The Flashback Interview: Sheila Marie
I admittedly first came to know of my next interview subject, Sheila Marie, via her work in adult film. There’s so much more to her than that, though, and I discovered the scope of her work by visiting her IMDB page. Sheila Marie is an actress, a dancer, a bodybuilder and an author, among other things. Spanning multiple worlds, she’s created an interesting career for herself, and as you’ll tell from our conversation on February 13th, there’s a lot of ground to cover. I hope you all enjoy getting to know her.
NSFW warning: Due to some discussion of sexual topics, I recommend this article be read by readers 18 and over only.
Say hello to Sheila Marie!
Johnny: Hello, Sheila.
Sheila: How are you, Johnny?
Johnny: I’m doing good. Thank you for taking the time to do this, and thank you for reaching out.
Sheila: Thanks for the interview, Johnny. I’ll be glad to answer any questions you have in a fun and sincere session.
Johnny: Alright. I’ll start out with this question: What were your pop-cultural likes growing up, like favorite movies and music?
Sheila: My first and most memorable experiences began around age 14 with bands like Deep Purple, Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin. ‘Perfect Strangers’ of Deep Purple was playing at least a few times every day in KLOS, and this became one of the first hard rock LPs that I purchased as an early teen from my chores savings. The following year, I began searching for old Heavy Metal at the local record stores, and purchased the ‘Black Sabbath’ record by early Black Sabbath, also with my weekly house chores savings. I spent hours alone in the living room with an old record player listening to every song. I developed some of my first notions of English Witchcraft and Wizardry from this very album. Much later in my life, beginning in my mid-thirties, I partnered with prominent magicians in Gardnerian Witchcraft in academic research. As far as Led Zeppelin is concerned, I purchased their every LP by age 17, some by special order. This was the one and only instance in which I owned every record of any one band. I especially loved the ‘Physical Grafitti’ and the ‘Led Zeppelin II’ LPs. The influence of Led Zeppelin, particularly, Jimmy Page, was in like manner—grandiose, over the period of many, many years. I own a small book collection of Weiser Publications, which includes Frances I. Regurdy, Aleister Crowley, S.L. MacGregor Mathers, along other authors of the original ‘Golden Dawn’. As far as women influences, of how to exert my youth, beauty and feminine power to affect unforgettably such grandiose gentlemen of literature and music, it was the physical beauty and style of Stevie Nicks, Lita Ford, Ann Wilson and Nancy Wilson that made a difference in rock. In occult literature, it was the beautiful blonde elegance of the thin Tabitha Cicero. Tawny Kitaen exuded incredible power and presence as a music video actress and dancer.
Johnny: Before you began your career as an entertainer in both adult and mainstream film, you were a model in various fields including glamour, figure and fitness. What’s your favorite memory of your modeling days?
Sheila: This would clearly be when I traveled with Tease’Um to Hedonism II in Jamaica. This was my first time in an all-inclusive resort. I absolutely loved the unlimited drinks and unlimited food in the buffet. It was a real relaxed environment in which to film content for swimwear catalogs. Every one was beautiful and hot. It was an unforgettable experience.
Johnny: Alright. To my next question: You’re well-known for your adult film work. What led you to a career in that industry?
Sheila: I was with an ex-boyfriend that was very possessive in the adult industry and I wanted to teach him a lesson. The lesson was “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun”. I applied for adult talent at LA Direct Models, with office in Studio City at the time. I was hired that same day and remained with them for 5 years, from 2007 to 2012. I was in many great films because of their representation, such as Vivid, Playboy, Hustler, Elegant Angel, Evil Angel, Wicked, Brazzers and Bang Bros.
Johnny: I’d like to ask you about some of your former adult co-stars, if that’s alright.
Sheila: I’m all for it.
Johnny: Alright. When it comes to names you’ve worked with, I’ll start with Brian Surewood. What was it like working with him?
Sheila: Brian Surewood was a ‘very cool’ top-male talent at that time. He was acquainted with a lot of prominent producers, directors and talent in the industry. I worked with many great directors thanks to him, such as Thomas Zupko and David Aaron Clark (RIP). Brian produced this beautiful adult scene one day in the Mojave desert (if I believe correctly). It was directed by David Aaron Clark and with John Nystrom as still photographer. All of us woke-up real early one summer day ( Summer 2002 – I believe) and arrived by 4 am on location. You might want to ask him if he still has the scene. It was shot when I was at my top physique during my early thirties, with stage name ‘Rossana de la Vega’. The scene includes a breathtaking iridescent dawn. During the course of the sun’s path, a fairie (me) encounters a faun (Brian) and the naughty courtship begins!
Johnny: Alright. To the next name: What did you like about working with Kelly Madison?
Sheila: Kelly Madison is a tall, elegant and beautiful gal. We shot a couple of scenes that were really fun and easy-going. The most difficult part of the job was driving to the film location. I remember that it was very, very far at the time. They might have relocated since.
Johnny: One more name before we jump back into your mainstream work: What did you think about working with Sean Michaels?
Sheila: Sean Michaels is one of the classiest actors in the adult film industry. He is very careful with his personal appearance…He eats very healthy…He doesn’t use bad language…He is always very professional.
Johnny: Alright. To jump back to the mainstream, one of your earliest mainstream credits was as an actress and, among other things, researcher, post-production assistant and additional editor on a sci-fi allegory called Beyond Lemuria. What drew you to that project, and how did you get involved in the behind-the-scenes aspects?
