Katerina Graham

Katerina Graham
Graham in 2009
Born	Katerina Alexandre Graham[citation needed] (1989-09-05) September 5, 1989 Geneva, Switzerland
Other names	Kat Graham
Occupation	Actress, singer, dancer, model
Years active	1998–present
Partner(s)	Cottrell Guidry (2012–present; engaged)
Musical career
Genres	R&B, pop, hip hop, soul, dance
Instruments	Vocals
Years active	2002–present
Website
www.katgraham.com

Katerina Alexandre Graham (born September 5, 1989), known professionally as Kat Graham, is a Swiss-born American actress, model, singer, and dancer. She is best known for her role of Bonnie Bennett on The CW television series The Vampire Diaries. Graham worked for Mary Kay company in 2002.^[1][2][3]

Personal life

Graham was born in Geneva, Switzerland and raised in Los Angeles, California. Her father, Joseph, is of Americo-Liberian descent, and her mother, Natasha, is of Jewish and Polish origin. Graham's father was a music executive and the godfather of two of Quincy Jones' children. Her paternal grandfather was a UN Ambassador, serving for 40 years in The Netherlands, Sweden, Romania, and Kenya.^[4][5] Her parents divorced when she was five.^[6]

She has a half-brother, Yakov, born in Tel Aviv, Israel.^[4] Graham was raised in her mother's Jewish religion^[7] and attended Hebrew school. She speaks English, Spanish, and French, as well as some Hebrew and Portuguese.^[8] She is a supporter of gay rights.^[6]

Graham has been dating Cottrell Guidry since 2010 and got engaged to him on October 28, 2012.^[9][10]

Career

Commercials and dancing

Graham began her career in the entertainment industry at age six.^[11] Over the next eight years, she appeared in various commercials, including those for Barbie, K-Mart, Pop Tarts, and Edison. At the age of 15, Graham caught the eye of choreographer Fatima Robinson, and was asked to perform at the BET Awards as a background dancer for lil' Bow Wow. Graham followed her BET Awards appearance with work as a background dancer for Missy Elliott, Pharrell, Jamie Foxx, and choreographers Hi-Hat and Michael Rooney.^[12] At 17, Graham participated in a national marketing campaign to advertise Coca-Cola's soft drink Fanta. Graham appeared in the marketing campaign as a member of the "Fantanas", known as Capri, also known as Strawberry.^[13][14] Graham has appeared in various music videos, including Akon's "Lonely", Christina Millian's "Dip It Low", Justin Bieber and Usher's "Somebody to Love (Remix)", 112's "What If", John Legend's "Used to Love U", B2K's "Why I Love You", Musiq Soulchild's "B.U.D.D.Y.", and Nelly's "Just A Dream" and Diddy – Dirty Money with Usher "Looking for Love".^[15][16]

Television and film

In 2002 Graham made her television debut on the Disney Channel television series Lizzie McGuire. Graham went on to appear on various television shows, including CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, The OC, Malcolm In The Middle, Joan of Arcadia, Grounded For Life, and Greek.^[17] In 2008 appeared in three episodes of the Disney Channel television series Hannah Montana playing the role of a girlfriend to the character Jackson Stewart. Graham has also had notable supporting roles in films such as 17 Again and The Roommate.^[18][19] In December 2008 Graham began filming sci-fi dance film Boogie Town in Los Angeles, California. Filming on the film was put on hold that same month due to payroll issues with background performers. In April 2009 principal photography was stopped due to schedule conflicts with some of her cast mates and other projects. The film is set in a futuristic New York City in 2015 where dance battles are permanently banned. Graham plays the role of Ingrid. The film was set to be released in theaters worldwide October 2011, however it was set to be originally released in June 2009.

