Aiden Shaw

Aiden Shaw

Aiden Shaw (Life Ball 2013)
Born Aiden Finbar Brady
22 February 1966
Harrow, London, England
Occupation Author, model, actor, singer, poet, & musician/song-writer/producer, music video director, artist
Years active 1990–present

Aiden Shaw (born Aiden Finbar Brady,[1] 22 February 1966, Harrow, Middlesex, United Kingdom) is a British author, musician, model and former gay pornographic film actor.[2]

Early life

Shaw was born in Harrow, London, on 22 February 1966, the sixth of seven children in an Irish Catholic family. At 14, he began dressing in an "alternative" way, taking an interest in the New romantic, Punk, & Goth fashion/youth culture scenes that were prominent at that time. At 16 he enrolled on a two-year Creative Arts foundation course at Nelson and Colne College. Then he spent two years at Manchester Youth Theatre. Afterwards he embarked on an Expressive Arts degree at the then Brighton Polytechnic (now University of Brighton), but after only a year he transferred to Harrow College of Higher Education to study Film, television, Photography & Video. After leaving college he worked for a time directing and art-directing music videos for bands such as Peter Hook's (bass player of New Order) off-shoot project Dead Beat.

Porn career

Changing his last name, Shaw began working in gay porn in the early 1990s. Since then he has appeared in over 50 films, often working with director Chi-Chi LaRue. In 1991, he won the award for Best Newcomer at the Adult Erotic Gay Video Awards. He retired from the porn industry in 1999 though made a brief reappearance in 2003–04.

Literary work

In 1991, Shaw collaborated with the New York artist Mark Beard to produce a limited edition publication named Aiden. Beard had been sharing a London flat with Shaw at the time. The book included several portraits of Shaw, with text written by both Beard and Shaw as a form of dialogue.[1]

However, it was not until 1996 that Shaw wrote his first novel, Brutal. Also in 1996, The Bad Press published a collection of his poems, If Language at the Same Time Shapes and Distorts our Ideas and Emotions, How do we Communicate Love?[3] He wrote two more novels; Boundaries (1997) and Wasted (2001), and an autobiography, My Undoing (2006) in which he openly discusses his life in the sex industry as a porn star and sex worker, his drug use, and his HIV status (Shaw was diagnosed HIV positive in 1997).[4][5] In 2007, Shaw completed an MA in Creative Writing at Goldsmiths University of London, following which he completed a second autobiography, Sordid Truths (2009).

Music

Shaw has two albums of music to his credit, performing lead vocals on Whatever, created by working with his band of the same name. He also wrote and produced performance artist Nina Silvert on Nina Silvert does Aiden Shaw.

Modelling Career

In 2011, while working as an English teacher in Barcelona, Shaw received a request from GQ magazine to model for them in Berlin. It was in the subsequent publication that he was spotted by and signed to Success Models in Paris. Shaw was shot by Giampaolo Sgura for Hercules International magazine.[6] In 2012 Shaw also signed to Sight Management in Barcelona, and since early 2014 Shaw is also represented in the US by NY based IMG Models. Shaw has modelled for publications including GQ Style, Esquire, Another Magazine, Interview Magazine, & in both Elle China & The Rake magazine. In 2013 he was the face of the Polish fashion company Bytom[7] and the Buenos Aires fashion brand El Burgues S/S & A/W 2013, 2014 and S/S 2015, Beijing-based Gorina and Sweden's Oscar-Jacobson. Shaw did print and film work for Kalle Gustafsso for the Swedish brand 'Uniforms for the Dedicated' and walked for Jean Paul Gaultier S/S 2014 and Berluti.[8] He appeared in the first edition of Carine Roitfeld's CR Fashion Book, and the subsequent documentary Mademoiselle C that showed 'the making of' this first issue.. Shaw was featured by New Zealand menswear brand, Working Style for their Autumn Winter 2014 campaign.[9]

Published works

Selected filmography

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Beard, Mark; Brady, Aiden (1992). Aiden. London, England: Feard Press. ASIN B0006P9EYM.
  2. ↑ "Aiden Shaw article". Gay.net. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
  3. ↑ Shaw, Aiden (1996), If language at the same time shapes and distorts our ideas and emotions, how do we communicate love?, Bemis/Flaherty Collection of Gay Poetry, The Bad Press, OCLC 298124621
  4. ↑ Josh Sparber (September 2006). "The Porn Identity (interview with Aiden Shaw)". Poz.com. Retrieved 12 July 2012.
  5. ↑ Sam Page (January 2010). "Coming To Terms (interview with Aiden Shaw)". HIVPLUSMAG.com. Retrieved 12 July 2012.
  6. ↑ "Aiden Shaw by Giampaolo Sgura For Herculese Universal Magazine". AccidentalBear.com. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
  7. ↑ "Aiden Shaw & Anatol Modzelewski for Bytom". The Fashionisto. Retrieved 7 December 2014.
  8. ↑ "Berluti Show SS14 - List of Models". Models.com. Retrieved 7 December 2014.
  9. ↑ "Aiden Shaw and our AW14 Campaign". Working Style. Retrieved 27 March 2015.

External links