How did this Syrian end up 'doing it' for a living?

“With odds stacked up against me like they were, I think I'm very lucky to have gotten where I have,” says the 20-year-old Berliner who has become one of the most sought after names in the porn industry on both sides of the Atlantic. While it is not uncommon to find actors as young as 19-20 in the Eurpoean porn industry, Antonio Suleiman is special.

This much-in-demand Syrian refugee first brushes off the industry's fascination with him to his different looks. “I'm obviously different looking from other black/white actors in the industry. I'm seen as 'exotic.',” he laughs and asks, “Who am I to complain if it is working for me?” modestly playing down his popularity. His interpreter Francia Georgi who can't stifle her giggling says something in German leading him to blush. “Has he told you of how his equine endowment and stamina have helped him grow?” she asks guffawing while he mock restrains her. “He doesn't need to know all that,” he protests. More than twice his age, Georgi who has also been cameraperson on some of his films, ribs him some more, asking him not to be bashful.

But how did this Syrian end up 'doing it' for a living? “I've always wanted to act ever since a little child,” says this Orthodox Syriac Christian. He was only 15 when the pro-democracy protests erupted in March 2011 in the southern city of Deraa after the arrest and torture of some teenagers who allegedly painted revolutionary slogans on a school wall. “When security forces opened fire on demonstrators, killing several, more took to the streets. Unrest and nationwide protests for President Assad's resignation, increased the crackdown by the government only making protests more widespread over the next four months,” he recalls. “By 2012 the Opposition armed itself leading to a full-scale civil war. Damascus saw sporadic clashes as the rebels used guerrilla tactics for hit-and-run attacks against security forces. After shelling reached our neighbourhood killing neighbours, my family decided to flee in August 2012.”

He still remembers the uncertainty of those times and shudders. “We walked most of our way into Turkey and making it through the Aegean islands by sea to Greece in an inflated dinghy and further making our way by land into Macedonia, Belgrade (Serbia), Budpaest (Hungary) and Vienna (Austria) before being able to make it to Munich (Germany). Those have been the most uncertain 43 days I've ever known.”

His family settled down but the barely 16 Antonio was restless. “I knew no German and there ws no way I'd make it to the world of performing arts in Germany. I wanted to move to the UK and from there to the US. They are famous for their performing arts, and I was convinced that my chances of getting into movies would be much higher in Hollywood than Germany.”

An attempt to illegally fly to the UK toward the end of 2012 saw him detained by customs officials at Stuttgart airport. “Once my fingerprints were taken, I knew they'd track me down wherever I went and resigned to the idea of staying back. I took German lessons and spent a better part of 2013 getting to know the country better.”

Busting the welcome myth

Eventually when the money began running out he began doing rounds of offices of actors, producers, directors, film companies and production houses hoping to find at least a toe-hold. “Irrespective of whether I asked to be taken on as a trainee or actually be employed the answer would almost always be no, the moment they got to know I'm Syrian. It was almost as if my nationality was some sort of communicable disease.” He remembers being gullible about the few places that said, “We'll contact you” and discovering much later that it was another way of saying no.

He pans the racist discrimination in Germany. “Some of my compatriots like to lie about this and live in denial. They simply tell everyone rosy things about being welcome in Germany but nothing can be further from the truth. I'm aware that I have no professional degree or specialisation to show people when I ask for jobs, but people would ask for impossibly high qualifications even when all I sought was a job as a dish washer in restaurants.”

Finding refuge in porn

While struggling he hung out with others in his situation and that's where he met the Bavarian, Heidi Adelshauzen. “We were clear it wasn't serious and not interested in anything more than sex. She was herself doing porn and agreed to introduce me to some people after she'd seen me naked and tried me out several times,” he laughs, his face reddening.

But his Syrian nationality became the obstacle there too. Finally he decided to lie and contacted some UK producers under a false German name. “In Germany there was the risk of me being caught for fake identity and there'd be consequences. But this was the UK, and I naively felt they couldn’t reach me in Germany,” he recounts.

When a British producer bit the bait and asked him for some erotic action pictures, Suleiman simply clicked some with Heidi at home when his folks were out and sent them across. “Three years ago I was called to Amsterdam for casting and sent off to Belgium to shoot two films,” he remembers, “All my prepping for the role and thinking of scripts/lines was useless. They'd simply improvise on the sets, get us drop our clothes and go for it. Some positions they made us have sex were so funny that I'd go hysterical laughing. Imagine being astride a woman with a camera lens and lights at your genitals.”

