Not as she twirled and posed before hordes of photographers. Not as she strode elegantly to her seat at The Theater in the Virgin Hotel. And especially not as Clouds ascended the stage steps to accept the adult industry’s ultimate prize, the honor she’d long fantasized about, but didn’t know if she’d ever attain: the AVN award for Female Performer of the Year.

“We’re a weird little family,” Clouds told a crowd of 3,500 during an impassioned acceptance speech that evoked both laughter and tears. 

“We might not know what everyone is going through, but we’re going through it together. I might not know you, but I know you. I hope this industry will bring you all as much joy as it’s brought me.”

Clouds hoisted her trophy high as she made her victory march through the Virgin casino 30 minutes later, stopping to embrace colleagues and well-wishers as they cheered and snapped photos. That welt on her foot? It was all but forgotten. There was no hitch in her gait.

“I was determined not to limp,” Clouds told PornCrush during a pause in the revelry. “I showed up on stage just like I show up on set—ready to give my absolute best.”

Anyone who has worked with Clouds would expect nothing less.

A Tennessee native, Clouds shot more than 100 scenes in 2024. Gangbangs, blowbangs, anal and double penetration. Feature films, gonzo, girl-girl, solo and fetish. Clouds flourished in virtually every genre while working for the top studios in porn, with her pinnacle moments coming in “Anna Claire Clouds: Darkside,” her first career showcase for Jules Jordan.

Clouds, though, separated herself from the rest of the talent pool not just because of what she did, but because of how she did it.

“When you watch Anna, you feel something,” director Ricky Greenwood says. “There are so many porn scenes out there, but hers are ones you remember.”

Indeed, adult film connoisseurs know not to press the fast-forward button when consuming Clouds’ content. Her work is captivating from start to finish.

Whether she’s sharing a tender moment in a passionate love scene, melting her partner with eye contact and dirty talk in a taboo shoot, or being overcome with cum-drunk euphoria during hardcore gonzo, everything about Clouds feels genuine and sincere.

Labeling Clouds as a “performer” misses the mark. There’s nothing inauthentic about what she does.

That’s why it was more of a formality than a surprise when AVN anointed Clouds with its most-coveted crown on Jan. 25. Awarding the trophy to anyone else would’ve seemed fishy.

“She’s unlike anyone else in the business,” Spiegler says. “There are other hot blonde girls, but they’re not Anna. She’s unique. She’s the total package.”

Normally not one to show emotion, Spiegler became misty-eyed as Clouds addressed him and fellow agent George Jiries during her acceptance speech. The three share a heartfelt bond that was hatched exactly one year earlier when Clouds, feeling stagnant in her career, arrived at Spiegler’s apartment seeking new representation.

In an exclusive, wide-ranging interview with PornCrush, Clouds detailed how the 60-minute meeting—conducted in Spiegler’s living room, over a freshly-baked loaf of focaccia bread—would eventually reshape not only how she was viewed by the industry, but also how she viewed herself.

Comparing her to the iconic Adriana Chechik, Spiegler told Clouds she was “one of the greats of her generation,” and that it was time she be marketed and recognized as such. People had expressed confidence in Clouds before, but this was a new level praise—and it was coming from one the industry’s most-respected figures.

One year later, Clouds still remembers the vibe she felt from Spiegler and Jiries that evening after she agreed to join their stable. They spoke to her as if she were more than just a performer.

“They spoke to me,” Clouds says, “like I was a force.”

***

Anna Claire Clouds isn’t having sex today.

But she’s still giddy as she sits in the makeup chair before a photo session with veteran lensman Dean Capture. It’s Dec. 30, and Clouds explains that she’s jazzed to be on any kind of set after not shooting since Dec. 21.

“Nine whole days!” Clouds says. “I’ve been going insane!”

Clouds isn’t accustomed to such downtime. There were stretches in 2024 when she worked as many as five times per week, sometimes working 12 hours on a dialogue-heavy scene only to wake up early the following morning to prepare for an anal shoot.

When Spiegler informed Clouds in December that he was scaling back her schedule until 2025, she initially balked. “I’m happiest when I’m on set,” she says. But after Clouds got her days mixed up and arrived at the wrong location for a shoot, she realized she was overworked and that it was time for a break.

