BIO
KAT GRAHAM
Kat Graham is an artist, actress, producer, published author and humanitarian who has spent more than two decades working across film, television and music. She first became a household name starring on The Vampire Diaries. Since completing the series, she has built one of entertainment’s most multifaceted careers, spanning more than 20 major film, television and music projects, including multiple No. 1 films for Netflix and a global No. 1 hit for Amazon. Her career includes more than 100 screen credits, a music catalog built alongside Prince and Babyface, pioneering achievements in emerging technology, and international recognition for both her artistic work and humanitarian leadership, including a place on the TIME100 Next list and her appointment as a United Nations Goodwill Ambassador.
ORIGINS
Born in Geneva, Switzerland, Graham’s global perspective was inherited, not adopted. Her family’s history is deeply rooted in Liberian public service and diplomacy. Her great-uncle, William Richard Tolbert Jr., served as the 20th President of Liberia until his assassination in 1980, while her grandfather represented Liberia as Ambassador to the United Nations.
Raised in Los Angeles, Graham began working professionally as a child actor at the age of 5, booking national commercials including Barbie and early roles with Disney.
At the same time, she built a parallel career as a professional dancer, performing alongside artists including Missy Elliott, Pharrell Williams, Jamie Foxx, and Bow Wow before transitioning into leading roles in film, television and music.
FILM AND TELEVISION
With over 100 film and television credits, Graham is one of the most prolific performers of her generation.
She made her television debut in 2002 on Disney Channel’s “Lizzie McGuire”, followed by guest and recurring roles on network television before landing Bonnie Bennett on “The Vampire Diaries”, a role she played for eight seasons, introducing her to a global fanbase that remains devoted to this day.
Her film credits include the critically acclaimed “Cut Throat City”, directed by RZA and starring Ethan Hawke, Wesley Snipes and Terrence Howard; “Emperor”, produced by Reggie Hudlin, which earned an NAACP Image Award nomination; “All Eyez On Me”, the Tupac Shakur biopic in which she played Jada Pinkett; the 70s period crime thriller “The Poison Rose” opposite Morgan Freeman and John Travolta; and “17 Again”, “The Roommate”, “Addicted” and the hit dance film “Honey 2”.
Most recently, Graham starred in “Duplicity”, written and directed by Tyler Perry and produced by Amazon Studios, playing a civil rights attorney seeking justice after the death of an unarmed Black man at the hands of police. The film debuted at number 1 worldwide for the platform and extended her longstanding commitment to social justice on screen.
Graham has headlined multiple global hits for Netflix, including “Love In The Villa”, which charted number 1 in 89 countries, “Operation Christmas Drop”, “The Holiday Calendar”, “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles”, and “How It Ends” opposite Theo James and Forest Whitaker.
Graham increasingly works behind the camera as well. She served as executive producer on the 2022 Paramount thriller “Heatwave”, in which she also starred, and starred in and executive produced “If I Run”, the adaptation of Terri Blackstock’s bestselling novel, playing Casey Cox. She starred, directed and produced the short film “The Move”, marking her directorial debut.
In animation, she made history as the first African American April O’Neil in “Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles”, and voiced roles in DreamWorks’ “Trolls: TrollsTopia”. Her Black Lives Matter PSA earned her an Emmy nomination for best short. She continues to develop and produce new film and television projects.
MUSIC
Music has run alongside Graham’s screen career since the beginning. She performed with music heavyweights including will.i.am and Pharrell, appearing on will.i.am’s album “Songs About Girls” and touring the world with The Black Eyed Peas. She holds a degree in recording engineering and writes and produces across her own catalog.
She went on to work with industry titans Babyface and Prince, becoming the first fully independent artist to reach the Top 10 on the charts with both legendary musicians. Her debut EP “Against the Wall” arrived in May 2012 after signing with A&M/Octone/Interscope Records. Her first single, “Put Your Graffiti On Me,” reached over 7 million views on VEVO and hit number 5 on the Billboard Dance Chart. She has landed multiple Billboard top 5 records, including “Sometimes” and the Prince penned “If Eye Could Get UR Attention.”
Her debut full length album “Roxbury Drive”, a 90s inspired record produced with Jean Yves “Jeeve” Ducornet, was written in its entirety with Babyface and featured the single “Secrets” with Babyface. Her second album, “Love Music Funk Magic” (2017), continued her collaborations with Babyface and Prince. In 2022 she released the pop album “Long Hot Summer” in partnership with GLAAD, followed by a global tour that raised significant awareness for the organization worldwide.
