Sunny Leone Talks Journey From Adult Film Star To Walking Red Carpet At Cannes

etcanada.com:

Sunny Leone has made the ultimate crossover. After a previous career as an adult film actress, the 42-year-old has fashioned a successful mainstream acting career which has taken her all the way to this year’s Cannes Film Festival. READ MORE: Sunny Leone Reveals She Dated Canadian Comedian Russell Peters: ‘We Messed It Up’ The Canadian-born Indian actress walked the red carpet at the premiere of her new movie, the Anurag Kashyap-directedcop noir, “Kennedy”, as part of the festival’s midnight section.

Having appeared in about 30 Indian movies since quitting the porn industry in 2013, Leone spoke to Deadline about how she made the unlikely transition, particularly in the more conservative, heavily religious Indian market.

It all came down to her run on “Big Brother India”, which is known there as “Bigg Boss”. The show had pursued her, and her now husband supported the idea, to her surprise. “You’re out of your mind — I’m not going to India, they’ll hate me,” she remembered thinking at the time. “I’ve already gone through so much hate in that community.” She added, “Right before getting on the show, there was a lot of hurdles.

There were death threats and bomb threats.” READ MORE: Sunny Leone, Canadian Bollywood Star, Talks Defying Critics And Her Homecoming But she powered through it all for seven weeks, and while she was still on the show, Leone got her first feature film offer. “I think people related to — I was human, and not jumping on tables and doing all sorts of crazy stuff.