“George and Spiegler are really good at ensuring there’s no burnout,” Clouds says. “They were like, ‘You’ve earned the right to take a breather. You’ve been working non-stop for four years.”

At a high level, too.

It’s not as if Clouds surfaced out of nowhere to win her golden statue last month. She was an AVN Trophy Girl and Best New Starlet finalist in 2022 before earning Female Performer of the Year nominations the following two years.

Still, despite 19 nominations overall, Clouds captured just one AVN trophy (for Best Three-way Sex Scene) from 2022-24. She was regarded as an A-list performer within porn’s inner circles, but that status wasn’t paying off during awards season—partially because Clouds wasn’t getting the high-profile feature roles and showcase opportunities that can bolster a resume.

With her progress at a standstill—and with her agent mired in an embarrassing scandal, which was affecting her bookings—Clouds decided in February to proceed with a decision she’d been contemplating for months.

She called Mark Spiegler.

The agent, who has represented 11 of the past 14 Performer of the Year winners, was already familiar with Clouds, having met her several times in passing while also hearing rave reviews about her from other performers and directors.

By the time she showed up at his apartment, Spiegler had done enough research to realize Clouds had untapped potential. An hour later, his opinion of her was even higher. Attitude, talent, work ethic, versatility, professionalism, hunger. Clouds clicked every box.

She was, as they say, a sure thing.

“A hot girl is hot, but a smart girl is even hotter,” Spiegler says. “She was malleable and willing to listen.

“The key was harnessing all her good qualities and steering her in the right direction. It’s not just about doing scenes. It’s about doing the right scenes for the right people at the right time—and making sure the right people notice them.”

During their meeting, Spiegler and Jiries laid out a plan that would put Clouds in a position not just to be nominated for Female Performer of the Year, but to actually win.

The agents assured her they would book her in more feature films, where she could flex her muscles as an actress. They told Clouds, who had recently begun shooting anal scenes, that she would need to allow backdoor access more often. But they’d make sure those shoots were booked strategically, with big studios—and that they would have impact. And finally, Spiegler and Jiries assured Clouds the cliche stepdaughter-, cheerleader-type roles she shot early in her career were a thing of the past.

“The innocent, virginal stepsister isn’t my look anymore,” Clouds says. “Even when it was, it wasn’t a great role for me. They really wanted me to focus on being a seductress, the adult woman that I’m great at playing.

“It’s perfect, because it allows me to fuck the way I want to fuck. I don’t have to hold back.”

With a new direction and a more defined brand, the ceiling that hovered over Clouds the previous three years was lifted, and her career accelerated like Mario in warp speed. Paired exclusively with elite male and female talent, Clouds worked only with industry’s elite studios in 2024—Vixen, Adult Time, Elegant Angel and BANG!, among others—and ended the year with a diverse catalog that commanded the respect of multiple awards committees.

Announced in November, Clouds’ 12 nominations were the most of any performer, and twice as many as she’d garnered the previous. Her 11 XBiZ noms were also an industry best.

Nearly three months later, Clouds is still trying to decide where to put her Performer of the Year trophies from both AVN and XBIZ along with ones she captured for Best Anal Sex Scene, Best Solo/Tease and Best Gangbang.

The latter pair were tributes to Clouds’ work in “Darkside.” Produced and directed by Jules Jordan, the four-scene showcase was actually the brainchild of Clouds, who came up with the concept for every shoot.

“You have to give her all of the credit,” Spiegler says. “All of the ideas were hers. She didn’t just devise them on a whim, either. She made a storyboard, she had a PDF … it wasn’t just a simple setup at a house. A lot of thought and work went into making it great.”

The showcase features an anal romp with Manuel Ferrera in a cage, a double-penetration scene with Jordan and Zac Wild in an abandoned warehouse and a seven-man blowbang that left Clouds covered in cum.

For the grand finale, Clouds took on 10 of the industry’s most-respected swordsmen in a gangbang that featured double-penetration in various positions along with some intense oral that lasted throughout the scene.

Multiple times during the showcase, Clouds looked possessed and overcome with passion. She says it wasn’t an act, and that the project allowed her to live out her deepest, darkest fantasies.

“Less than two years ago, I wasn’t even doing anal,” Clouds chuckles. “And now I can’t get enough of it. I love it.

