The adult industry got rocked in 2019 with the hardcore porn debut of mainstream actress Maitland Ward—who starred in popular TV shows The Bold and the Beautiful and Boy Meets World, and movies like White Chicks. Maitland found her way to the adult industry through her interest in cosplay. After realizing she had an audience interested in her sexy cosplay looks, Maitland decided to capitalize on her new fanbase while simultaneously exploring her own personal curiosities by trying out performing in porn. After seeing the fanfare surrounding her first few scenes, Maitland Ward signed on to become a contract star for Kayden Kross‘ latest directorial imprint, Deeper. Maitland’s maintained that she will only appear in select XXX projects moving forward, so fans can expect the very best from her with each new release.
HotMovies staff writer Judy Hologram had the opportunity to sit down with Maitland and discuss her career trajectory, the type of sex she can’t wait to have on camera, and how she plans to fight the stigma against the porn industry. Get to know Maitland Ward on a whole new level in our exclusive interview below!
JH: Congratulations on landing your contract with Deeper, ’cause you and Kayden Kross seem like such a professional match made in heaven.
MW: Thank you! I really feel like we are. We were destined to meet, and it was by such happenstance, everything coming together for us to really meet and be able to collaborate, because we definitely have the same vision and outlook on things. So it’s just been an amazing union with that.
What do you hope to accomplish during your contract with Deeper?
I really trust Kayden so much, her filmmaking and her vision and writing. So coming into this I trust her to take me down this path to explore all sorts of different things, both sexually and acting-wise and emotionally. I’m going to just explore everything and go to places that I have never been before. And I definitely trust her to take me on this journey, and also to collaborate and come up with some really original, groundbreaking stuff that’s going to be absolutely mainstream-film quality, with all of the hotness and really raw, authentic, emotional sexual content.
Where have you not been before sexually that you’re planning to go to?
Well, I haven’t done anal yet, I haven’t done big group sex. So there’s a lot of stuff that I have not done that I’m definitely going to do this year.
You’ve been teasing an upcoming cinematic feature with Deeper. What can you tell us about that?
Well, I can’t really tell details of the scripts and stuff. It’s actually not all finalized yet, but we’re definitely working on making a major cinematic impact with a feature this year. But there’s definitely going to be a main major project that’s going to just, I hope, blow everybody away because the plans are really looking big and powerful and just like nothing I’ve ever known before in porn or in my acting career. It’s definitely rivaling any mainstream thing that I have worked on, which is really exciting. I’ve been able to do acting and take a character places that I haven’t been able to do in mainstream, just because I’ve worked mostly in comedy, and people typecast you in mainstream as like, “Oh, she’s more comedic, she’s more lighter stuff.”
But Kayden really trusted me with this role and tried especially to begin this very dark, twisted character, and I got to that place very easily. It’s a character that I really love exploring and love playing out, that’s so different for me. There’s so many parts of me in the dark, sexual, twisted nature of it. I’m really having fun exploring this Mistress Maitland character, and it’s really been a challenge, but also just so delicious and a joy and I love it.
Are there any other porn stars that you’ve looked to for inspiration in developing your performances?
No. Actually, that’s interesting, and I think it helped me in that way to develop my own self. Of course, I’ve learned along the way the tips and tricks and things from people that I worked with, but I always try to be my authentic self. I’m not trying to perform like anyone. I’m just being there in the scene, and I am doing what I would do. Camera angles and stuff aside, I really try to just perform from an authentic place in myself, and everything you see in me is me authentically feeling it, and experiencing it. I definitely admire other people and their styles, but I don’t wanna copy that. I just wanna be who I am in the scene and really play it out.
Who do you admire?
Well, I always loved Tori Black. There are so many that I’ve admired. And I’m just meeting people in the business that are so sweet, like Abigail Mac, of course, Kayden as a performer and as a director and writer. She’s amazing. There’s a lot of people that I just think are really cool and have given me great advice and tips and stuff. And I’m good friends wish Isaiah Maxwell; I worked with him for so long on my own content before I started doing professional stuff. He’s given me a lot of great advice and tips and just tricks for the technicalities of it. He’s just been a great friend and mentor. He’s really great.
And then before entering porn, you were well known for your really risque cosplays. Do you think you would ever want to do any XXX superhero parodies, or anything like that?
