American pornographic actor, director, producer, and former stockbroker
Clifton Todd Britt[2] (born November 28, 1969), better known by his stage name Lexington Steele, is an American pornographic actor, director, producer, and former stockbroker. He is the owner of the adult production companies Mercenary Motion Pictures and Black Viking Pictures Inc.
In 2003, Steele became the first actor to receive the AVN Award for Male Performer of the Year three times. He has been inducted into the AVN and XRCO Halls of Fame. Steele has also made several mainstream appearances, including the film Crank: High Voltage (2009) and episodes of Weeds and Nip/Tuck.
Steele started out in finance as a stockbroker trainee at a brokerage firm. After earning his Series 7 trading license, he transitioned to working for Oppenheimer Financial at the World Trade Center.[3] Steele believes he would've been a victim of the September 11 attacks had he continued working as a stockbroker.[5]
In a 2015 interview in AVN magazine, Steele commented about his transition into the adult industry, "Once I was licensed, it opened the door to a whole new recreational side of the industry. The guy who trained me invited me to a party in a hotel suite, and it ended up being a sex party like the ones in [the film] Wolf of Wall Street. It wasn't long before a bigger director from Los Angeles gave me a job and suggested I attend the annual porn industry convention in Las Vegas" and with regard to his decision to switch careers and industries and in consideration for how lucrative securities trading can be, Steele stated, "I tell them it's not like I was already a master of the universe. I was working 12 to 14 hours six days a week. I made six figures, but my quality of life wasn't commensurate".[3]
Steele has said that his stage name came about back during the days when he worked as a stockbroker when he took the subway to visit a client (at that time, he had already decided to move in the adult film industry and use the last name Steele), who was located in Midtown Manhattan and, Steele said, "I got off the subway at Madison [Avenue], [...] on the corner of Madison and Lexington Avenues" [sic], where he was struck by the sound of Lexington as a first name.[6][7] Steele moved to Los Angeles and joined the industry full-time, initially shooting mainly for companies such as West Coast Productions and director Spunky, before appearing on videotapes produced by Anabolic and Diabolic.[1] At the beginning of 2008, he joined Red Light District Video for a brief period.[1] He appeared in about 1,300 videos in his pornographic career.[1] He is known for his highly productive ejaculation capability and is popular on set.
Directing
Steele directs and performs exclusively for his own production company, Mercenary Motion Pictures (Headquarters in Encino, California), which he founded in 2008 and serves as chairman and CEO since 2009, with the company reporting annual net profits of $2.6 million in 2011.[8] In 2013, he joined the Evil Angel roster of directors.[9]
Mainstream appearances
Steele has worked as a model on the side and acted in minor TV roles.[10] He appeared in two episodes of Showtime's Weeds in 2007 (3x07 "He taught me how to drive by" and 3x08 "The two Mrs. Scottsons") playing himself at a movie shoot filming a scene with Jessica Jaymes and Kirsten Price.[10] He appeared in the 2009 feature film Crank: High Voltage and also appeared in an episode of the FX series Nip/Tuck (5x05 "Chaz Darling") as a male escort at a party.[10]
Personal life
Steele dated for several years and was at one point engaged to adult film actress and director Vanessa Blue.[11][12] The two appeared together on Playboy TV and in several movies. On June 20, 2006, Blue announced that she would be leaving Steele's production company Mercenary Pictures.[11] In 2008, Steele and Blue filed federal lawsuits against each other over the ownership of numerous videos that were released under Mercenary.[13] The suit was ultimately settled in March 2009 after the two met with an alternative dispute resolution jurist.[13]
In October 2016, Steele and French Canadian actress Savana Styles launched Mercenary Enterprises, a division of Mercenary Pictures focusing on fetish-themed productions.[14] In a 2017 interview with AVN, Steele revealed he had been married to Styles for a year.[15]
In 2019, Steele underwent hip replacement surgery.[16] During recovery, he experienced complications that required another operation.[16] In November 2019, a crowdfunding campaign through GoFundMe was launched to help pay Steele's medical expenses.[16]
Politics
During his time studying African-American studies, Steele developed an awareness of American politics and African-American rights. In 2008, he expressed his support for Barack Obama's presidential campaign.[2]
^ a b c dAlston, Joshua (November 10, 2005). "A coming-of-age tale of one SU graduate's journey from stock quotes to deep throats". The Daily Orange. Syracuse, New York. Archived from the original on January 7, 2016. Retrieved April 11, 2017.
^ a b cHymes, Tom. "Lex Steele Also Made the Leap from Wall Street to Porn Like Paige Jennings, Lexington Steele began his professional career on Wall Street, as he explained in the Daily News today". AVN. Retrieved April 11, 2017.
^Snow, Aurora (June 23, 2018). "The Rise of Racist Porn". The Daily Beast.
^"Inside the Adult Film Industry: A Lexington Steele interview". The Advocate. CUNY Graduate Center. April 2004. Archived from the original on September 15, 2006.
^Joanne Cachapero (June 12, 2007). "Lexington Steele". Eros-NY. Archived from the original on September 27, 2007. Retrieved 2007-06-19.
^ a bAVN Staff (June 20, 2006). "Vanessa Blue Leaves Mercenary Pictures". AVN. Retrieved January 1, 2021.
