Jay Grdina

He was born John George Grdina on October 11, 1967, in Ohio, US. He hailed from an affluent cattle ranching family who had immigrated to the US from Karlovac, Croatia. He attended part of his high school years in the Naples-based Naples Christian Academy (NCH) and completed his high school education from Gilmour Academy, Cleveland, Ohio. Thereafter, he studied at the University of San Diego majoring in psychology and business.

After Grdina completing his college education, he tried out different career options and business ventures before foraying into the adult film industry, in 1992, investing in Michael Ninn’s films. After a few years, starting from 1995 till 1999, Grdina contributed in several adult films as a writer and director, inspired by the style of Ninn. Grdina did many of these films under the stage names, ‘Justin Sterling,’ ‘Justin Fine,’ and ‘Michael Santangelo.’

In 1998, he was introduced to famous adult film star, star Jenna Jameson. Thereafter, Grdina featured as her only male partner in all her movies. He acted under the name of ‘Justin Sterling’ in those films. In 2000, Grdina and Jameson launched ClubJenna.com. ClubJenna.com is among the first adult sites that also provided its paid members explicit diaries, advice on relationships and stock tips, apart from pictures and videos. The company later diversified into a multimedia adult entertainment business. It first administered websites of other adult film stars and then started producing adult content from 2001.

The first ClubJenna film, which also marked the first film of Jameson post her marriage with Grdina, was titled ‘Briana Loves Jenna.’ Written and directed by Grdina, the film released on November 27, 2001, in the US and grossed more than $1 million in its first year compared to a cost of US$280,000. It won ‘Top Renting Tape of 2002’ and ‘Top Selling Tape of 2002’ at the 2003 AVN Award event. Grdina went on to write, direct and produce several other ClubJenna films like ‘I Dream of Jenna’ (2002), ‘Krystal Method’ (2004) and ‘The Masseuse’ (2004); he appeared in many of these films. He won the ‘Best Actor’ award at the 2005 ‘AFW Award’ and the ‘Best Actor (Film)’ award at the 2005 ‘AVN Award’ for his performance in ‘The Masseuse’.

Grdina's sister, Kris, served as the Vice President of ClubJenna in charge of merchandising. From mid-2004, Grdina and Jameson, by then a couple, attempted to have children and the latter resolved to take retirement from adult entertainment once she becomes a mother. Jameson stepped back from featuring in starring roles, ClubJenna films’ started featuring other actresses like McKenzie Lee, Krystal Steal and Ashton Moore. ClubJenna launched an interactive website called ‘Club Thrust’ in August 2005. Grdina appeared as a judge in an adult pay-per-view reality television series. Its winners were awarded an exclusive contract with ClubJenna. The series was hosted by Jameson from November 4, 2005, to July 28, 2006. The Playboy Enterprises in June 2006 acquired ClubJenna Inc., along with associated companies.