Samantha Bentley, 26, is an award-winning porn actress based in the U.K. She's also had roles in Game of Thrones for the past two seasons, most recently as the prostitute who famously wore an assless dress on the show. Here's how she landed the roles and her plans for phasing out of porn by the time she's 30.

I started glamour modeling when I was 18 or 19 years old and did some Page 3 [the Sun newspaper's daily topless feature] and lads' mags over here in the U.K. I had a Model Mayhem account and a photographer messaged me on there and wanted to shoot me for [U.K. adult magazine] Mayfair. Then I got messaged by an agency in Budapest who said, "Do you want to come out and do a couple shoots?" I never considered it porn. Then I did a few shoots with girls, and it still never occurred to me that I was doing porn because I was just doing girl-girl.

It was my best friend who finally said, "You know you're doing porn, right?" And I was like, "No, I'm not!" I never thought anything of it until I Googled myself one day and it came up on a website as "porn starlet Samantha Bentley." The real first big job I did when I realized I was doing porn was for a company called Harmony Films. I shot an all girl threesome with AVN's performer of the year. It was my first big-budget feature porn movie. That was in 2012.

The scene I did for Harmony won best girl-girl scene at the AVN awards. So Harmony said, "We'd like to offer you a contract to do your first boy-girl." And I was thinking, Well, I know I have a fan base so I know I can sell this to anyone I want right now. I said, "Obviously you guys have kick-started my career and I do want to do it for you, but there are other people who want it, so what are you offering me?" I knew that now I wanted to make a career. So I said, "I'll give you my first boy-girl, my first anal, my first DP [double penetration], and I'll do it over the course of a year and I want my own feature film." Also, I didn't want to be put with any random people. They agreed to all of that.

I was terrified [at my first boy-girl shoot.] We went away for the week to a castle in Scotland. I'd chosen the guy, Ian Tate, because I'd met him before and I got on well with him, and he'd been in the industry a long time. I wanted to work with somebody who knew what they were doing because I had no idea. When we shot it, we were on set with 50 people and everyone was watching and the pressure was so real. I remember Ian and the director saying to me afterward, "Well, if that's your first scene, you're not going to have a problem handling anything this industry throws at you." It was the turning point. When you've done hardcore porn, you can't go back. It's going to be everywhere and everyone's going to know you've done it.

Everyone [in my life] knows [what I do]. It took me a while to tell my family just because I felt protective of them. It's a hard thing to tell your parents. My mom found out because I came home with my AVN award and she said, "I know what that award is." Then she cried. I said, "I'm happy, I'm making money, I'm not doing anything stupid, I'm safe." My dad was different. He just said, "You're my daughter. Of course I know what you're doing. If you're happy, I'll support you and I don't want to know the details, but I will support whatever you think is right." My dad's my hero.

When I first started, there was a lot of concern. My friends asked, "Are you OK? Has something happened? Why are you doing this? Are you being forced into this? Are you happy?" I think that's what people's initial concern with porn is: You're doing it because you're stuck or you really need money or something's happened to you in your life. For me, it was a career. It went from zero to a hundred very quickly.

[Getting cast in Game of Thrones] was so weird. I got a call saying, "Game of Thrones wants you to read for this scene for season four." My friend had to film me in the buff reading the lines for the scene and we had to email the video to the casting directors. I only had one line. I didn't hear anything for weeks and weeks. Then I got a call after I'd just landed in Barcelona [to shoot porn scenes] and they said, "Game of Thrones needs you the day after tomorrow to be in Ireland." I was booked to do four [porn] scenes over two days in Barcelona, so I said to the porn company, "We have to shoot everything tomorrow, then I'm leaving." They were pissed off with me, but they actually made a whole big thing about me being in Game of Thrones when they released the scenes, so it benefitted them.

The Game of Thrones set was just insane. It makes me have a stupid grin when I think about it. In that scene, there were 50 girls as extras and between every take, they had people go around and make sure every single hair was in place even if they were out of focus in the background. And a closed set was 100 people. I remember getting to set and seeing my name on a trailer and being like, Whoa. I have a trailer.

When I'd been on set, I'd asked them if there was any chance of me returning and they said, "You had quite a lot of face time. We can't really bring you back unless we go back to the same bathhouse [where the scene was shot]." Then I got an email last summer and it said, "Samantha, we'd really like to have you for season five," and I just burst into tears. I was sitting there sobbing over my breakfast. I was living in Budapest at the time and they said, "We have to fly you into Ireland to do a fitting of your costume." I remember they picked me up from the airport and took me to the Game of Thrones offices and gave me some lunch and took me to the costume designer. She showed me the [assless dress] drawings, and I was like, "Is that me?" The scene actually turned out to be really iconic in the series. Everyone's been like, "Oh my god, that was you? You're Daenerys with her ass out?"

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I was really excited to shoot a scene with Tyrion. Shooting it was kind of nerve-racking because there were so many people in that scene. Obviously I've done porn, but on porn sets everyone's naked. On the Game of Thrones set, I'm walking around with my ass out and everyone's eyes are on me. The pressure! But this season I did feel like a little part of it because I'd been there before and people knew me from last season.

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Caps from tonight's episode of Game Of Thrones! Thank you @kogafoto pic.twitter.com/LLd9J69bKb — Samantha Bentley (@TheBadBentley) April 27, 2015

Last summer, I started thinking that I didn't really want to do boy-girl [porn] anymore just because it is quite relentless. Shooting every day is hard on your body and on your mind as well. But I wasn't really in any sort of position to stop because I was so in demand. Then I met someone who I started seeing. He said he'd always support whatever I wanted to do. And I started putting feelers out to do other things, and it just so happened that it all sort of came around the time Game of Thrones was coming out. It was a perfect opportunity for me to stretch out and start doing other things. So I started deejaying at some clubs and I wanted to start writing about porn, and giving sex advice, because I do get asked a lot about sex.

Eventually I want to [transition out of shooting porn.] And I want to do it before I'm 30. So I'm making the movements at the moment. I still shoot a lot, but not a lot of boy-girl. I'm shooting more girl-girl and solo. I'm doing quite a lot of magazine work as well and I'm about to start directing. I just bought a house. I'm probably the happiest I've ever been. I've worked ridiculously hard and I feel like everything I've worked for has sort of been worth it. I don't really have any regrets at all. I think I've done it right.

"Sex Work" is a weekly series that profiles women who have careers in sex-related industries — from porn stars to sex researchers and everyone in between. Check back every Tuesday for the latest interview.

Cheryl Wischhover writes about beauty, health, fitness and fashion. Follow her onTwitter.

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