Stormy Daniels

Daniels' parents divorced when she was four. She was subsequently raised by her mother. Daniels has said of her childhood that she "came from an average, lower-income household...there [were] days without electricity".

Stormy Daniels in 2007

Daniels began stripping at age 17 at a club in Baton Rouge, then expanded to become a feature entertainer with Continental Theatrical Agency in September 2000. She chose her stage name to reflect her love of Mötley Crüe, whose bassist, Nikki Sixx, named his daughter Storm. Since she is from Louisiana, she chose the last name "Daniels" after seeing a Jack Daniel's advertisement that read "a Southern favorite." While working as a feature she met Devon Michaels, who was doing lesbian scenes in a pair of upcoming movies — one for Wicked Pictures and one for Sin City—and invited Daniels to accompany her. Daniels accompanied Michaels to her Wicked shoot, where she met Brad Armstrong and co-starred with Michaels in her Sin City scene, American Girls Part 2. Afterwards, Armstrong invited Daniels to stay with him where she continued doing lesbian-only scenes.

In July 2002, she was cast as the lead in a feature film for Wicked Pictures called Heat, where she did her first heterosexual sex scene, and, in September of the same year, she signed an exclusive contract with Wicked. In 2004, she won the Best New Starlet Award from Adult Video News, which was a complete surprise to Daniels, as she was so sure Jesse Jane would win she made a $500 bet with another porn starlet. She has directed for Wicked since 2004.

Daniels was inducted into the AVN Hall of Fame on January 18, 2014 and was inducted into the XRCO Hall of Fame on April 16, 2014. Her directorial work that year earned fourteen AVN Award nominations including a nomination for Best Safe Sex Scene for her performance with Brendon Miller in François Clousot’s First Crush.

Appearances

Daniels appeared in an episode of Real Sex where she is seen participating in 2001 Miss Nude Great Plains Contest. In early 2007 she appeared in Dirt on the FX Network, where she played a stripper who helps to set up a basketball player played by Rick Fox. Later in 2007 Daniels appeared in Maroon 5's music video for their song "Wake Up Call" as a pole dancer. She appears in the film The 40-Year-Old Virgin when the main character (Steve Carell) watches her in the video Space Nuts: Episode 69—Unholy Union, and then tries dreaming about her.

Politics

A group of fans attempted to recruit Daniels to run against Republican Senator David Vitter in Louisiana in 2010. The recruitment process was centered around the website DraftStormy.com. On May 21, 2009, she formed an exploratory committee. Daniels was unaffiliated with any party until April, 2010 when she declared herself as a Republican. She made several listening tours around Louisiana to focus on the economy, as well as women in business and child protection and stated that if elected, she would likely retire from the adult industry. On July 28, 2009, it was reported that her campaign manager had been targeted by a car bomb attack. She announced on April 15, 2010 that she would not be running for Senate, saying she could not afford a run for the Senate seat and stating that the media never took her candidacy seriously.

Daniels was born as Stephanie Gregory Clifford in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Daniels has a daughter (born January, 2011) with her then-boyfriend Glendon Crain.

As a Performer

As a Director

Hall of Fame