Shauna Grant - Adult Film Career

Adult Film Career

The couple arrived in Los Angeles, California. Applegate and Marcell unsuccessfully pursued several employment leads in the first month. Then Marcell saw an ad for the World Modeling Agency in Van Nuys, which diligently sought attractive new recruits for "figure modeling." Accompanied by Marcell, Applegate visited the agency's owner, Jim South, who set up a photo session with legendary soft-core photographer J. Stephen Hicks, whose work was frequently featured in Penthouse.

Her first pictorial's theme featured a mock camping set and was to be published by Club. Hicks reflected on Applegate's appearance and personality, saying "I deal with a lot of girls who are new in the business, a lot of young girls and a lot of girls from out of town. Colleen was so incredibly young and naive. She was completely un-hip and non-L.A."

Her wholesome, "girl next door" looks soon landed her work posing for other magazines such as Hustler and Penthouse. But Hicks advised Applegate to get out of nude modeling quickly, because when all of the magazines had used her, the only thing left for her would be hardcore movies. "You know, you take a typical girl that's used to working at McDonald's or at a shoe store, where she's used to making a minimum wage, and suddenly she's given the opportunity to get made up, and be in front of people who tell her she's beautiful, and make as much money in a day as she was making in three weeks and, um, they change. They change. And that's sad."

Almost immediately, Applegate progressed to filming hardcore photo sessions for Suze Randall.

Applegate's relationship with her boyfriend did not endure their first two months in California, as Marcell joined the U.S. Army. Before his induction, he informed her small town that Applegate was involved with pornography. Her family suffered much embarrassment.

Ignoring Hicks' advice, Applegate continued working with World Modeling Agency, where she met veteran porn producer Bobby Hollander. Hollander launched her adult film career, suggesting what he felt was a "classy" stage name, Shauna Grant.

As a fast-rising adult-entertainment personality, she was featured in Virginia, Suzie Superstar and Flesh and Laces 1 & 2, among many others. Her pay rose from $300 a day to nearly $1,500. As Shauna Grant, she made dozens of popular adult movies, more often plot-oriented. In Suzie Superstar, she played the lead singer of a rock band. By industry standards, Grant was early in her career when it suddenly came to an end. In a filmed interview, she said that she "wasn't ready" to try anal sex, an attitude that usually marks a starlet rather than a star. She also did only heterosexual scenes; most female porn performers also do lesbian scenes regardless of their sexual orientation.

Off-screen she traveled in limousines and stayed in first-class hotels. Grant was provided with her own make-up artist, 27-year-old Laurie Smith (who was also an adult star). Smith, who co-starred with Grant in several movies (including the aforementioned Suzie Superstar as well as The Young Like It Hot and Bad Girls IV), also became Grant's best friend—and fellow cocaine partier—during that period. She quit the adult film business for a short time following Grant's suicide.

Grant's popularity earned her three acting nominations at the March 1984 Erotic Film Awards. Despite her beauty, she had some difficulty getting work due to her cocaine addiction and lack of "enthusiasm" during sex scenes. In some circles she acquired the nickname "Applecoke," and gained a reputation for being flaky.