After winning the National Merit Scholarship Program's most prestigious scholarship award in 1991, Carrera joined the elite ranks of "Notable National Merit Scholars", listed alongside previous winners such as Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and Steve Ballmer[12].
After being a homeless runaway, Carrera was eager to use her scholarship at Rutgers University for free room and board, but she eventually dropped out of college when she discovered fast financial security from dancing and modeling.[11] After leaving Rutgers, she moved to Los Angeles to make movies, and quickly became Vivid Entertainment's first Asian contract girl.[13]
Carrera's adult film career started in 1993[16] and appeared in over 350 adult films.[11] In 1995, she became the first Asian performer ever to win the AVN Female Performer of the Year Award.[17] Carrera retired from the film industry in 2003, following her marriage to Don Lemmon.[2]
Carrera lent her voice to several erotic hentaiOVAs for publisher Pink Pineapple, such as Inmu (2001)[18] and Shusaku (1999).[19] In October 2001, Carrera attended the Big Apple Anime Fest in New York City for her voice roles and along with Kobe Tai was an Opening Night Guest of Honor at the fest's Midnight Anime Concourse.[20]
Carrera was also in the 2012 documentary After Porn Ends, which documents the lives of actors after they leave the adult film industry.[21] In the documentary, she discusses her membership in Mensa. Despite being a celebrity member of the group, the organization refused to link to her website because it contained pornographic elements.[22]
Other work
In 1998, she appeared in an uncredited cameo role in the film The Big Lebowski in the faux pornographic movie Logjammin' within the film.[23][24]
Carrera was a guest reviewer for Maximum PC magazine.[25]
Personal life
Carrera is an atheist.[26] In November 2014, she wore a colander on her head for her Utah driver's license photograph. State law normally prohibits the wearing of hats in driver license photos, but there is an exception for religious headwear and Carerra's colander was worn in honor of the religion of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.[1][3] She is one of about a dozen "Pastafarian" Utahns who have worn a colander in their official state ID photos.[27]
In September 1995, Carrera married adult film director Bud Lee. They divorced in 2003, but remain good friends.[2] She married nutritionist and author Don Lemmon on December 19, 2003.[28] The couple moved to St. George, Utah, where she gave birth to a daughter on March 4, 2005. On June 10, 2006, Lemmon was killed in a car accident outside of Las Vegas. Seven weeks later, on July 31, Carrera gave birth to the couple's second child.[2][29][30][31] In June 2012, she gave birth to a boy whom she later placed for adoption.[32]
In 2015, she was arrested for DUI with "a reported blood alcohol content of .254 percent – more than three times Utah’s .08 legal limit." She pleaded no contest in exchange for avoiding jail time and was sentenced to house arrest.[33]
In 2015, Carrera began studies at Utah Tech University[34], where she was joined two years later by her 11-year-old daughter. [35] At that time, Carrera's daughter was the youngest student to attend college at Utah Tech, and the youngest full-time college student in the state of Utah.[36]
^ abcdef"Bio". asiacarrera.com. Archived from the original on April 8, 2010. Retrieved May 18, 2010.
^ ab"Ex-porn star wears colander in driver's license photo". USA Today. Associated Press. November 17, 2014. p. 1. Retrieved November 18, 2014. Asia Lemmon, whose legal name appears on her driver's license as Jessica Steinhauser, said the pasta strainer represents her beliefs in the satirical Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.
^Carrera-Lemmon, Asia (December 7, 2016). (Untitled). Facebook. Retrieved December 7, 2016.
^"The Top 10 Porn Stars From New Jersey", WCHR-FM, November 1, 2016. Accessed October 8, 2018. "Asia Carrera - Born in NYC, but grew up in Little Silver, going to Red Bank Regional High School."
^ ab"The Women of Porn", Playboy, March 2002, page 128
^ abcSager, Mike. "The Porn Identity". Playboy, September 2011: 118.