Sasha Grey began her career as an actress in the porn industry in 2006. She had just turned 18 and was keen to make a name for herself — and she did, very quickly. After less than three years in the business, she had swept numerous awards for her adult films. Not long after, in 2009, Steven Soderbergh discovered her in a copy of Los Angeles magazine and decided to cast her in a film about the 2008 financial crisis — The Girlfriend Experience.

Grey’s preparation for the role included being instructed to watch two films by French New Wave director Jean-Luc Godard, Pierrot le Fou and My Life to Live. Interestingly, both of these films feature performances from Anna Karina, whose name Grey had initially used when she began her adult film career. The Girlfriend Experience would prove to be a groundbreaking movie for Grey as an actor as well as Soderbergh as a director.