“I’ve bloomed, to be honest. I thought I was a freak when I got into the industry, but now I’m at a whole new level. I’ve found so many new things that are mentally and physically stimulating. I’ve learned more about my sexuality than I ever thought I’d know.”

Through it all, Spiegler and Jiries offered not just guidance and advice, but friendship and support.

Clouds and Spiegler meet for lunch or dinner often to discuss her career and personal life, and it’s not uncommon to see them together at the movies. Jiries is the first person Clouds calls when she leaves a set and was a constant sounding board for Clouds as she navigated through a groundbreaking 2024.

“I genuinely needed to find (agents) that I respected, but who also respected me,” Clouds says. “I’d always heard that they were the greatest, and now I see why. I’ll never second-guess myself again.”

***

Less than 72 hours after walking off the AVN stage with her Female Performer of the Year trophy, Anna Claire Clouds was covered in slime. Her hair was damp with water, her makeup smeared with sweat.

And she absolutely loved it.

Clouds was shooting a feature for Ricky Greenwood’s horror/sci-fi banner Parasited, a grueling task that’s almost always accompanied by long days under difficult conditions. Still, instead of taking a few weeks off to celebrate her monumental achievement, Clouds immediately resumed the grind that earned her the award in the first place.

“She was there with a smile,” Greenwood says. “So many other people in that situation wouldn’t have done it. She could’ve said, ‘This project isn’t going to win me shit,’ and called in sick.

“But Anna isn’t doing this just for the awards. She’s genuinely passionate about the work. She takes pride in it.”

Chloe Surreal could sense it way back in 2022 when she met Clouds for the first time on a MissaX set. Surreal says Clouds and Braylin Bailey were tied together with rope during the dialogue portion of a jailhouse scene. Clouds indicated to the crew that she was becoming light-headed and then passed out cold as the restraints were being loosened.

Once she regained consciousness, Clouds completed the scene.

“That’s when I knew she was special,” Surreal, who is now Clouds’ closest friend, says. “If you book Anna for a scene, she’ll give you the performance of a lifetime—and she’ll smile while she’s doing it.”

Such dedication may have been commonplace in Porn Valley 5-10 years ago. But these days it’s becoming more and more rare. The popularity and money associated with OnlyFans, Instagram and TikTok has caused the adult landscape to change, with many models shifting their focus toward social media, podcasts and becoming “influencers.”

The number of performers who consistently churn out studio content—and make those shoots their priority—is decreasing every year.

Clouds, though, remains fixated on the craft. Sure, she may pop up on a TikTok video or reel every so often. But she’s not a clout chaser. She doesn’t feel like she has to be at every party or on every podcast. She’s not consumed with her following on Instagram and she doesn’t feed into the drama and cattiness that often surfaces on X.

Clouds’ focus is simple and singular: being the best porn star she can be.

“Like an old-time porn chick,” Spiegler says.

Clouds laughs.

“True porn stars are a dying breed,” she says. “Everyone wants to be an influencer now. You can make wonderful money doing that, life-changing money. So it makes sense. But that’s not for everyone and it’s certainly not for me.

“I’m a different type of person. I just want to work. Sure, I will absolutely do things to make money on the internet at times. But when people look at me, and my career, the main thing I want them to think is, ‘Wow, she really, really loves what she’s doing. And she just … keeps … freaking … doing it.”

The reason for Clouds’ enthusiasm is twofold. She enjoys the sex and takes pride in high-quality work, to be sure. But porn has also brought meaning to her life. It’s given her a sense of purpose after she spent years drifting, hopping from one job to the next, trying to find her calling.

Clouds grew up in the conservative South, where “the only thing remotely sexual are Daisy Dukes,” she jokes. Still, Clouds became fixated on promiscuity in her teens, and after briefly studying psychology and music business in college, she dropped out and began dabbling in the type of work many Southerners would denounce.

Clouds became a go-go dancer on the Nashville EDM circuit and worked with a local comedian on adult-themed posts for Vine. She belly-danced at a hookah bar and filmed content with her former boyfriend for Premium Snapchat. The latter venture was so successful that Clouds started her own company, advising girls on how to flourish and market themselves on social media channels.

Eventually, Clouds launched her own site, AnnaClaireClouds.com, where she posted high volumes of self-produced content.

