Andrea Spinks (born January 29, 1979) was from 1998 to 2003 one of the most popular English glamour models and lesbian pornstars. Born in Essex, England, she is half Cape Malay, with a look that was often compared to Victoria Beckham and Bjork. Her personality, for those who met her, combined the kindness of Mary Poppins and the hedonism of Kate Moss. With her short dark hair and petite frame - standing 5 foot 1.5" tall - she bucked the conventions of how glamour models should look, and made the magazines better for it.


Her start came in 1998 when as a Psychology student at Goldsmith's College she replied to an advert placed in The Stage newspaper by photographer Paul Markham. She chose the pseudonym Nadia and has also has been known as Nadia Star, Nadia Nicolas and Pixie. Her real name was first disclosed - against her will - by Fiona Cooper when they released her video as A400 Andrea. Other photographers she worked with early in her career include Terry Munns, Viv Thomas and Marcus Allen, the latter's test shoot being lost to the vice squad.


Before long, Nadia was on the covers of Men Only and Club magazines and was voted the latter's Girl Of The Year for 1999. Many of these early shoots were taken by Bob Twigg, in places like Alicante and Tenerife. Television followed, with Nadia featuring in an episode of Sky One's Weekender, Gary Bushell's Bushell 2000 satellite programme, and The Big Breakfast. But it was Planet Nadia for TVX: The Fantasy Channel that won her the most acclaim. Directed by Anna Span - a member of Feminists Aginst Censorship - the 13 episodes were filmed in houses around London and showed Nadia naturalistically for the first time, talking and being herself with another girl before the action started. Unlike many pornstars, her performances were for real.


Nadia crossed over into the world of music, interviewing Mani from Primal Scream for Club and being a dancer on the videos for Rui da Silva's Touch Me and Victoria Beckham's Not Such An Innocent Girl. Add N To (X) used her and another British star, Layla Jade, in the video to their single Plug Me In. This received broadsheet newspaper attention, and Nadia seemed set to become a fringe style icon.


Nadia's interview in The Face revealed her to be intelligent and articulate. She discovered the Yahoo groups fansite HyperCuteNadia in 2001 and became an enthusiastic poster, displaying a willingness to engage with her fans as an equal and without attitude which separated her from her peers. In her posts she talked about Eastern philosophy, protest/alternative culture, piercing, and making her own clothes.


Nadia was photographed in Jamaica and New York by Rudeboy, and in 2001 made her first trip to Los Angeles. At this time Nadia's hair was shoulder length. The nearest she ever came to boy/girl videos comes from this period, in the form of online videos with Mark Davis and Eric Everhard for Suze Randall's website, and foot fetish videos for Hustler and Ed Powers. Part of her appeal to English fans was that she never did boy girl. Her fans were divided between those who were glad she hadn't done it, and those who wished she would. She had actually already done several boy girl photo shoots, but they just weren't available or known about here yet. In LA she also worked with Scott St James, Clive McLean, Matt's Model and the models Justine, Terri Summers, and Belladonna amongst others.


Nadia returned home from LA disillusioned with the industry and vowing to launch her own website which would give a more positive portrayal of sex. After a trip to Paris in August 2001 - at which point she had a punky look, with mullet haircut and chin stud, and made two of her best but least seen videos - Nadia decided to leave the industry altogether for a time.


It was to the delight of her fans that Pixie - as she now was - returned in late 2002, and started posting on the AkaNadia message board. The next year, up until Autumn 2003, was to be perhaps her busiest period, and certainly the most productive. She made another series of Planet Nadia, this time directed by Andy Ide, and an episode of Alias Kelle Marie. He also filmed her own film, Pixie-Led, which has yet to be released. Pixie was one of the faces of TVX: The Fantasy Channel, appearing in adverts on the station and in The Daily Star and Sunday Sport. She was on the cover of Sonic Mook Experiment vol.3 album. She was interviewed in Sleazenation and Arena, which included her in their six hottest and most influential pornstars.


Some of Pixie's best photoshoots of this period were the five she did for SimonScans. She worked with Ben Westwood, son of fashion designer Vivienne Westwood. She did a series of photoshoots and videos for John Mason and One Eyed Jack. She starred in Nadia's Sweet Revenge directed by Big Jim. She was photographed by Adrian Smale for a number of sets with Tamara Noon which appeared in Club and Men Only. She went to Ibiza for another photoset with Terri Summers. She went to Portugal and made Pussy in Paradise, a Viv Thomas lesbian movie where her co-stars were all Hungarian. "Thank goodness actions speak louder than words" she said.


In the summer of 2003 with her hair now cut in a short bob, Pixie spent two months back in LA. She worked again with Suze Randall, Clive McLean and Ed Powers, and with Kristine Paris, Marco Palotti, Scott Del Amo and Jay Allan amongst others. She also worked with fetish photographers such as Ed Fox, Ashley Fontenot and Christine Kessler, and female models including Kelle Marie, Sunny Leone, Monique Alexander, Jewel de Nyle and Betty Sue. She appeared on K-Sex Radio and was interviewed for AVN Fresh Off The Bus: http://www.avninsider.com/stories/pixie081403.shtml


Pixie did so much during this period that a year later much of it is still to appear. She also caught the attention of the UK lesbian scene, being interviewed by The Rainbow Network and appearing twice on the cover of G3 magazine.


Some time later, Pixie announced her retirement:


"i have officially quit.there is no scandal,i always anticipated quiting when i got to a certain age-now i have. other things look more appealing, and i am really missing studying.i am going back to uni in 2006 and need to have got some relevant experience under my belt.i have also realised that i can't put 100% into everything, so i've had to make a decision as to what's most important to me . the video will still come out,though i have been too busy-with my 2 new jobs!-to get around to sorting it all out.

thank you all for everything!

take care

much love

pixie
xxx"


However there is still a lively fan site: http://forum.onecenter.com/akanadia

And a constantly evolving index of her works: http://royalfreehost.com/amateur/akanadia/