Tall, leggy and busty blonde bombshell Briana Banks was born as Briana Bany to an American mother and German father on May 21, 1978, in Munich, Germany. Banks modeled as a teenager, appearing on a cover of Teen magazine. She entered the industry under the name "Mirage", but began calling herself "Briana Banks" in 1999. She began performing in explicit hardcore movies at age 21, using the name Mirage in August 1999, and has worked for such major adult-film studios as Wicked, Metro, Elegant Angel and Adam and Eve, and signed an exclusive contract with Vivid Entertainment in April 2001. Her first appearance using the new name was in the film Decadent Whores 9. In June 2001, Banks was Penthouse magazine's Pet of the Month. In 2002 Briana was one of the first porn starlets to have an action figure made in her likeness by the Los Angeles-based company Cyber F/X and Sota Toys. She contributed to the 2004 book "How to Have a XXX Life: The Ultimate Vivid Guide." Starting in 2006, Banks went on hiatus from performing in videos and returned in 2008. That same year she was also nominated for five AVN Awards at the 25th annual Adult Entertainment Expo in Las Vegas. On December 28, 2015 Briana Banks announced that she was making a comeback in 2016 after a 5-year hiatus. The same year she was inducted into the XRCO Hall of Fame.