That same year, Graham made history in music technology: with the trip hop infused “Toro Gato”, she became the first entertainer ever to release an album exclusively as an NFT, followed by “Toro Gato: Part II”. The project reflected Graham’s long-standing commitment to pushing the boundaries of how music is created, distributed, and experienced. In November 2024 she released “The Broken Hearts Club”, an EP blending 80s pop synth wave and industrial R&B, marking her sixth music release.
Her latest album, “K’Pelle: One World, One Song”, released June 20, 2026 on World Refugee Day, is the fullest convergence of her artistry and her humanitarian work. Named after her family’s K’pelle tribe in Liberia, the 14-track album spans Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Europe and the Americas, with each track rooted in a different region of the world, blending local musical traditions with themes of peace, justice, spirituality, hope and resilience. Rival Magazine called it “a bridge between cultures.” The album features contributions from activists including Vanessa Nakate, alongside voices such as Greta Thunberg, Sadhguru, Rokhaya Diallo and former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan. Written and produced by Graham with longtime collaborator Jeeve, K’Pelle is art functioning as diplomacy. Rolling Stone called it “An ambitious and inclusive project that places music and cultural diversity at the center of an album conceived from a global perspective.”
GLOBAL ADVOCACY
Graham has supported UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, for over 12 years, and was appointed a UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador in 2020. She is one of only five Americans to serve in the role, alongside global ambassadors including Cate Blanchett and Ben Stiller.
Her field work is extensive and ongoing. Her first missions with UNHCR took her in 2014 to the Syrian refugee camp of Za’atari in Jordan, and in 2015 to the Mexico and Guatemala border to meet women and children who had fled violence in Central America. In 2019 she visited Somali refugees in camps across the Melkadida operation in southern Ethiopia, and in 2023 she traveled to South Sudan. She continues to spearhead the agency’s food appeal campaign, with her next mission taking her to Sudan, and has raised funds directly for the agency through her own touring and campaign work.
She also serves as a Global Ambassador for Rotary International and a council member for GLAAD, and was crowned African Princess of Mai Ndombe, Congo in honor of her humanitarian work on the continent. As a voting member and governor of the Recording Academy’s Atlanta chapter, she works from inside the institution to protect the rights of music artists, and has been honored with the Recording Academy Trustee Award.
Her longstanding advocacy work with the LGBTQ+ community has been recognized with a GLAAD Award and the Lambda Legal Liberty Award.
Vanity Fair named Graham to its 2023 Global Goals list of leaders working to build a better future, and in 2024 TIME named her one of TIME100’s Next Generation Leaders. Her other honors include the Ambassador of Peace Award, the Westfield Humanitarian in Film Award, Variety’s Power of the Youth Award and the Black Women in Film Award.
She is also the author of “Seasons Of You”, a guided wellness journal published by Clarkson Potter/Penguin Random House.
FASHION AND BRANDS
Known for her constantly evolving visual identity, Graham approaches fashion as an extension of each artistic era, creating fully realized visual worlds that range from the tribal futurism of Toro Gato to the contemporary African influences of K’Pelle.
Graham has graced the cover of Vogue six times, as well as appearing on covers for Rolling Stone, Cosmopolitan, ELLE, Harper’s Bazaar, Glamour, GQ, L’Officiel and InStyle, while also serving as the face of global campaigns for brands including L’Oréal, BMW, Omega, Armani, Samsung, CoverGirl and SkinCeuticals, among many others.
Her latest partnership is equally groundbreaking. In collaboration with Google, Graham launched KatAI, an AI-powered digital twin that allows fans to speak directly with her, receive tour announcements, access exclusive content, and engage in personalized conversations, redefining how artists connect with audiences.
Few artists have built careers that move as fluidly between entertainment, humanitarian diplomacy, publishing, and emerging technology.
Whether through film, music, humanitarian diplomacy, publishing, or artificial intelligence, Graham has consistently challenged conventional ideas of what an artist can be, building bridges across cultures, industries, and technologies. As she continues to expand those boundaries, she further cements her status as one of the most innovative, multidimensional, and globally influential artists of her generation.