^AVN Staff (January 9, 2004). "Lexington Steele Launches Distribution Arm and Signs Novelty Deal". AVN. Retrieved January 1, 2021.
^ a bPardon, Rhett (March 13, 2009). "Lexington Steele, Vanessa Blue Settle Suits Against Each Other". XBIZ. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved April 11, 2017.
^Miller, Dan (February 13, 2017). "Porn Couples Sound Off on Lasting Love". AVN. Retrieved December 30, 2020.
^ a b cNeuwave, Robert (November 1, 2019). "GoFundMe Created To Help Pay For Lexington Steele's Surgery". AVN. Retrieved January 1, 2021.
^F. Caldwell, Stephen (2009). "Speaking of My Penis: Review of 'Private Dicks'". Studies in Gender and Sexuality. 10 (1): 47–51. doi:10.1080/15240650801937079. S2CID 144923984. Retrieved January 6, 2020.
^Neveldine/Taylor (directors) (April 17, 2009). Crank 2: High Voltage (Motion picture). United States. 1:26:38 minutes in.
^Kernes, Mark (September 9, 2010). "Blue Movie: On the Set of Hustler's 'This Ain't Avatar XXX 3D'". AVN. Retrieved January 1, 2021.
^Beaumont-Thomas, Ben (July 21, 2017). "Flying Lotus on his gross-out movie debut, Kuso: 'You've never seen black characters like this – ever!'". The Guardian. Retrieved January 1, 2021.
^AVN Staff (February 12, 2003). "Naked City: Lexington Steele Debuts on Playboy TV". AVN. Retrieved January 2, 2021.
^Kingsley, Vance (July 11, 2007). "Lexington Steele Featured on BET Network". AVN. Retrieved January 6, 2021.
^Adams, Eddie (September 21, 2007). "Lexington Steele to Appear on Showtime's 'Weeds'". AVN. Retrieved January 1, 2021.
^"Lexington Steele Chats About Porn on 'Baisden After Dark'". XBIZ. 7 November 2007. Retrieved January 6, 2021.
^Murphy, Ryan (November 27, 2007). "Chaz Darling". Nip/Tuck. Season 5. Episode 5. 44:57 minutes in. FX.
^Glaser, Nikki; Convy, Chris. "I Miss David Bowie". Not Safe with Nikki Glaser. Season 1. Episode 12. Comedy Central. Archived from the original on June 16, 2016. Retrieved June 14, 2016.
^"AVN Adult Expo 2001". Adult Cinema Review. Vol. 19, no. 2. New York, New York: Global Media Group, Ltd. April 2001. pp. 6–13. ISSN 0277-2914.
^Heidi Pike-Johnson (January 12, 2002). "2002 AVN Awards Show Winners Announced". AVN. Archived from the original on February 4, 2002. Retrieved April 11, 2017.
^ a bPike-Johnson, Heidi (January 21, 2003). "2003 AVN Awards Winners Announced: Awards Presented Big Year for Evil Angel". AVN. Retrieved April 11, 2017.
^"2003 AVN Award Nominees". AVN. Archived from the original on November 27, 2002. Retrieved December 30, 2020.
^"2004 AVN Award Nominees" (PDF). AVN. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 3, 2003. Retrieved December 30, 2020.
^"2005 AVN Awards Show Winners Announced". AVN. January 8, 2005. Retrieved April 11, 2017.
^"2005 AVN Awards Nominations" (PDF). AVN. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 11, 2004. Retrieved December 30, 2020.
^"2006 AVN Award Nominees" (PDF). AVN. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 26, 2005. Retrieved December 30, 2020.
^"2008 AVN Award Nominees" (PDF). AVN. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 27, 2008. Retrieved December 30, 2020.
^Sullivan, David (November 1, 2009). "2009 AVN Award Winners Announced". AVN. Retrieved December 30, 2020.
^"Nominations 2009 AVN Adult Movie Awards" (PDF). AVN. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 27, 2009. Retrieved December 30, 2020.
^"2010 AVN Nominees". AVN. Archived from the original on March 4, 2010. Retrieved December 30, 2020.
^"2012 AVN Award Nominations" (PDF). AVN. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 29, 2013. Retrieved September 4, 2018.
^"2013 AVN Award Nominations" (PDF). AVN. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 28, 2013. Retrieved September 4, 2018.
^"2014 AVN Award Nominees". AVN. Archived from the original on January 26, 2014. Retrieved September 4, 2018.
^ a b"2015 AVN Award Nominees". AVN. Archived from the original on November 25, 2014. Retrieved September 4, 2018.
^"AVN Announces the Winners of the 2015 AVN Awards". AVN.com. Adult Video News. Retrieved 25 January 2015.
^"AVN Awards 2015 Twitter feed". Adult Video News. Retrieved 25 January 2015.
^"2016 AVN Award Nominations". AVN. Archived from the original on November 20, 2015. Retrieved September 4, 2018.
^"2017 AVN Award Winners Announced". Adult Video News. AVN Media Network. January 21, 2017. Retrieved January 22, 2017.
^Steve Nelson (April 13, 2002). "The 18th Annual Award of the Year 2004 of XRCO X-Rated Critics Organization". AVN. Archived from the original on March 8, 2003. Retrieved April 11, 2017.{{cite magazine}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
^Heidi Pike-Johnson (June 2, 2005). "XRCO Award Winners Announced". AVN. Retrieved April 11, 2017.