HOLLYWOOD—She’s taken the industry’s biggest dicks in every hole, flexed her acting chops in heavy dialogue scenes, and walked countless red carpets with grace and elegance.

Yes, in her 17-year career, Jennifer White has mastered virtually every skill required of an elite star.

Except one.

Speeches.

It’s not that White is bad with a microphone in her hand. She simply hasn’t had much practice.

You could call it one of porn’s craziest “fun facts”—although for White, nothing about it is amusing. Somehow, despite a resume chock full of more than 1,000 high-level scenes, White has been a virtual stranger to an award show stage. Before last year’s XMAs win for Best Sex Scene-Vignette, she had never captured a single trophy.

“Baffling,” agent Mark Spiegler said last year when he heard the statistic.

“A total crime,” frequent co-star Ricky Johnson added.

“I’ve been let down so many times," White said.

That all changed Sunday, when White’s fortunes reversed in grand fashion. With hundreds of her industry peers cheering from their seats, White ascended the stairs to the Hollywood Palladium stage to accept the award for Female Performer of the Year—easily the most high-profile category at the XMA Awards.

The win was actually White’s second of the evening, as she also claimed the trophy for Best Star Showcase for “Hollywood Whore,” the Elegant Angel film she co-produced with her husband, Deacon.

“Thank you for being my rock on this wild, 17-year roller coaster ride,” White said as she addressed her husband during her victory speech. “We finally fucking did it!”

White’s hands trembled as she attempted to glance at notes on her phone, and she paused multiple times to steady her breath. It was heart-warming and almost tear-jerking to witness—nearly two decades of work from one of the industry’s most relentless grinders, all culminating in the moment she’d always yearned for but wondered if she’d ever achieve.

“I didn’t think it was going to be me, probably because I've learned not to get my hopes up,” White, 37, told PornCrush after the ceremony. “Did I want to win? Of course. But I didn’t expect it.”

While White may have been a bit surprised to hear her name called, Sunday’s honor hardly came as a shock to her colleagues. Industry insiders had been buzzing for months that White was among the favorites for Female Performer of the Year, and that her showcase seemed like a virtual lock to nab the trophy.

“I’m losing my voice because I was screaming for her all night,” male talent Victor Ray said. “Jennifer deserves everything she got tonight. Her sexual energy is unmatched. Her eyes, her lips … her body talks more than her mouth. She’s amazing in every way.”

As good as she is as a performer, White earns equal praise for her work ethic, as she’s eclipsed the 100-scene mark multiple times in her career.

In 2025, though, White adopted a new strategy. Instead of accepting every booking that came her way, she only accepted offers for projects that would help propel her in her quest to win Female Performer of the Year. The strategy caused her scene count to dip from about 90 in 2024 to approximately 60 in 2025—but each time she stepped onto a set, she knew she was filming something that could make an impact.

“I only accepted the big gigs with the big directors,” White said. “I also had a lot of control, a lot of say. I wasn’t going for volume; I was going for quality.”

White also changed her representation by hiring Spiegler as her agent.

“She deserves it more than anybody. Period,” Spiegler told PornCrush. “She’s deserved it for years.”

While White’s victories may command the headlines, they were far from the only highlights of a ceremony defined by gleeful speeches, crowd enthusiasm, and the genuine feel of a close-knit—and often misunderstood—community reveling in each other’s achievements.

Kazumi, who co-hosted the XMAs along with Violet Myers, put it best.

“We are not outlaws,” she said. “We are artists and athletes who have dignity and deserve respect.”

One of the night’s biggest winners was Ricky Greenwood, who was named Director of the Year for the third time in a row. Greenwood’s Digital Playground feature “Deadly Vows” won for Best Picture, and surging star Ryan Reid was awarded “Best Actor” for her performance in the film.

“That was the real reward for me,” Greenwood told PornCrush of Reid’s victory. “I know she wanted it so much because she worked so hard. To see her win felt so great.”

The Best New Performer category is another category that always creates buzz and excitement, and this year it was Cubbi Thompson who emerged from a competitive field to take home the trophy. A former beauty pageant contestant, Thompson entered the industry with an established brand because of her prior success as a streamer and cosplayer, and in 2025, she won the XMA award for Creator of the Year. This time, it was Thompson’s studio work that earned her a trophy.

“I used to think I was too weird to be anyone important,” Thompson, 34, said. “But then I remembered you have to be odd to be No. 1.”

Also enjoying a big night was Ariel Demure, who won her second consecutive Trans Performer of the Year trophy at a time when the industry is filled with more high-level trans talent than ever.

“Thank you to everyone who still hires me, all three of you,” Demure joked. “I’m just so grateful. This is incredible. Can I just see from a show of hands who wants to fuck tonight?”

Demure pointed to someone in the crowd.

“That’ll do,” she said.

Demure also found herself on stage when it was announced that “Transpirella”—the Gender X film in which she starred—had won Best Trans Movie.

Also grateful to be in the limelight was Octavia Red, one of the industry’s top stars whose name has become an annual staple across multiple award categories. On Sunday, Red claimed her first-ever XMA trophy when she was named Girl-Girl Performer of the Year.

“Working with women has really helped me embrace my own femininity, because that’s something I’ve struggled with my entire life,” Red told PornCrush after the ceremony. “ It was just surreal, because I didn’t think it was going to happen.

“I was really hoping for it. I want to cry just talking about it. The butterflies are still eating me alive.”

Still, no one was more emotional than White, who was one of the last people to leave the Palladium because of all the congratulatory hugs and handshakes from well-wishers.

Even though she now has a shiny trophy for her mantle, White said her victory won’t change who she is.

“Winning isn’t going to affect my self-worth,” White said. “That’s how I keep going. I don’t correlate the two. I’m just looking to put out the best content possible, the things fans want to see.”

And that won’t change, either. White chuckled when asked if she might “slow down” a bit now that she’s won XMA’s most-coveted crown.
“Slow down?” she said. “What’s that? Now it’s time to go even harder. This is when you press the gas pedal. That’s what the great ones do.”