I would love to create a superhero character. Could be a very dark, twisted character of my own and have this whole dark universe. I mean, I’ve thought it out some, and I would really like to do that, because that is someone that I am. I’ve done a ton of cosplay, I created a cosplay career after my pictures. So that would definitely be something that I would love to explore, and down the line make a comic book character of my own that can own her sexuality, and be badass. She wouldn’t necessarily be like a goody-goody superhero kind of character. She’d be doing good in spite of being damaged, and broken, and rebellious, and all these things. That’s definitely something that I’d love to pursue down the line. I’d love to create some dark, twisted universe that I could have delicious fun with. And in a sexy costume of course. [laughs]
Yeah, for sure.
She’d have to have a badass sexy costume, with all these weapons on her legs and heels, and everything. [chuckle]
Yeah, it’s always the kind of anti-heroes that are the hottest, I think.
Yeah, that’s what I like too. I like the anti-heroes. She’s not doing it just to be this goody-goody… She’s kicking ass. But in spite of all of her flaws, she is still doing good, and making a difference. That’s more interesting that way, I think.
You also write erotic fiction for your fans. Do you have any plans to adapt your stories for the screen?
Oh, I would love to do that down the road. I write erotic stories, and I read bedtime stories every week to my fans. So it’s really fun to write really sexually charged, twisted stories. I also do fun, sexy stories, too. I try to bridge a little bit of the eroticism and the erotic hotness, and then have a little fun and comedy with it too, to balance it all out. But I would love to adapt some stories down the road. I would love to have my own bedtime stories professionally filmed. People could buy me reading individual bedtime stories that I wrote. It might be cool to do a subscription to that. [chuckles]
What is a misconception the general public has about porn that you found to be untrue after joining the industry?
There are so many misconceptions, I can’t even say. First of all, how professional the sets are. Everybody seems to assume, “Oh, there’s orgies going on, drug dens on the set.” I’m like, “No.” Of course, I’ve worked on very high-end sets, but the professionalism is just like working on a mainstream show, except you have sex in it, at least what I’ve experienced. Everybody is working to make a product and they’re not just going off all the time doing crazy stuff. I had some people ask me, “Oh, who tells you what you have to do? Do you have any say?” And I’m like, “Everybody has say about what they wanna do or not. You could have a no list. If you don’t wanna do something, you don’t do it.” People think that you’re forced into doing things against your will, and I find that it’s actually the complete opposite. There’s been cases, not necessarily involving me, but in mainstream, where guys were taking advantage of girls left and right on “reputable” sets. I’ve just found the level of consent in porn to be way higher than there would be on a mainstream set. I think because we’re dealing with a sexual environment, and people are really attuned to that, they make sure that everything is run on the up and up and everybody’s comfortable in the scenes, at least in my experience.
I hate the misogynist misconception that a woman, “Oh, if she’s in porn, these girls, they would have to be either drugged up, insane, have parental problems, or they’re being forced into it.” It’s completely the opposite with these young girls that are in the business. They are so business savvy, and they are making such strides to make good money and good intentions, and they’re really forging nice careers. And I hate that misconception that, “Oh, what’s wrong with the girl if she’s involved in porn?” You can’t just enjoy sexually performing without something being wrong with her? Yet, on the flip side, if a guy is in porn, they’re like, “Oh, he just likes sex.” They don’t think that he’s crazy, they just think that, “Oh, he’s a stud.” But girls, they have to be “completely messed up” in order to get into it. I’m really trying to get the word out there to fight that stigma, ’cause there’s some really smart, talented girls in this business.
Everybody in the business seems to have a really good head on their shoulders, generally.
Yeah, and sure, you’re gonna deal with the lowest elements. Just like in mainstream, there’s a difference between a Spielberg movie, and some crappy set that you’re not gonna see. [chuckle] There’s always gonna be a lower element that has problems and gives a bad name to things, but when you’re dealing with the actual quality production level, it’s all on the up and up, really. And the performers generally have their head on their shoulders.
And how has your career and training as an actress prepared you for working in adult?
Well, first of all, I was totally prepared for long hours, ’cause I worked on soap operas, and in any television, you’re working for a long period of time. I know some people in porn are like, “I don’t like to work over a certain amount of hours.” Of course on Deeper productions that it is gonna be a long, long period of time on set, ’cause it’s such high quality. So I’m totally prepared for that. Also, I think my acting skills help me with being on camera, and bringing a realism to the character that I would try to bring to any mainstream production.
