Kat Graham

Katerina Alexandre Hartford Graham is a Swiss-born American actress, singer, and dancer. She is best known for playing the role of Bonnie Bennett on The CW supernatural drama series The Vampire Diaries from 2009 to 2017. Throughout her career, Graham has appeared in a wide range of film and television productions, performed as a dancer, released multiple musical projects, and authored books.

Graham was born on September 5, 1989, in Geneva, Switzerland, and was raised in Los Angeles, California. Her father, Joseph, was of Americo-Liberian descent and worked as a music executive and UN journalist, while her mother, Natasha, was Jewish from a family from Poland and Russia. Her grandparents were Holocaust and Liberian refugees, which served as an inspiration for her work as a Goodwill Ambassador for UNHCR. Raised in her mother's Jewish religion, Graham attended Hebrew school and developed multilingual skills, speaking English, French, Spanish, and some Hebrew and Portuguese.

Graham entered the entertainment industry at age six, spending the next eight years appearing in commercial advertisements for brands including Barbie, K-Mart, and Pop-Tarts. At fifteen, choreographer Fatima Robinson invited her to perform as a background dancer for rapper Bow Wow at the BET Awards. She subsequently danced for artists such as Missy Elliott, Pharrell Williams, and Jamie Foxx. Graham made her film debut in the 1998 movie The Parent Trap and her television debut on Lizzie McGuire in 2002, later making guest appearances on shows such as CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, The O.C., and Hannah Montana.

In 2009, Graham achieved her breakout role as the young witch Bonnie Bennett on The Vampire Diaries, later taking over as the female lead in 2015. Her work on the series earned her the Choice TV Female Scene Stealer award at the 2011 Teen Choice Awards. Her movie credits include 17 Again, The Roommate, Honey 2, Addicted, and the 2017 Tupac biopic All Eyez on Me, in which she played actress Jada Pinkett Smith. She also starred in Netflix romantic comedies including The Holiday Calendar, Operation Christmas Drop, and Love in the Villa.

Graham pursued a musical career starting in 2006 and gained attention in 2007 by featuring on will.i.am's album Songs About Girls, joining The Black Eyed Peas on tour. She signed with A&M/Octone Records in 2012, releasing her debut EP Against The Wall and the chart single Put Your Graffiti On Me. She released her debut studio album, Roxbury Drive, in 2015, followed by Love Music Funk Magic in 2017. Emulating her West African culture, she released music under the identity Toro Gato on the YellowHeart NFT platform before releasing her fourth album, Long Hot Summer, in 2022.

Beyond screen and stage, Graham released a poetry collection titled The Blue Sky Chronicles in 2011 and a self-help book, Seasons of You, in 2023. She co-founded the wellness company Modern Nirvana in 2019 and co-hosted The Consciousness Collective Podcast. In October 2023, Graham married her business partner, Bryant Wood, in Los Angeles, and the couple welcomed a son in March 2026.