Yolanda Ross

Ginger. Adult Film Actress.

Yolonda Ross made her feature film debut as the female lead in the critically acclaimed HBO feature "Stranger Inside," directed by Cheryl Dunye. The film premiered at the 2001 Sundance Film Festival and won the Audience Award at LA Outfest, the San Francisco Film Festival and the Philadelphia Film Festival. In the film, Ross portrays a young inmate who is searching for the convict mother she never knew. Her powerful performance earned her the 2001 IFP Gotham Award for Breakthrough Actor, a 2002 Spirit Award Nomination in the same category, and an Outfest Screenidol Award Nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Lead Role. She has also had memorable roles in Denzel Washington's directorial debut "The Antwone Fisher Story" (Fox Searchlight) and the critically acclaimed Fox drama "24."

Ross's most recent feature, Eric Shaeffers' "Mind the Gap" will be in New York theaters on September 24th and LA theaters November 5th. She currently has three shorts doing the festival circuit that have all won a number of awards, "Dense", 'Allergic To Nuts", and 'Thanksgiving."

Born in Omaha, Nebraska, Ross moved to New York in the early 1990's to attend college, where she graduated with a degree in fashion merchandising. While working as a buyer for several trendy boutiques in Soho, her musician friends persuaded her to appear in their music videos. After working in a succession of videos including the Beastie Boys, and A Tribe Called Quest, acting piqued her interest and she began taking classes. Shortly after, her roommate heard her singing around the house and encouraged her to form a band. She started performing in small restaurants in Greenwich Village and Brooklyn.

Music helped her tap into emotions she hadn't been able to access before and once she made the discovery, everything began to click with her acting. She started getting small recurring roles on "Saturday Night Live" and appeared in several daytime shows before booking her first guest lead in the series "New York Undercover." Her next job was a small role in Woody Allen's "Celebrity," followed with a guest lead on "Third Watch." It wasn't until her big break in "Stranger Inside" that Ross was finally able to leave her "day job" as a buyer and pursue acting and writing full time. Ross currently resides in New York. In her spare time she sings, gardens, and loves to cook.