Clifton Todd Britt born November 28 1969 is an American pornographic actor director producer and former stockbroker who owns the adult production companies Mercenary Motion Pictures and Black Viking Pictures Inc Steele became the first actor to win the AVN Award for Male Performer of the Year three times in 2003 and he has been inducted into the AVN and XRCO Halls of Fame Steele has also appeared in a number of mainstream films and television shows including Crank High Voltage 2009 and episodes of Weeds and Nip Tuck - Infancy Steele grew up in Morristown New Jersey and after graduating from Morristown High School he attended Morehouse College in Atlanta Georgia for two years before transferring to Syracuse University in New York where he earned Bachelor of Arts degrees in History and African American studies in 1993 - Professional Development Steele began his career in finance as a trainee stockbroker at a brokerage firm. He moved on to Oppenheimer Financial at the World Trade Center after earning his Series 7 trading license. Steele believes that if he had continued to work as a stockbroker he would have been a victim of the September 11 attacks. Once I was licensed it opened the door to a whole new recreational side of the industry Steele said in a 2015 interview with AVN magazine about his transition into the adult industry. The trainer invited me to a party in a hotel suite which turned out to be a sex party a la the film Wolf of Wall Street. It wasn't long before a bigger director from Los Angeles offered me a job and suggested I attend the annual porn industry convention in Las Vegas When asked about his decision to switch careers and industries Steele stated I tell them it's not like I was already a master of the universe. Six days a week I worked 12 to 14 hours. I made six figures but my quality of life did not reflect it. Steele has stated that his stage name originated when he was working as a stockbroker and took the subway to visit a client at the time he had already decided to move into the adult film industry and use the last name Steele who was located in Midtown Manhattan and according to Steele I got off the subway at Madison Avenue and. at the intersection of Madison and Lexington Avenues sic where the sound of Lexington as a first name struck him. He began acting in adult films in New York City in April 2001. Steele relocated to Los Angeles in August 2001 and began working in the industry full-time initially for companies such as West Coast Productions and director Spunky before appearing on videotapes produced by Anabolic and Diabolic. He briefly worked for Red Light District Video at the beginning of 2008. During his pornographic career he appeared in about 1 300 videos. He is well-known on set for his extremely productive ejaculation abilities. - Making movies Steele directs and performs exclusively for his own production company Mercenary Motion Pictures Headquarters in Encino California which he founded in 2008 and has served as chairman and CEO since 2009 with the company reporting annual net profits of 2 6 million in 2011 - Public appearances in the media Steele has also worked as a model and appeared in minor TV roles including two episodes of Showtime's Weeds in 2007 3x07 He taught me how to drive by and 3x08 The two Mrs Scottsons in which he played himself at a movie shoot filming a scene with Jessica Jaymes and Kirsten Dunst He also appeared in the 2009 feature film Crank High Voltage and an episode of FX's Nip Tuck 5x05 C - Private affairs Steele dated Vanessa Blue an adult film actress and director for several years and was even engaged to her at one point. They appeared in several movies and on Playboy TV together. On June 20 2006 Blue announced her departure from Steele's production company Mercenary Pictures. Steele and Blue sued each other in federal court in 2008 over ownership of numerous videos released under the Mercenary label. After meeting with an alternative dispute resolution jurist the suit was eventually settled in March 2009. Steele and French Canadian actress Savana Styles co-founded Mercenary Enterprises in October 2016 a division of Mercenary Pictures dedicated to fetish-themed productions. Steele revealed that he had been married to Styles for a year in a 2017 interview with AVN. Steele had hip replacement surgery in 2019 and was very happy with the results. During his recovery he encountered complications that necessitated a second surgery. Steele's medical expenses were funded through a crowdfunding campaign on GoFundMe in November 2019.