Former adult film star Asia Carrera has passed the Texas bar exam, marking a significant step toward becoming a licensed lawyer.
The 52-year-old, born Jessica Steinhauser in New York City to a German mother and Japanese father, shared the news this week on Facebook after sitting the February exam in Waco.
“I passed the bar exam!!!! Asia Esquire, y’all!!!!!” she wrote on her Asia Carrera Esquire page.
Describing the exam setting, she noted the pressure of being in a large hall with nearly 1,000 candidates working on laptops. “These are the people I’ve got to beat,” she said.
This was her second attempt. She previously fell short by two points, scoring 268 against the 270 pass mark.
On this attempt, she said she performed strongly, placing in the top percentile of candidates.
According to TMZ, State Bar of Texas records list her admission under her birth name, a required step before practising law. Carrera has said becoming a lawyer was not initially her goal, noting she wanted to prove she could pass the exam.
She has a reported IQ of 156, is a member of Mensa, and holds a master’s degree in education.
Carrera, who grew up in Little Silver, New Jersey, has said she taught college-level English in Japan at 16 and briefly attended Rutgers University before leaving to pursue dance and modelling, which later led to her career in adult film.
She later earned a Juris Doctor from St. Mary’s University School of Law.
Her career shift has drawn attention online, with some commentators citing it as an example of an unconventional professional transition.