Award | Best Screenplay – Drama | Muse |
| 2021 | XBIZ Award | Director of the Year | — |
| 2021 | NightMoves Award | Best Feature Director (Fan's Choice) | — |
| 2021 | XRCO Award | Best Director – Features | — |
| 2021 | XRCO Award | Best Director – Non-Features | — |
| 2021 | XRCO Award | Best Director – Web | — |
| 2022 | XBIZ Award | Director of the Year | — |
| 2022 | AVN Award | Best Directing – Narrative Production | Psychosexual |
| 2022 | XRCO Award | Best Director – Features | — |
| 2022 | NightMoves Award | Best Feature Director | — |
| 2023 | AVN Award | Outstanding Director – Individual Work | Drift |
| 2023 | AVN Award | Best Directing – Narrative Production | — |
| 2023 | XRCO Award | Best Director – Web | — |
| 2023 | NightMoves Award | Best Non-Feature Director | — |
| 2024 | AVN Award | Best Directing Portfolio – Narrative | — |
| 2024 | NightMoves Award | Best Non-Feature Director | — |
| 2025 | AVN Award | Best Directing Portfolio – Narrative | — |

## Mainstream filmography

| Year | Title | Role |
| 2012 | Breaking Bad (bonus DVD feature "Chicks 'n' Guns") | Kristall |
| 2013 | Blue Dream | Tara |
| 2014 | The Hungover Games | Chastity the Topless Blonde |
| 2015 | Samurai Cop 2: Deadly Vengeance | Milena/Jennifer |
| 2016 | Enter the Samurai | Herself |
| 2019 | Verotika | Morella |