Briana Banks (born Briana Bany on May 21, 1979 in Munich, Germany) is a German-born American pornographic actress and model.
Born in Munich, Germany, to a German father and American mother, Banks moved to Britain at the age of four, and then to the Los Angeles suburb of Simi Valley in California, United States when she was seven years old. Her father still lives in Germany. She moved out of her mother’s house when she was 16 years old, taking her 14 year old sister with her. She got custody of her sister when she turned 18. She modeled as a teenager, including a cover of Teen Magazine. She held various other jobs before entering the adult industry; making pizza, clerk at an arts and crafts store, file clerk, and secretary.
At age 21, in August 1999, she responded to an ad in the newspaper to do nude modeling for adult magazines. The photographer put her in a pornographic film. Her first film was University Coeds 18, for Dane Entertainment, in which she performed opposite Brandon Iron. She entered the industry under the name “Mirage”, but began calling herself “Briana Banks” in 2000, after having the first of two breast enlargement operations. Her first appearance as ‘Briana’ was in the film Decadent Whores 9. She appeared in Penthouse magazine as Pet of the Month in June 2001. The same year, she signed with Vivid Entertainment.
Banks claims to have the longest legs in the business (36″/91cm inseam), and is known for having large fake breasts on a thin body. Briana Banks is listed as one of the Top 25 Hottest Blonde Pornstars according to adult site Gamelink. She has a ribbon tattoo on her lower back. For several years, her regular boyfriend was pornographic actor Bobby Vitale, but they broke up in 2006.
In 2002 Banks was one of the first pornographic actresses to have an action figure made in her likeness, by Los Angeles based company Cyber F/X and Sota Toys.
Banks was a contributing author in the 2004 book How To Have a XXX Sex Life: The Ultimate Vivid Guide. In the book she and other Vivid contract stars give advice and tips about sex, as well as relate anecdotes from their personal sex-lives.
