It’s easy to see Aubrey Kate now — the modelesque, blonde bombshell — and dismiss her recent awards in the erotic arts as inevitable. It’s easy to say that she was simply born with something other models weren’t, like her photogenic physique and a preternatural ability to hold the camera’s gaze. The story of Kate’s success, however, is no fairytale, but one of a long process of transformation.
Kate grew up in the 1990s in California, splitting her days between attending school in Corona, California, and spending her free time in Laguna Beach. From an early age Kate was aware of her gender dysphoria. She had an insatiable desire for all things pretty and pink: lip gloss, makeup and Barbies. Kate kept her hair in a ponytail and wore her aunt’s high school cheer uniform and gymnastics leotard every day, often under her school clothes.
This last year I think I polished everything I had previously learned. I went platinum, super tan, did my first gangbang and worked with two amazing, well-known stars: Phoenix Marie and Katrina Jade. -Aubrey Kate, Performer
“A lot of my Southern California family was very supporting and accepting of me,” Kate said, “though I do remember a few fights about letting me play with ‘girl’ toys and playing dress up.”
Outside of school Kate devoted herself to the performing arts.
“Gymnastics and Irish dance were my life growing up,” Kate said. “When I was eight I started performing professionally. I would do a lot of shows at the House of Blues with an Irish band called Fenianian.”
In high school Kate joined the cheer squad and a hip-hop dance crew. Performing offered an escape from her shyness. Dance gave her a stage to flaunt her fluid beauty for stunned audiences.
Kate also developed her skills in front of the camera, booking shoots through Wilhelmina Models and LA Models. She did print work for companies like Quiksilver, Mervyn’s, Target, L.L. Bean, Guess Kids and Nordstrom.
At the same time that she was learning how to win over audiences with her moves and alluring mystique, at home she started exploring her inner desires.
“I would take [my grandfather’s Hustler magazines] into my room and dream about being a ‘Hustler Honey,’” she said.
Soon, Kate began investigating her erotic interests online.
“I got into watching hard-core rough sex and double penetration scenes,” she said. “DP was and is still a favorite.”
While Kate describes herself as shy, she was certainly not timid when it came to her sex life.
“I masturbated three to six times a day until I moved out of my house at 16,” Kate said. “I always had boyfriends. A new one each month of high school.”
At 17, Kate moved to Vegas in the summer of 2008 with a full scholarship to study hotel management at UNLV. Attending school during the day, and hitting The Strip at night provided Kate different venues for her to play with her identity.
“I rocked the faux hawk Monday — Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.,” Kate said. “Then, I wore my wig from 5:01 p.m. to midnight. I was the transsexual Cinderella.”
Kate moved to Laguna Beach to attend cosmetology school with her best friend at the time, Madison, who was also transitioning. This is when she really started to gain confidence as a woman.
At 21, Kate got breast implants, started taking hormones and began living full-time as trans. She had been go-go dancing since she was 17, mostly at gay clubs like Tigerheat and Rage in L.A., as well as Krave and Share Night Club in Vegas.
Her plastic surgery opened a few doors and changed the type of gigs she landed. She even danced at the Hustler Club in Vegas, until they found out she was pre-op.
Around this time, Mz Berlin at Kink.com reached out to Kate after discovering her on Eros.com. Kate initially rejected Berlin’s offers to shoot porn, as Kink’s content scared her. Then Kate met the porn performers Sheena Ryder and Charity Bangs through a friend at the Tropicana Pool in Vegas. They answered many of her questions about the adult industry. When Berlin called a third time, catching Kate between relationships, she consented.
Kate’s first foray into porn was a solo scene for SheMaleStrokers.com in July of 2013.
“I was so nervous, I was literally shaking,” Kate said. “After the scene I called my mom crying and told her what I had done. She was surprisingly very supportive. All everyone in my life wants is just for me to be safe and happy.”
Kate soon shot scenes for Evil Angel, Shemale Club, Shemale Pornstar, Devil’s Films, Shemale XXX, Trans 500, TS Seduction and Grooby Productions.
In 2015, Kate began collaborating with Nica Noelle and Dana Vespoli for TransSensual Studios. With them, she filmed a string of successful DVDs: “TS Girls On Top,” “TS Massage,” “TS Blondes Have More Fun” and “TS Love Stories.”
That same year, Kate also saw the release of her award-winning threeway scene for Evil Angel’s “She-Male Perverts,” along with two showcases: “Aubrey Kate: TS Superstar” for Grooby Productions and “Aubrey Kate’s TS Fantasies” for TransSensual.
“In 2015 I was definitely a lot more comfortable on camera,” Kate said of her breakout year. She followed her success with a string of 2016 titles: “America’s Next Top Tranny All Stars 4,” “TS Femdom,” “TS Playhouse,” “Hot For Transsexuals 2,” “True History Of She-Male Cock 5,” “Tranny Vice” and “Trans Tastic Four.”
This work fueled Kate’s momentum when awards season swung around. While she was nominated for “Transsexual Performer of the Year” at the 2014, 2015 and 2016 XBIZ Awards, she finally took home the title in January of 2017.
“That was such an honor, that it’s making me want to work harder than ever and stay on top,” she enthused. “This last year I think I polished everything I had previously learned. I went platinum, super tan, did my first gangbang and worked with two amazing, well-known stars: Phoenix Marie and Katrina Jade.”
Now that she has the spotlight, Kate has no plans of leaving center stage.
