August Ames

August Ames (born Mercedes Grabowski; 23 August 1994 – 5 December 2017) was a Canadian pornographic actress and model. She appeared in almost 290 movies, including a non-pornographic film in 2016, and was nominated for several AVN Awards. In 2017, at the age of 23, Ames committed suicide after a particular event of social media backlash following a Twitter post that she had made.August Ames was born Mercedes Grabowski in Antigonish, Nova Scotia. She grew up in Petawawa, Ontario, and later lived in Colorado Springs, Colorado. She graduated from Oromocto High School. She was of Polish ancestry and was also one-quarter African-American. Both her parents were in the army and she spent her early years as a military kid, including a number of years living beside Canadian Forces Base Petawawa.Ames’s mother suffered from bipolar disorder. Ames alleged that she was routinely sexually molested by her paternal grandfather as a child, but her father refused to believe her and at 12 years old she was sent to live in a group home. In her early years, she worked as a nanny, animal-assisted aide, and horseback trainer.Ames was married to Kevin Moore, a pornography producer and director for Evil Angel. Weeks prior to her death, Ames had confirmed that she had a history of bipolar depressive disorder and dissociative identity disorder (multiple personality) due to a traumatic childhood, stating: “Some days I’ll be fine and if I’m not doing anything I’ll get these awful flashbacks of my childhood and I get very depressed and I can’t get out of bed and cancel my scenes for like a week or two.”Ames’s career as a pornographic actress began at the age of 19, in November 2013. She performed in over 270 films, including productions by companies such as Brazzers, Elegant Angel, Evil Angel, Girlfriends Films, Jules Jordan Video, New Sensations and Sweetheart Video. She was nominated for four AVN Awards in her lifetime, including three nominations for Female Performer of the Year.In 2016, she appeared in the non-pornographic film “Model for Murder: The Centerfold Killer”.