Meet McKenzie Lee (Again): Best New Starlet 2006 Is Back In The Game

McKenzie Lee arrived in Porn Valley in 2005; and quickly won over the hearts and parts of the American porn industry, landing the coveted title of Best New Starlet in 2006.

But then, just as things were heating up, she took a few years off to start up a family. Fear not, though, this story has a happy ending: this year McKenzie came back—and joined up with the happy porn family over at Digital Playground.

We spent some time on the phone with McKenzie, and learned a little bit about the difference between American porn and British porn, what she was doing while she was away, and, of course, who her favorite costars are. Click through the gallery to read our interview (and to check out hot pics of McKenzie, too).

· McKenzie Lee (mckenzielee.com)
· Digital Playground (digitalplayground.com)

Fleshbot: What made you first decide to get into the adult industry?
McKenzie Lee: Ever since the age of eighteen, nineteen, I was stripping. So just going into the industry was a real natural progression for me. I lived in a house with two other guys and a girl, and one of the guys was actually a porn actor, and he'd been in the industry like eleven years at that point. We used to rent our house out as a location, and I was always around it, and I just-well, one day I didn't just decide, "Oh, maybe I'll do porn"…I just fell into it. It found me.

Image of McKenzie Lee courtesy of Digital Playground (digitalplayground.com)

Did you start shooting in the UK and then move over to Porn Valley?
Yeah, I started shooting in the UK, and then I got contracted to Playboy over there in the UK. I hosted shows, but I was still able to do films, which wasn't in direct competition with the TV program. And then they sent me out here to do the Nightcalls, around New Years Eve '05, and I came out here and figured I would work while I'm out here and then go home, and then three weeks later I got signed.

Is there a difference between porn in the UK and porn in the US?
Oh yeah, there's a major difference. There, it's not so mainstream, it's kind of shoved underneath the carpet. Actually shooting porn is a major undertaking-in the UK it takes a whole day to shoot one scene, here you can shoot like five or six scenes in one day.

There's a lot of kinky British people and European people, so we're not easily shocked, but people don't talk about the industry, [though] they know it's there. You guys make it more mainstream.

Image of McKenzie Lee courtesy of Digital Playground (digitalplayground.com)

You were Best New Starlet in 2006, and shortly after that you took a break. What made you decide to walk away from the industry for a little bit?
Well, it wasn't me really walking away from the industry. The contract I was in at the time, they were going through a transition and a change in their whole company structure, so they really weren't doing anything....So it was a great time for me to take a break and have my family. I got married and had two kids in the time that I was away. It was one of those things where I never really left the industry entirely, I just put it on hold for a little bit.

Did you miss performing while you were temporarily away?
Yeah. I really missed performing….and that was a major reason why I came back and came back strong. I wanted to be that girl that I was before, that hardcore performer. I toltally missed it. I love my job.

Image of McKenzie Lee courtesy of Digital Playground (digitalplayground.com)

What made you decide to sign with Digital Playground?
Really, I think they're a great company. They do a lot of mainstream stuff as well, they put a lot of great product out there, and for me, I like the whole performing family feel. I like to work for somebody, and I like to give somebody all of me. So in this case it's Digital Playground and I will work my hardest for them. I think they're a good company to work for.

Image of McKenzie Lee courtesy of Digital Playground (digitalplayground.com)

Of the performers you've worked with, who's your favorite?
Guys or girls?

Both: give me your favorite guys and favorite girls.
I like the gonzo boys, like Steve Holmes, Manuel Ferrara...I like to get lost in the scene, I like to just be into that guy, and the gonzo guys make it really easy for me, because they have my style of sex. I like to be completely overwhelmed and overpowered and fight for control. The guys that regularly do gonzo stuff really know how to take control and just go for it and let themselves go. So people like that—I like to get lost in my performance. And then girlwise…you know, I haven't really done too many girl-girl scenes here. I'm still trying to explore my favorite girl performers. But off the top of my head, I loved Arianna Jolie when she was around because she was crazy and oozed sexuality. She's a little like Belladonna. She was really great. Belladonna's on my wish list, because I've never gotten to work with her. So girlwise, I'm still looking.

Image of McKenzie Lee courtesy of Digital Playground (digitalplayground.com)

Belladonna is a great wish list add—she's pretty amazing.
I just like her passion-she's definitely alive, you know?

I saw Belladonna years ago, when I was working in England. She actually did a film for Harmony Films and I was working a lot for them at the time. And I remember watching her movie and being like, "Wow, this girl's crazy"—like, even her talking, her presence and her talking were amazing. She just oozed sexuality. And that was like Arianna too, she was one of my favorite performers of all time. Yes, she was kind of crazy with the whole performance aspect and stuff like that, but she was so sexual—she could find something sexual in everyone. And that's pretty much like Belladonna.

There's an art to being a great performer, and just loving what you do and finding that little twinkle in somebody, where you can push their button—that's what I love to do.

Image of McKenzie Lee courtesy of Digital Playground (digitalplayground.com)

When you're not doing porn, what do you enjoy doing?
Obviously I have two small children, so mostly family stuff. I'm a regular girl, I like to do all the girly stuff and go tanning. Just do all that girly stuff. I love spending family time with my kids, and going places and just showing them the world.

Image of McKenzie Lee courtesy of Digital Playground (digitalplayground.com)