“For so long,” Clouds says, “I hid the parts of me that would only be accepted by certain people. The fact that I’m very slutty and sexual … people didn’t like that. We were taught to keep those things private.”

When Clouds transitioned into studio porn in the summer of 2020, at the age of 25, she found the sense of belonging she’d yearned for throughout her youth. And she quickly grew obsessed with becoming the best performer she could be.

Clouds quickly turned into a student of adult film, studying legends such as Angela White, Adriana Chechik, Riley Reid and others. She also says she’s watched every AVN-nominated scene in the past 10 years to learn from the best of the best.

Clouds paid attention to more than just positioning and blowjob techniques. She took note of the companies for whom award-winning performers worked, the type of scenes they did and the time of the year they did them.

“I’m an avid and true porn fan—I’m a gooner,” Clouds says. “If I’m going to be a master of what I do, then I need to work to be a master. Even when I reach that potential, I will still have plenty more to learn.”

Perhaps, but anyone familiar with Clouds work would have a tough time finding a flaw in her game.

Whether she’s sucking at a furious pace or teasing in a slow, seductive fashion, Clouds' blowjob segments are among the hottest in the business. A female performer told PornCrush that Clouds is “the best pussy-eater” in porn, and her picturesque posterior creates some beautiful moments when Clouds is in cowgirl or doggy.

But the most arousing part of Clouds’ vibe is that she absorbs herself in each scene, as if she’s forgotten the cameras are even there.

“Nothing I do is an act,” Clouds says. “It’s exactly what I’d want to be doing to that person, and with that person, if we were in my bedroom at home.”

The comments under her scenes and the praise she receives on social media have given Clouds a new perspective on her job. Now more than ever, she realizes her unique power as a performer.

“I make money off of the one thing men and women can’t live without,” Clouds says. “It’s not just about sex; it’s about desire, it’s about lust. If you took a lot of people who watch porn to a therapist, they’d say that’s what they want to feel. And I can help them feel it. Those people may not realize what I am to them, but I know exactly what I am. I know what I'm doing.

“It’s an incredible power. It’s why I love my job.”

Just as Clouds satisfies the needs of fans through her work, the adult industry has given her a sense of fulfillment as well.

Clouds’ first three years in the business were all about self-discovery. While always pleasant on set, she could be stoic and guarded off of it—natural characteristics for someone thrust into a high-profile world of instant money and notoriety, where it’s sometimes difficult to know who to trust.

But now, less than a week before her 30th birthday, and with a suddenly crowded trophy case, Clouds seems completely at peace. She glows as she dotes on her new golden retriever, Butters. And there’s a touch of tenderness in her voice as she speaks about her boyfriend, Quinn, who couldn’t be more supportive of her “sucking dick on camera.” During her December session shoot, she was bouncing off the walls—giggling and dancing and singing as she radiated positive energy throughout the shoot house.

“Porn has opened my eyes to the world in a lot of ways,” Clouds says. “It’s allowed me to become the woman I’ve always wanted to be: confident, strong, self-sufficient.

“I was always going to make money. I was always good at doing stuff, but it just never felt like this. There was nothing about it that motivated me.  Now, I’m excited for my job. I’d never had that feeling before. It’s not just the sex. I’m finally the person I always wanted to be.

“I’m finally myself. Fully.”

As 2025 gets into full swing, Clouds is determined not to become complacent like so many other models the year after they win a big award. If anything, the honor has fueled her even more.

Spiegler says there’s no reason Clouds couldn’t become the first talent since Angela White to capture AVN’s top trophy in consecutive years.

“I’ve had a lot of girls who have won the award say, ‘What do I do now?’” Spiegler says. “Anna won’t be that way. The demand for her is only going to go up. She’s got a big feature lined up already, and people will book her all the time. As much as everyone liked her before, I think they’ll respect her even more now.”

Clouds wasn’t ready to discuss her plans for 2025 as she walked through the Virgin casino long after midnight last month, hauling an armful of trophies to her room before returning downstairs for some late-night tater tots with Spiegler and a few others at the venue’s diner.

Still, exhausted as she may have been, Clouds flashed a grin when PornCrush asked the obvious question: "What's next?"

“Oh, I’m not done yet,” Clouds said.

And then she winked.

“Trust me,” she said, “I am not done yet.”

Check out the full gallery of Anna Claire Clouds below: