Doesn't strike me as highly intelligent
I watch Entourage, and had not heard of Sasha Grey until after I started watching this season. After watching several of her episodes I have not been particularly impressed with her performance on the show - tepid, is the word that comes to mind - but I had read that people found her, as a person (not a character) to be highly intelligent, so I watched and read interviews for a while this morning and I do not see a particularly intelligent woman. I don't see a dumb woman, by any stretch. High-Average, maybe, but "highly" intelligent? There is nothing that points to that.
When she speaks of her favorite films and books, I do not get the sense from her that a natural curiosity led her to seek out those works of art. It comes across more as a calculated attempt to appear more intelligent and well read than she is - and certainly more intelligent than the average porn star. I believe this because I do not see the passion and enthusiasm of someone who was deeply touched by these works. She comes across as dispassionate, like a high-schooler forced to analyze Romeo and Juliet. She knows what she is supposed to say to pass the test, but does not feel anything for the story, characters or dialogue.
I do believe it when she says she named herself "Grey" after the grey-area between straight and gay in the Kinsey scale of sexuality, but all that takes is five minutes on a computer to find. I think she just wants to sound smarter than the average uneducated 21 year-old. Saying she named herself after "The Picture of Dorian Gray" was pure computation.
Much like how Cary Grant played the part of "Cary Grant" for years until all of Archie Leach had disappeared, Sasha Grey has created the character of "Sasha Grey" and becomes that fictional character daily, trying to erase Marina Hantzis from her life.
A little knowledge is a bad thing. So is a lot. ~ Albert Einstein