I think a lot of people think actors will try to make some sex tape or scandal to get a lot of attention, but that was never my intention, even though I got a lot of attention from doing, of course, Drive and Blacked. But I really wanted to get into it because I loved exploring my own sexuality and I always wanted to perform a really good, high-concept script and production with that hot sexuality. I’m totally authentically in this business to make great projects that I really believe in, ’cause I’ve always believed in this type of project or product. And that’s why Kayden and I meeting was very… It was fate.
Do you have any advice for mainstream actors who might be thinking of also entering adult?
I hope that more and more of them do wanna explore this side of it and have it merge. You see movies and it’s so hot, hot, hot, but they cut out the sex. Let’s just go the whole way. [laugh] I think that might be a way to bridge it, doing really hot independent-style films, and then just having a lot of good sexual content in it.
It doesn’t come to every actor to be able to perform sexually. Even if you’re a good actor, it can still be very hard to have sex in front of everybody and on film. I think that you really need to warm up to that. I just found it pretty easy. I don’t know why, but I guess I’ve just been that kind of person. I was actually surprised at how easy it came to me. I didn’t have the nerves and the hang-ups that most people might think you might have, especially when you’re first starting. Although I worked up to it with baby steps, doing my own content, and just testing out the waters on each level that I took.
I think actors who’re starting out, they have to see if they’re gonna feel uncomfortable being completely naked having sex. You definitely have to think about camera angles. That’s one thing that prepared me in mainstream, too, is just knowing where your shots and your cameras are. I think there will be some more mainstream people that come in, and I hope they don’t feel the stigmas and taboos as much as we move forward in the future, and they can help break that. Then we can just have really hot adult entertainment that we also wanna watch for the stories, and the scripts, and the filmmaking. I just think that would be monumental, and I hope we do that this year with our big features.
Do you have a celebrity crush that you would hope would maybe enter adult?
Oh, I’d like to play a superhero with Jason Momoa, that’d be good. I would like to play the adult version of Aquaman. And I’m a redhead, so… [laughter]
Oh, so that’s perfect.
That would be a perfect parody. [chuckle]
Yeah, book it! Do you have a New Year’s resolution?
I didn’t wanna have a big one, but I was thinking about it, and I really wanna just enjoy every moment. I seem to really think and plan ahead, and I still wanna do that, of course, but I just want to take in every moment and experience. Everything has been really exciting, and fast-coming, and just a real whirlwind journey. I want to enjoy every second of that and be authentic in every moment that I’m in. So that’s what I’ll try to do, just take every day and every minute as it comes, and enjoy the whole process.
I interviewed Angela White recently, and I asked her this same question. I’m curious to know how you would answer. If you were to walk through the warehouse that’s in Drive, what would you hope to find there?
Ooh. Well, I enjoyed all the things that we found there. [laughter] I just love the element of the dark sexual exploration and the danger of it, the exciting danger of it. I thought her character was really phenomenal, and the way she just was tasting a little bit of the sexuality as she went along the way. And she wanted more and more and more. I think that’s sort of how my journey was starting out a couple of years ago when I started doing my content. I tarted out like, “Okay, I’ll do these nudes, and then do these solos, and wait, but I’d just try girl-girl stuff, and then let’s do a girl threesome and okay, I’m finally ready, I wanna try doing boy stuff.” I think that was kind of my journey, just tasting a little bit more and more, and being enticed, and pulled in until you’re just enveloped in the whole thing. I would definitely like to find that place where you’re just all enraptured in it. And I think I really am there now. [laughter] I identified with her character a lot.
What makes you feel sexy?
I like to be free and smart. I really love just sitting back and reading a juicy book with a glass of wine, and just my glasses on, and my hair piled up, and just very sensual and comfortable. I don’t know, that makes me feel really sexy just to be, I guess myself, and be open, and free. Of course, I could say it makes me feel sexy to walk on the beach and the cliché things, but I just think there’s something really sexy about being your true self—just being casual and open, especially with somebody else that you’re attracted to. Just to be your own true self. Physically, I like wearing really nice perfume with very little else. [laughs] I think a really nice perfume with a guy’s shirt or something on is very, very sexy, as a physical appearance. I think I like to just be in tune with myself and what I am desiring at that moment and then just live it out.
Any final words for your fans at HotMovies?
I just think people have been so supportive and so wonderful. I have fans who go years back with me and then I have new fans. I really appreciate everything they’ve done for me along the way, all of their support. I promise that I will continue to deliver an authentic, heart-driven product and scenes and films. I will always give my best, and I just really appreciate all of the support. I couldn’t have done any of it without such a strong fan base and people being there for me. So I really thank you, I appreciate it. I’m very humbled and grateful.
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