In March 2009 Graham was cast in The CW supernatural drama television series The Vampire Diaries based on the book series of the same name. Graham portrays the role of Bonnie Bennett a teenage witch and is considered her breakout role. The series premiered on September 10, 2009 to 4.91 million viewers and received praise for the series progression from critics. In May 2012 the series was renewed for the shows fourth season. In 2011 Graham won "Scene Stealer Female" at the Teen Choice Awards for her role on the show.^[17] In August 2010 The Hollywood Reporter announced Graham was cast in the Universal Pictures Dance Drama film Honey 2. The film is a sequel to the 2003 film Honey. The film follows a troubled teenager and aspiring dancer whom joins a dance crew. The film was released theatrically in selected countries for a limited release and went on to make over $8 million worldwide. In June 2011 the film was released Straight-to-DVD in North America to negative reviews from critics though Graham's performance and dancing was praised. That same year Graham starred in another Dance film this time a Kung Fu Dance Action film called Dance Fu in which Graham appeared as the female lead.^[20]

Music

In 2002, she wrote a song entitled "Derailed", which was featured in the Jean-Claude Van Damme film of the same title.^[21] In 2006 Graham pursued a career as a musical artist. Graham found her break in 2007 when she was featured on "The Donque Song" and "I Got It From My Mama" on Grammy Award Winner singer/rapper will.i.am's third studio album Songs About Girls.^[22] The move saw Graham embark on a world tour with The Black Eyed Peas as a supporting act for the Black Blue & You Tour. In April 2010, the song "My Boyfriends Back" released on YouTube and got over 1 million views In October 2010 Graham released her debut single "Sassy". A music video for the song premiered that same month, but the track performed poorly and it failed to chart.^[23][24] She then went on to release covers of artists such as Janet Jackson and Paula Abdul which garnered Graham the attention of Paula who praised her cover.^[25][26] Graham contributed a cover of the Garbage song "Only Happy When It Rains" to The Vampire Diaries soundtrack. The song premiered in December 2010 in an episode of the series titled "The Sacrifice".^[27] In March 2011, Graham released another single titled "I Want It All". The music video premiered in May 2011.

In February 2012, Graham signed a recording contract with A&M Octone Records which was marked as her first major label signing. In March 2012 Graham released "Put Your Graffiti On Me", which premiered on PerezHilton.com. The song itself received positive reviews from critics. That same month, the official music video premiered and as of October 19, 2012 has reached 4,843,458 views on YouTube. The song peaked at #5 on the US Billboard Hot Dance Club Songs chart.^[28] On May 29 Graham performed the track on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. This was marked as her first televised musical performance ever. On that same day Graham released her first EP Against The Wall which debuted at #54 on the iTunes Music Album Chart.^[29] Graham is currently in the process of recording her debut album. The second single taken from her debut EP is the track "Wanna Say". The music video was directed by Benny Boom and produced by London Alley. It's scheduled for release in late September.^[30] She also appeared on the song "Dog Day Afternoon" from the Ras Kass & Doc Hollywood free collaborative digital album "Spit No Evil". On June 25, 2013, Graham gave the opportunity to five fans to release the name of her new single on twitter, and released the single premiere of "Power" at Billboard.com the next day. 'Power' is said to be the lead single from her debut album, which currently does not have a release date.^[31]

Influences

Graham cites Mariah Carey, Britney Spears, Jennifer Lopez, Shakira, Rihanna, Nelly Furtado, Tom Jones and Vanessa L. Williams as major music influences. In addition, her other music inspirations include Destiny's Child, The Beatles^[32][33] Graham cites the work of Elvis Presley and The Spice Girls as ahead of their time and major influences on her work and aesthetic.^[33] She describes her sound as "vintage 90's with a modern twist."^[34]

Bibliography

• 2011: THE BLUE SKY CHRONICLES

Filmography

Discography

EP's

Singles

Featured singles

• ¹: Not credited for her part in the song.

Music videos

Tour

• The Fantanas (2004–2006)
• The Black Eyed Peas Black Blue & You Tour (2007)
• The Vampire Diaries Tour – Q&A With The Cast (2010)
• 2012 National Promo Tour (2012)

Awards

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Katerina Graham.

• Katerina Graham Official Website
• Katerina Graham at the Internet Movie Database