Veteran porn star Chris Johnson died on September 21, 2021, while BASE jumping off of a cliff in Nevada.
Johnson was a longtime skydiving enthusiast, and BASE (building, antenna, span, earth) jumping is a form of diving that involves wingsuits or parachutes. According to a press statement from the Elko County Sherriff’s Office, Johnson was using both in his jump, which occurred just before noon. The press statement said that Johnson “and other base jumpers were on the east side of the Lamoille Canyon jumping from the elevated cliffs. Several of the base jumpers had conversations the night before and that morning about the elevated dangers of jumping off a certain area due to the fact Lamoille Canyon is known to have dramatically shifting upslope and downslope air currents along with the sheer rock cliffs in the area.”
Johnson took his jump “shortly after another man who had jumped from what was described as a safer area,” the statement indicated, and “was unable [to] outfly the talus and collided with the rocks near the bottom of the cliff.”
The statement went on to note, “This is the second base jumping fatality this year. The first incident happened on June 12, 2021.” According to the Associated Press, that first fatality involved a man who jumped from the same spot.
“Two deaths at the same jump spot in less than four months are two too many,” district forest ranger Josh Nicoles told the AP.
Johnson had a prolific career as a performer, beginning with the late-2007 Fantasy Massage scene “Tristen,” according to the Internet Adult Film Database (IAFD.com). Among his standout roles were as the male lead of Axel Braun’s This Ain’t Avatar XXX 1 & 2 for Hustler Video (2010, 2012) and as Edward opposite Jenna Haze’s Bella in Devil’s Film’s This Isn’t Twilight: The XXX Parody. He also was a staple player in scores of scenes for Naughty America, Brazzers, and Reality Kings, among others, and had dozens more credits for the likes of Wicked Pictures, Penthouse, and Adam & Eve Pictures.
Close friend and fellow performer Danny Mountain, who was Johnson’s roommate from 2009 to 2010, told AVN, “He was a lovely, lovely fellow, a good friend of mine—a very good friend of mine, actually. When I was going through a bunch of shit with my first ex-wife and fighting for custody of my daughter, which I won, he was there for me to offer support. He never questioned me; he always believed me, and he was just a true friend.
“That year, I actually took him—I went back to London to see family and friends—and I took him with me,” Mountain continued, “and he loved it. We had ten days of living it up in London, and he just cherished it; he loved it.”
Mountain recalled that both he and Johnson were among a stellar class of Best Male Newcomer nominees at the 2009 AVN Awards that also included Rocco Reed, Johnny Sins, and Prince Yahshua. “He was a great performer,” he said. “But everyone used to joke he was just a terrible, terrible actor. He was ‘one-tone Chris,’ he couldn’t get out of the one tone. Everyone would laugh about it. I would say to him, ‘Dude, you got to try and change your voice up and down a little,’ and he was like, ‘I don’t know how to do that.’ But whenever you needed a good, hard cock, he was always there. He would laugh about that.”
On Johnson’s passion for thrill-seeking, Mountain remarked, “He eternally lived life on the edge. He must have done easily over 10,000 skydives, and he was always snowboarding. He was always living for the moment.
“He was a good friend of mine… I’m going to miss him dearly, and yeah, we lost another good one.”
Offered director Braun, “Chris was the nicest guy. He starred in many of my movies, most notably This Ain’t Avatar XXX and This Ain’t Beverly Hills 90210 XXX, and he was almost Superman, until Ryan Driller auditioned for the part.
He was always a pleasure to be around—I remember him telling me about a crazy skydiving accident he had where the parachute got tangled up and he basically free-fell to the ground but survived, with plenty of scars to show for it, and yet he was back at it as soon as he got out of the hospital. That was his passion. He was a hardcore adrenaline junkie and a hell of a great guy. His untimely passing is very sad, my heart goes out to his family and friends. He will be missed.”
Chris Johnson was born on January 30, 1983, in California. He started his career in porn in 2007.
