Karenjit "Karen" Kaur Vohra (born May 13, 1981), known by her stage name Sunny Leone, is an actress, model, and former pornographic actress.
She was born in Canada to an Indian Sikh family and holds dual Canadian and American citizenship.
Karenjit Kaur Vohra was born on May 13, 1981, in Sarnia, Ontario, to Sikh Indian Punjabi parents.
As a young girl, she was a self-described tomboy, very athletic and played street hockey with the boys.
Although the family was Sikh, her parents enrolled her in Catholic school as it was felt to be unsafe for her to go to public school.
When she was 13, her family moved to Fort Gratiot, Michigan, then to Lake Forest, California, a year later, fulfilling her grandparents' dream that the family be together in one place.
She had her first kiss at 11, lost her virginity at 16 with a basketball player, and discovered her bisexuality at 18.
Before working in the porn industry, Leone worked at a German bakery, a Jiffy Lube store, and later a tax and retirement firm.
She was also studying to become a nurse.
When picking a name for her adult career, Leone has stated that Sunny is her real name and that Leone was picked by Bob Guccione, former owner of Penthouse magazine.
2001
After posing for that magazine, she was named Penthouse Pet of the Month for the March 2001 issue, followed by a feature in the Holiday 2001 edition of Hustler magazine as a Hustler Honey.
She has also appeared in other magazines including Cheri, Mystique Magazine, High Society, Swank, AVN Online, Leg World, Club International and Lowrider, while her online credits include ModFX Models, Suze Randall, Ken Marcus and Mac & Bumble.
2003
She was named Penthouse Pet of the Year in 2003, was a contract performer for Vivid Entertainment, and was named by Maxim as one of the 12 top porn stars in 2010.
In 2003, she was named "Penthouse Pet of the Year" and starred in the video Penthouse Pets in Paradise alongside Tera Patrick and Kyla Cole.
2005
Her first mainstream appearance was in 2005, when she worked as a red carpet reporter for the MTV Video Music Awards on MTV India.
In 2005 Adam & Eve appointed her as their West Coast Internet Sales Representative.
That same year, Leone signed a three-year contract with Vivid Entertainment with which she transitioned into hardcore pornography, stating that she would only do lesbian scenes.
Her first movie released was titled Sunny, and was released in December 2005.
Her next movie, Virtual Vivid Girl Sunny Leone, was the first interactive title for Leone, who was the first Vivid Girl to make such a movie.
Taking only four days to film,
name="xrent"> the movie won her first AVN Award (Best Interactive DVD).
She followed this with Sunny Loves Cher, which featured her first on-screen squirting, and The Female Gardner co-starring Mikayla Mendez and Daisy Marie.
Leone's last two movies under her contract with Vivid were It's Sunny in Brazil, which was filmed in Brazil, and The Sunny Experiment.
2007
The movies were released in October and December 2007, respectively.
In May 2007, upon re-signing her contract with Vivid for another six films, Leone agreed to do her first boy/girl scenes, though only with her fiancé, Matt Erikson.
That year she underwent breast augmentation, and shot her first movie under the new contract titled Sunny Loves Matt.
2008
She followed up her first boy-girl title with The Other Side of Sunny in October 2008, which would be the last time she would perform with Erikson.
In January 2008, Leone revealed that she was no longer exclusive to Erikson, and had done scenes with other actors, including Tommy Gunn, Charles Dera, James Deen and Voodoo.
2009
For that film she was nominated for three (out of six) AVN awards in 2009, in addition to being a choice for Female Performer of the Year.
In 2009, Vivid released her only adult movie performing with multiple male actors, titled "Sunny B/G Adventure".
Her final release under contract with Vivid – Undress Me, once again made her exclusive to performing with just one male actor, Daniel Weber (he performed under the stage name Ariel King), who subsequently became her husband.
In August 2009, she announced the launch of her own studio, Sunlust Pictures, with Daniel Weber as her partner.
With her new venture Leone announced her plans to write, direct and create her own brand of adult movies with Vivid Entertainment as her distributor.
Her first independent production, The Dark Side of the Sun, was released in March 2009, and was debuted at the Erotic Heritage Museum in Las Vegas.
2011
In 2011, she participated in the Indian reality television series Bigg Boss.
She also has hosted the Indian reality show Splitsvilla.
2012
In 2012, she made her Bollywood debut in Pooja Bhatt's erotic thriller Jism 2 (2012) and shifted her focus to mainstream acting which was followed up with Jackpot (2013), Ragini MMS 2 (2014), Ek Paheli Leela (2015), Tera Intezaar (2017), and the Malayalam film Madhura Raja in 2019.
Apart from her acting career, she has been part of activism campaigns including the Rock 'n' Roll Los Angeles Half-Marathon to raise money for the American Cancer Society and has also posed for a People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) ad campaign with a rescued dog, encouraging pet owners to have their cats and dogs spayed and neutered.
2018
She was inducted into the AVN Hall of Fame in 2018.
She has played roles in independent mainstream events, films, and television series.
