from www.nbcmiami.com – Adult film star-turned-mainstream starlet Sasha Grey told Niteside that a spread in Playboy this month helped validate her acting career.

“Not many adult film starts have been on the cover of Playboy, so in an odd way to me it shows validation that I really needed,” the smoldering brunette told Niteside.

“It feels like everybody that’s been on the cover of Playboy has been on there when they really began to get recognized for their talents.”

Grey said her forays into mainstream acting has opened up her fan base. She’s been more widely recognized since joining the boys of “Entourage” and taking the role in feature film “The Girlfriend Experience.”

“The more non-adult work I do, people feel more comfortable admitting that they’re a fan of my work,” Grey said. “Lately, it has been pretty cool to because I have always had a really unique female fan base, and I really enjoy that. And now it feels like more and more women are comfortable with verbalizing that.”

Grey won over the heart of Adrian Grenier’s character Vincent Chase on the hit HBO series “Entourage” in which she plays herself. She said she hopes to return to the set next season.

“Hopefully I will be back,” she said. “It was a lot of fun, like a big family.”

And don’t expect her adult film career to influence her relationship with her real-life boyfriend, as it did with Vinny Chase on the HBO series.

“I’ve been in the same relationship for about four years,” she said. “We started dating a couple months after I got into the adult industry and we were friends before that. .. I think that played a huge part to where are relationship is today.”

She added, “I also don’t think it is unique to just the adult industry, it is more if one partner is in the public eye and the other is not – it can mess with people’s egos.”