To the Max

From her days as an inked-up alien to the proud bearer of beautiful dragons tatts, fire-breathing, fetish model Masuimi Max bears all for Master Stroke

How are you?

I’m doing great. I just got home from the gym. I’m really sweaty.

Nice. We hear you’ve been in the movies

Yes! Unlucky Charms was created by Charles Band, who created Puppet Master. The movie is set up like America’s Next Top Model with model competitors staying inside this house. There’s a character that’s kind of like Tyra Banks. She’s in charge of all the girls and wants them to do her new clothing line. She also tries to suck out the souls out of all the young models and also conjures up these magical leprechauns to kill the models one by one. I play a fiery Asian model. It wasn’t really a stretch for me. I’m totally type cast [giggles].

What was your fave part of working on the film?

When we showed up and it looked like we were filming a real castle with a moat – I’ve always wanted a moat. I wanted to live there. I would role play every day, I swear to God I would. I would have sword fighting, naked girls...

Are you into role play in the bedroom?

Oh yes of course I am, but not really in the bedroom. My husband Morat and I sometimes go to this swingers’ club. But we don’t swing with anybody, we just go there so we can do our own thing. And we love to dress up. Tomorrow we’re doing a photo shoot where he dresses up as a joker and I’m going to be a harlequin. He’s going to use a timer so he can still use the camera.

How did you meet your husband?

In a Hollywood bar called Burgundy Room. Morat would never talk to me. One day I got tired of him ignoring me so I grabbed his balls then ran off. My friend found out that he thought I had a boyfriend. She told him I was single so he came over that night and he basically proposed to me. We got married as fast as we could get the papers done. That was seven years ago.

What got you into showbiz?

When I was five years old I wanted to be a model. And not because of fame or money or anything, it’s because I liked to dress up. I liked all the big fancy gowns and crazy costumes and imagery I would see in magazines. In church I had to walk to the front of everyone, I would pretend I was on a catwalk.

I didn’t just want to be a model though. When I was a little bit older, I saw the movie Hackers with Angelina Jolie and I thought, one day I want to be that smart. I want to know how to do all that fancy computer stuff.

Have you ever hacked anything?

Yes! When we were on honeymoon in England I hacked into our neighbours’ computer and made their printer print, “I can see you.” And then this one time, we used to live with roommates who would blast music all the time. So I hacked into their computer from my laptop in my room and turned down their music.

Haha. So back to your story… it’s hard to imagine a mini Masuimi in church!

As a kid I wasn’t that weird, all I wanted was just to dress like the other kids and be normal. My mum died when I was six so I had stepmothers all the time. My father was military and Christian so very strict. He made me wear dresses and high heels all the time. I would change into jeans and T-shirts so I wouldn’t be the weird kid at school. My dad caught me and would be beat me up over stupid stuff like that. There’s other kids off getting pregnant and doing drugs and here’s me just putting jeans and a t-shirt on. He threw me out when I was 16, which was fine because I wanted my own rules. I went to live in Las Vegas and worked at both a pizza place and a 99 cent store. There’s a lot of cheap places to live in Vegas so I had my own little flat. I refused to go back or ask for help – I would rather live in a dumpster than ask for help.

On my 18th birthday I started working at a strip club because I knew I could make more money that way. In the first week, I became a featured performer. They had a magician there who showed me how to eat fire. The minute I started doing shows I went everywhere – Florida for Fetish Factory, Torture Garden in England, lots of places in Japan... it hasn’t slowed down 16 years later.

My favourite trick, which I actually want to do for the Guinness World Records, is holding a lit torch in my teeth – I can hold it longer than anyone I know. I will literally leave it in my teeth and carry on the rest of the show. It burns up the lighter fluid so I do get burned. You can’t breath while you hold it or else you’ll breath in the fire.

Sounds hot! What was your first tattoo?

I got my first tattoo when I was 18. I saw the Olivia De Beradinis Art book with Julie Strain on the cover. She has dragon bones tattooed all the way around her body. But it’s just a painting. I went to every tattoo shop in Vegas asking, “Can you tattoo this on me?” They thought I meant the artwork, and I’m like, no I want the dragon bones all the way around my body from my hair to my feet. They said, “You’re too young you have no tattoos”. So I gave up on that idea.

Then I decided that I wanted to look like an alien – I was a bit mental. So I shaved my head and I went to a tattoo shop. I had them tattoo a biomechanical widow’s peak on my forehead. And they did my eyebrows. I used to wear white contacts all the time. I also had a demon on my belly and Satan holding Jesus like a slingshot on my back.

Six months later I realised that I was only doing it because I hated my dad’s religion and the way he brought me up. It wasn’t a true reflection of my inner self. I had everything lasered off. My doctor’s name was Sunshine – that was her real name! She glowed and smiled like her name. When I came in she was like, “oh my God!” I told her my story and she’s like, “I’ll just say you were in a gang and we’ll do you really cheap.”

Tell me about your amazing dragons

Once lasered, I selected art that I really loved. As a kid I came home from elementary school one day and I saw a Chinese menu pushed through our front door. I had never seen a dragon before and I picked it up and I was like, “What is this beast? This is so cool!” So I was obsessed with dragons. Now I have three dragons on my back, two on my arms and on my side. I also have a tiger coming out of the water and I’m getting a coy that turns into a dragon – that’s based on the Japanese legend that if a coy can jump high enough out of the water, it turns into a dragon. It symbolises overcoming adversity, obstacles, basically all the shit that’s dumped on you in life. You just have to be strong and you’ll turn into a fancy, fantastic thing later.

Masuimi Max’s saucy website is Iamtrouble.com. She has also launched a make up line called Iamsin.com. The site features different models from around the world in videos and photos.