Biography: A native of Denver, Colorado, LaVeaux was brought up by a single mom, and was a wild kid, doing drugs like cocaine, dropping out of school and stripping at parties by age 15. "I put my mom through hell. Then again it's just a product of what you're brought up in. She did the best that she could and I did the best that I could." About her childhood, Shayla states on her website "I did not have the stereotypical horrible childhood/home experiences of so many girls in the adult business. I am very much the product of a happy, loving home. My sisters and I are best friends and I see my parents regularly."
LaVeaux first became interested in working as a stripper when she was hitchhiking to a concert at Red Rocks and was picked up by a stripper. At age 18 she began working at a strip club called Shotgun Willie's. Sometime later on, she started her bachelor party business. Through this endeavour, met her future manager, Lucky, and Alexis DeVell, who was Lucky's girlfriend.
LaVeaux married James Wieser in 1990. He occasionally performed with her under the name Anthony. They owned a strip tease company in Denver, Colorado. To improve business, the five-foot blonde decided to do some magazine layouts. Some time later, Shayla drove to California with Alexis Devell, who worked in X-rated videos, and her manager Lucky Smith to take the porn plunge. She accompanied DeVell to a pornographic movie shoot in Los Angeles, California. She was present when an actress "flaked" and became a stand-in in DeVell's movie. This started her career, where she later met pornographic director Paul Norman.
Shayla's first movie, Curious, was in 1992. Laveaux took her professional name as Shayla because as she states on her site "My best friend in high school named her baby "Shayla" and I always loved the name. "LaVeaux" is my take on the name of the famous New Orleans Voodoo Queen, Marie Laveau. She was famous not only for her powers but also for her ageless beauty. I misspelled my stage name with a little French touch."
After seeing her on set of the movie Lesbian Love Connection, she was signed to an exclusive contract. Shayla hit it big almost right away, winning AVN's best new actress award in 1994. Shayla would go on to work for VCA Pictures and Ashton View Promotions. Over a career spanning over 12 years, Shayla starred in over 200 movies. She states on her website that out of all her movies "Shock is my absolute favorite. VCA produced it and it won an all time record number of eleven AVN awards. Shayla's Gang and Nina, Shayla and Kylie's Barcelona Home Video are also favorites." LaVeaux even began her own production company, Shayla Productions, in 2003; her distributor was Jill Kelly Productions.
Alexis and Shayla carried on an affair for years until Anthony and Shayla finally moved to LA in June 1996. That same year, Shayla felt ready to quit porn. LaVeaux and her husband spoke about their struggles at the 1998 World Pornography Conference where she openly wept while she spoke. Shayla continued on in her unusually lengthy career as an actress in the x-rated video industry and while still active was voted into the AVN hall of fame in 2002. In the summer of 2006 she relocated to Auckland, New Zealand.
She accompanied DeVell to a pornographic movie shoot in Los Angeles, California. She was present when an actress "flaked" and became a stand-in in DeVell's movie. This started her career, where she later met pornographic director Paul Norman. Her first movie, Curious, was in 1992.
After seeing her on set of the movie Lesbian Love Connection, she was signed to an exclusive contract. She would later go on to work for VCA Pictures and Ashton View Promotions. LaVeaux even began her own production company, Shayla Productions, in 1993; her distributor was Jill Kelly Productions.
To date, she has starred in over 200 movies. A future film called Fan Sexxx will include Shayla and amateurs from St. Cloud, Minnesota. The film is to be directed by Jon Yuma. In the summer of 2006 she relocated to Auckland, New Zealand.
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