Michael Lucas (born Andrei Lvovich Treivas (Андрей Львович Трейвас), 1972) is a Russian-American-Israeli businessman, performer, founder, and CEO of Lucas Entertainment, Manhattan's largest gay adult film company.
The New Republic dubbed Lucas "Gay Porn's Neocon Kingpin".
He contends that his film Michael Lucas' La Dolce Vita is the most expensive gay porn film ever made, with a budget of $250,000 and multiple celebrity cameos.
Lucas was born on March 10, 1972, in Moscow, Russia, to Lev Bregman, an engineer, and Elena Treivas, a Russian literature teacher.
He was raised in a secular Jewish family.
1994
In 1994 he obtained a degree in law from the Kutafin Moscow State Law University.
1995
After graduation, Lucas briefly owned and operated a travel agency in Russia until 1995.
In 1995, Lucas left for Munich, Germany, on a tourist visa.
Without an official work permit, he worked and starred in heterosexual porn.
He then worked as a nude model and in gay porn for French adult film producer Jean-Daniel Cadinot in Paris.
1996
While in France, he worked under the influential French director Jean-Daniel Cadinot, appearing as "Ramzes Kairoff" in two gay pornographic films, both released in 1996.
1997
Lucas moved to New York City in 1997, where he worked at the Gaiety Theater.
After a few adult industry jobs in California, he was offered a one-year contract by Falcon Entertainment whose producers had seen him in a French Cadinot film.
Lucas won a U.S. green card through the lottery system.
Using the name "Michel Lucas," he worked as a Falcon Exclusive, performing as a top in five films released in 1997 and 1998.
Lucas went on to perform for his owned-and-operated gay adult studio, Lucas Entertainment, where he currently stars in scenes and films.
1998
With money saved from his work at Falcon, Lucas founded his own gay porn company in New York, rather than Los Angeles where most American porn companies are headquartered, in 1998.
He directed his first project, Back in the Saddle, in 1998, and also performed in the film.
In 1998, Lucas founded his own production company, Lucas Entertainment.
2001
In 2001, Lucas brought his Russian family to the United States.
2004
On November 12, 2004, Lucas was sworn in as an American citizen.
He based the company in New York City (rather than Los Angeles, where many of the other pornography studios are located in part because of the city's hospitable environment for adult films.) In 2004, Lucas Distribution, Inc., his adult video distribution company, began operations.
Lucas directs, produces and stars in his own films under the Lucas Entertainment banner.
His studio has garnered many GayVN Awards and Adult Erotic Gay Video Awards ("Grabbys") nominations and wins.
2005
In the summer of 2005 Lucas released Michael Lucas' Dangerous Liaisons; the film featured celebrity cameos from RuPaul, Boy George, Graham Norton, Bruce Vilanch, Lady Bunny, Amanda Lepore, and Michael Musto.
2007
With co-director Tony DiMarco, Lucas won Best Director at the 2007 GayVN Awards for Michael Lucas' La Dolce Vita.
2008
In October 2008 it was announced that Lucas had married his boyfriend of eight years, Richard Winger.
A press release stated that the couple wanted to marry to make a statement about same-sex marriage rights.
DiMarco and Lucas also won a 2008 XBIZ Award for Best GLBT Director, and Lucas received an award for Best Publicity Stunt for "Michael Lucas Found Dead".
The Banana Guide called his productions the most polished, big-budget gay porn films ever made and cited Lucas' love for the subject and high technical aptitude.
Since the founding of Lucas Entertainment, Lucas has gone on to direct over 400 adult films for his studio.
2009
In 2009, Lucas was inducted into the GayVN Hall of Fame, noted for "his stature as an A-list director and performer".
In 2009, Lucas released what he called his most important film Men of Israel, which media called a "landmark" film as the first major porn video with an all-Israeli and all-Jewish cast.
Lucas is particularly well known for his activism and outspokenness.
Lucas is frequently also controversial, for example, in 2023 during Israel's war on Gaza, Lucas' studio was the target of a boycott which he complained was antisemitic in nature, after Lucas posted a picture of an Israeli missile signed "From Michael Lucas to Gaza" in which Lucas wrote "... I actually asked to write my name (on the missile)... got a pic (of the target)...after (the missile was launched in Gaza). ... Amazing difference".
The company received 24 nominations for the 2009 GayVN Awards, including best picture for Return to Fire Island.
That May, Lucas filmed the first gay porn film using all Israeli models, billing it as a sexual journey to promote Israeli culture.
The company launched its Men of Israel website to promote the film, which announced its release for July 22.
2014
In 2014 Lucas announced he and Winger divorced.
Lucas began his career in a German heterosexual pornographic film.
