Carmen Moore, Popular Transgender Actress, Passes (AVN)
Read the full article by Mark Kernes at AVN.com
LAS VEGAS, Nev.—Carmen Moore, a transgender performer who entered the adult industry at roughly the same time as her "sister in arms" Jessica Fox, has died. She was 32 years old. No cause of death has yet been revealed, in part because, according to Fox, "At this time, our family would appreciate privacy around the whole situation during this tragedy. Maybe sometime in the future after we grieve, we'll be able to honor her and maybe then we'll be able to talk, but as of now, we'd appreciate as much privacy as we can. The only questions we'll be answering are how we can honor her and show respect to our sister."
Fox's reference to Moore as her sister has deep origins. The pair grew up together in a Native American village in northern Arizona from childhood, and according to Fox, "She was a mentor to me."
Our culture embraced trans women," she continued. "In our culture, it wasn't male or female; we recognize five genders and we were very blessed for growing up in the community that we did because we were never harmed, we were never hurt; we always had this strong community support system so that we were able to flourish into the women that we are, and we had very, very strong grandmothers who embraced us and kept us safe, and no one was able to say anything about us, and we were very close to them. We had trans cousins and trans sisters; Carmen had a younger trans sister as well, blood sister who was very close to us. We had this amazing family support system that was there and we were able to flourish into the beautiful women that we are," Fox recalled.
"Over the years, when I was filming, there were these three girls—I joked that they were the 'three little Indians'—but they were Jamie Page, Carmen Moore and Jessica Fox and they were my go-to's," director Steve Volponi told AVN.
"Carmen was definitely one of the girls I could hang out with; go eat, go drink, totally just hang; joke around, be friends. Jessica too, same thing," he reminisced. "I know over the years, Carmen had some boyfriend issues, and sometimes she'd be up and sometimes she'd have down days and she would talk to me about it. For the most part, she was just a great girl, a great person. It's really sad; she's definitely going to be missed. I always looked forward to seeing her, whether at the show or wherever. It really sucks."
Moore worked for most of the biggest adult studios that shot trans material, including Evil Angel, Rodnievision, Grooby Productions, Pulse/Pure Play, Mile High and Exquisite, and several directors at those studios have fond memories of working with her.
"We’re saddened to hear of the passing of Carmen Moore, whom we were informed of her death earlier this week from a member of her family," read a eulogy posted on the Grooby Network website. "Carmen was a much loved, well-respected trans model who had worked in the adult industry across a 10-year span. ... She was one of, if not, the first Native American trans performers. Brought up on a reservation, she transitioned in middle school and then moved to Las Vegas where she began her career, working with our producers, PK Vegas and Buddy Wood on DVD releases and scenes for Grooby Girls. ... Our condolences go to her many friends and family. She will be very missed."