The 18-year-old found it fun, “no-sweat” and was over the moon for making €500 each for both the films. “They were also impressed that unlike other actors I wasn't asking for medication to keep going. That did wonders for my ego,” he recounts.

Kindling the flame

He tried keeping in touch with the filmmakers and other actors in the hope that he will continue to get more porn films. “But after they met me and let me act in two films, they knew my story and I was back to being a pariah and sidelined,” he remembers still bitter. “One of them who had praised my penis a lot, suggested I get into prostitution for my upkeep.”

That's when he decided to make his own film. “Actually unlike mainstream features, if you think cleverly you can make a good porn film in a small budget,” he says and decided to give the porn industry which had a fantastical stereotype of the Arab man, the real thing. “Most films which spoke of Arabs, actually used black men or worse Caucasians or who were shown as Moroccans. The Arabian peninsula is home to some of the most good looking men and I wanted audiences to get a feel of that.”

That was how The Arabian King, a film Suleiman proudly calls “the first professionally made Arab porn film” was born. “We shot in Barcelona in two days and gave the film, the music and even the sex, a wild feel of the desert.” Since its release, in late 2015, Suleiman hasn't looked back and is now hugely in demand. Even when we are on skype his phones keep going off. “But I prefer working for American producers because they are more open to accepting others into the industry, way more than Europeans in general and Germans in particular. Also ultimately I want to settle and get into the movies there,” he insists.

But isn't there a big blonde road block to his dream sitting in the White House? “I don't think a buffoon like Donald Trump will last into another term. I think Americans are way smarter than that. Until then I'll continue to work for American porn production houses from Europe,” he says playing with the pixie tufts in his hair while underlining his game plan.

The 21-year-old who many insiders have begun to admire for “his innocent twink look,” says he has got used to the idea of sex on the sets with an entire unit watching. “It is harder for the actor than the actress, because you have to be be good to go when the director shouts 'Action!' on the set.”

In fine form

He credits his non-dependence on stimulants to perform, on his diet and fitness regimen. “Irrespective of what I'm doing, I spend two hours in the gym daily making it a one-hour routine twice a week when I go running. I religiously take protein shakes and date smoothies daily even setting alarms to wake up and have them in the night. That is what has kept me in peak form. After all I don't want to be embarrassed by not being able to rise to the occasion in front of so many people, especially the women.”

Antonio Suleiman

If there is anything that he does not like at shoots, it is the stereotypes of the man's look. “I'm quite fair. So copious amounts of bronzer is applied 'everywhere' to give me of a copper coloured sheen,” he says pointing out how it takes a long time to shower it all off.

Though he has been part of orgy scenes, he admits to discomfort around naked men. “Blame that on my upbringing where even a hint of homosexuality is frowned on,” he says and admits to being conflicted about being part of gay porn. “I need the money yes, but I'm unsure how far I'm willing to go out of my comfort zone to be in porn films.”

Its when you bring up his family that we see the first signs of discomfort. “My family found out after The Arabian King was released when a fellow Syrian in the neighbourhood squealed on me. They've been very cross since and think of my work as shameful. I've had to move out to avoid the daily friction and also because of the hours I keep. I visit them regularly but it is hard to say if they'll ever reconcile completely with what I do.”

While he hopes his family will come around, he has little patience for other Syrians who accuse him of selling out on 'Arab pride.' “They troll me on social media and even think that I'm doing this just for publicity. I admit I'm doing this for publicity since it'll get me more work in porn. All those worried about Arab pride should come and feed me and my family and help us maintain our current lifestyles. Otherwise they should stop sermonising.”

He thinks his work is actually helping change perceptions of Syrian refugees. “Instead of terrorism and the idea of rubble strewn Syrians whose bodies on tv are often seen as bloodied injured, dying or dead, I want people to see a Syrian body as a love making machine which has what it takes to make others happy. Till I move to mainstream Hollywood I don't mind going on doing porn.”

When asked if he knows of Bollywood he gets up and does some mean pelvic thrusts to show he does. “I love the songs and dances,” he says and laughs when asked if would want to come to try his luck in Hindi cinema. “If they give a porn star work, why not?”