Sheila: I was casted as a background actor in the role of a student in an Anthropology class of a fictitious University for ‘Beyond Lemuria’. Carroll Runyon thought my student costume was too severe for my physique and edited the original script to include me as an adapted female character. The adaptation includes me in the dual character of ‘Dero Princess’, an underground cavern ruler, and as ‘The Lemurian Priestess’, a Mt. Shasta beautiful higher-consciousness guide. The role of ‘media developer’, which includes the stations of graphic design, web development, media writer and assistant video editor, were assigned as a matter of urgency. There simply was no other person at the time available for the assignment. I ‘played around’ previously with graphic, video and programming software to design my own company website, and likewise, I could provide the minimum requirements for the film’s post-production editorial. This software included Adobe ‘Illustrator’, ‘Photoshop’, ‘Dreamweaver and ‘Final Cut Pro’.
Sheila: The role of ‘researcher’ manifested as a matter of urgency also. The scientific sources and the sci-fi reading material required to attain a BASIC understanding of the film ‘Beyond Lemuria’ were too difficult, and most recruits dropped out mysteriously without a formal notice. Having a basic Bachelor of Arts in Physics allowed me to quickly fill this researcher position at a short notice when the staff was lacking. In all roles: actor, researcher and media editor, I was credited with my name in the film and received fair payment as well. Not to mention, the incredible life time experience of participating in such a creative project with such a talented production team.
Johnny: Fascinating. I do have two more questions, and the first one is this: Following up on the writing, you’ve translated into English the first 10 chapters of Obras Historicas. What drew you to that project?
Sheila: An elder staff member of the ‘Beyond Lemuria’ film suggested ‘Obras Historicas’ as an investigative History project in which I could participate and contribute to their team. He wished to recruit a translator for the first ten chapters of the two-volume work “Obras Historicas”, which was assembled by Fernando de Alva Ixtlilxochitl in the 17th-century from Mesoamerican ancient historical manuscripts. These first 10 chapters delineate the Chichimeca genealogy of the first kings, rulers and chiefs of the Mesoamerica region. One of the challenges in finding a qualified translator was that the original works were assembled in the grammar and vocabulary of 17th century literal Spanish. Ixtlilxochitl was an elite schooled in reputable Universities in Europe, and such a translation would not be accurate or accessible to just any bilingual person seeking to translate the works. During my early teens in Mexico, I competed academically in the field of “Ortografia”, placing 1st and 2nd place in the state competitions of Guerrero and Michuacan. The Academy’s Spanish teacher, born in Spain, prepared us for the competitions reading 15th, 16th, 17th and 18th century literature works of famous Spanish-Castilian writers. It was this preparation in my early years in Mexico that proved indispensable in providing this translation. The ‘Obras Historicas’ history project includes paperbacks with graphical covers in many shades of Blue, Green and Yellow, which are representative of an Atlantis-Aztec interpretation of the film. These are now available in the Amazon and in Lulu Internet book stores. There is ONE hardcover that will be available soon in color white and without graphics, in dedication to the Chichimecas. The audio book of the ten chapters will be available soon in Amazon, Audible and other audio Internet stores. I am the narrator for the 2 hours comprehending the audio book.
Johnny: Alright. I now come to the final question of this interview, and it’s this: You played Nuit in The Litch, which was directed by our mutual friend, and one of my previous interview subjects, James Balsamo, and also featured work by two of my previous interview subjects, E.G Daily and another one of our mutual Facebook friends, Debra Lamb. How did you land that role and what was your favorite part of playing Nuit?
Sheila: I am a member of the Model Mayhem community with verified credits in acting and modeling. James Balsamo reached out to me one sunny day for talent as a heroine for one of his action-adventures films.I did not respond in time for the heroine role of the action-adventure, but he casted me as ‘Nuit’ for his horror film ‘The Litch’. I speak an Egyptian incantation next to ‘Thoth’ and ‘Nebehet’ in my scene before ‘Set-Apophis’ makes his entrance into the film’s set. My favorite part of participating in ‘The Litch’ was the openness and flexibility of James Balsamo, Dave Stein and Debra Lamb in allowing me to contribute to ‘Nuit’ with my own ideas derived from my own research. These contributions included her costume, jewellery, make-up, body mechanics and the invocation. For this character, I provided a two-piece blue and gold beaded costume from Cairo, Egypt and a collar necklace, which I constructed myself from tiny copper balls and clusters of clear quartz-crystal drawn through a thick thin wire. The Egyptian incantation was ‘The First Hymn to the Sun’ found in Dover Publications, ‘The Papyrus of Ani’, translated and transliterated by E.A. Wallis Budge. I memorized this entire spell in both English and Egyptian so that I wouldn’t make any overt mistakes. The audio of this incantation is another project showed-cased in the same Internet venues as the ‘Obras Historicas’ historical research. Other audio renditions include some Thelemic invocations written by Aleister Crowley. These have already been recorded at “One Music Studios” this past February, and are currently undergoing editing by Joel Valera. Most of the written works are already available in Amazon there is a projected release of the audio research by the summer of 2018. There will be an Indiegogo and YouCare pages in which the public can contribute, as the research is expensive and being privately funded. You can visit my Facebook page ‘Sheila Marie’ (Morgan LeFey) and my Instagram @sheilamarieactress for news pertaining to the projects. You can also write me at ‘artistcontributions@gmail.com’ to donate to the projects and to purchase some of the books independently. Write me at ‘booksheilamarie@gmail.com’ exclusively for the purpose of modeling and acting assignments.
Johnny: That about does it for my questions. I thank you for taking the time to do this.
Sheila: Thank you very much for this interview, which allows me to clarify my role in these films and projects.
Johnny: I hope you have a good afternoon.
Sheila: Thank you, and have a great year!
I would like to thank Sheila Marie for taking the time out of her schedule to speak to me, and I hope you all enjoyed reading this interview. Coming soon to the Flashback Interview is the versatile Pleasant Gehman. Thanks as always for your time, and have a good day.