Tanya Tate was 29 when she entered porn, an age when most performers are looking at retirement. Yet she quickly made up for lost time and constructed a multi-faceted, bi-national career as performer, producer-director, publicist and media star.
The U.K.-born beauty is recognized as one of the industry’s most popular MILF performers, winning, among other honors, the 2013 XBIZ MILF Performer of the Year Award. But performing is only one of her accomplishments.
Because I have members on my site, once every week I’ll go on my webcam at scheduled hours and my members get a chance to watch me live. It’s a really good way to keep in touch with them.
In 2008, in her native Liverpool, she found herself itching for change. “I was working in an office and I had just finished in a relationship and I was really bored. And I was looking at some [adult video} and as I was watching it I thought, I could do that. So I did some research on the U.K. market and sent my pictures and a note to the production companies in the U.K.”
The statuesque, green-eyed blonde got a rapid response and soon found herself doing sex scenes for companies like Harmony Films. But she really wanted to do her own thing. “I had an idea of amateurs trying to be porn stars.” She was unaware that this was already a popular niche—and her “Tanya Tate Casting Couch” fit right into it.
That led to the reality-porn “Tanya Tate’s Sex Tour of Ireland,” released by Television X, with Tanya on a motorbike recruiting guys from the countryside. When some pro athletes got involved, “the Irish press went wild.” The follow-up, “Tanya Tate’s Sex Tour of Scotland,” made Tanya a tabloid sensation in the U.K.
But she really had her eye on the world’s porn capital, Los Angeles. “My name was known quite well in the U.K., but I was really unknown in the U.S., so it was like I was starting again from scratch. That’s what it felt like when I came here in 2010.” But soon she was shooting for “all the big names,” most notably Girlfriends Films, Penthouse, Naughty America, Brazzers.
She also began creating content for her own website, TanyaTate.com, and produced several scenes for Penthouse. Her behind-the-camera breakthrough came when industry veteran Dion Giarrusso, whose Combat Films she had shot for, suggested she direct for his lesbian-themed label, Filly Films.
“I said, ‘well, I’ve not got any experience in directing for other people.’ I had made my own ‘Casting Couch’ and shot content for my site but this would be the first time that I would direct for another company. He said, ‘No, you can do it,’ and I said, ‘OK, if you’ll work with me I’ll do it.’”
Her first Filly Film, “Tanya Tate’s MILF Masseuse” (2011), went over so well she kept on shooting. She has made five overall, including “Brit School Brats,” shot in the U.K. with an all-Brit cast. Her latest effort, “Tanya Tate’s College Cuties Seduce MILF Beauties,” was just released. All have an “older woman/younger girl” theme.
Tanya maintains her own website, where the content is a mixed bag, including boy-girl scenes from the Casting Couch line and lots of girl-girl action. At the moment, she is concentrating on girl-girl scenes, primarily for Girlfriends Films.
“In terms of performance, that’s about it. I also do webcam shows. Because I have members on my site, once every week I’ll go on my webcam at scheduled hours and my members get a chance to watch me live. It’s a really good way to keep in touch with them.”
Off-set, she stays busy with Star Factory, the public relations company she acquired from Mike Moz and Alexander “Monstar” Raymond in 2012. It does PR “for adult stars like myself. We try to build up the name, build up the recognition. I’m very hands-on with the clients, getting them interviews, getting them on radio” — in short, helping them follow her own example.
“Monstar actually handles my PR, which means that myself and my assistant can handle everybody else’s PR.” Everybody else includes Cindy Starfall, Adrianna Luna, Lea Lexis, Richelle Ryan and Derrick Pierce. They also consult for the U.K.’s Television X.
Tanya was delighted when Fleshlight made a deal to immortalize her genitalia in plaster. “They flew me into Texas and made a mold, so guys can now get my pussy. They take pictures of your parts and then they make a mold of it. It’s the closest you can get to me.”
And the media in her native country hasn’t lost its fascination with her. She was shot for a Channel 4 documentary called “Date My Pornstar” (release date not yet set), appearing with one of her fans and Natalia Starr. She was also featured in Deborah Anderson’s porn star documentary, “Aroused.”
Tanya has been vocal in media interviews with her opposition to Prime Minister David Cameron’s plan for online porn blocking, which would make viewers go through “family-friendly” filters to gain access to porn sites.
“There are a lot of people trying to fight it in the U.K.,” she said. “They should be going after the piracy websites. They’re the ones that give it all away for free.”
Tanya is also an ardent Cosplay (costume) player, appearing regularly at PowerCon conventions and reviewing action figures on her own YouTube channel. At a recent pop-culture appearance, “I unveiled the prototype of my upcoming Tanya Tate superhero action figure, Lady Titan. It will be available for purchase in the spring of next year.”
She plans to carry her Cosplay enthusiasm into one of two movies she’s planning for Filly Films. “One will have a superhero theme. And due to the success of ‘Brit School Brats,’ I’m looking to shoot a follow-up, once again in the U.K.”
For the future, she says, “I will continue to help other stars progress their career with my PR company. And I’m enjoying directing, so maybe you’ll be seeing me even more behind the camera.”
