Porn actress Sasha Grey has been cast as the lead in Steven Soderbergh’s low-budget movie The Girlfriend Experience.

Filming on the drama, which follows the life of a $1 million-a-year call girl, is currently underway in New York.

Grey, 20, told Adult Video News: “To have the opportunity to work for an Academy Award-winning auteur is truly a great honour.

“I’ve been an admirer of Soderbergh’s films for years, and I am elated that I have been given a leading role in a character-driven film.”

Soderbergh hatched the project with his Ocean’s Thirteen writers Brian Koppelman and David Levien.

The Girlfriend Experience will get a simultaneous release via cinemas, cable TV and DVD next year.