Joanna Angel

Joanna Mostov (born 1980), known professionally as Joanna Angel, is an American pornographic film actress, director, and writer of adult films. She founded the website BurningAngel.com in April 2002 with her roommate Mitch Fontaine, and has been credited with helping the growth of the alt porn genre. Launched as a response to websites such as SuicideGirls, the website featured alternative performers acting in exclusively hardcore scenes with a stronger focus on a punk aesthetic. Early life Angel was born in Brooklyn, New York, to an Israeli mother and an American father. She was raised in River Edge in Bergen County, New Jersey, where she attended Cherry Hill Elementary School and graduated from River Dell Regional High School in 1998. After graduating, she enrolled in Rutgers University, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English literature with a minor in Film Studies. According to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Angel is believed to be the first person in the pornography industry to have been raised in Orthodox Judaism. She worked in a kosher fast food restaurant in Teaneck during high school, then at an Applebee's and another restaurant called Happy's Health Grille during college. She eventually relocated to the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, New York, and with Mitch Fontaine created the website BurningAngel.com. Pornography career