Kat Von D

Katherine von Drachenberg, known professionally as Kat Von D, is a Mexican-born American tattoo artist, television personality, entrepreneur, and recording artist born on March 8, 1982. She gained widespread recognition as a featured tattoo artist on the TLC reality television show LA Ink and for her former leadership of Kat Von D Beauty, which was later renamed KVD Beauty.

Born in Montemorelos, Nuevo León, Mexico, to Seventh-day Adventist missionary parents of German, Italian, Spanish, and Indigenous descent, she moved with her family to Colton, California, at age four. Growing up alongside two siblings, she began classical piano training at age six and speaks both English and Spanish. Influenced by punk rock bands such as the Ramones and Misfits, as well as her paternal grandmother and local culture, she received her first tattoo at age 14 and left school at 16 to become a tattoo artist. At age 15, she was sent to Provo Canyon School for six months, where she reported suffering abuse.

Von D initially appeared on two seasons of the TLC reality series Miami Ink. Following a disagreement with fellow artist Ami James, she departed to star in her own TLC series, LA Ink, which chronicled her work at her Hollywood tattoo shop, High Voltage Tattoo. In December 2007, while on the show, she set a Guinness World Record by completing 400 tattoos in a 24-hour period. LA Ink ran for four seasons until September 2011. Outside of television, she founded the MusInk Tattoo Convention and Music Festival in 2008, opened the Wonderland Gallery in 2010, and announced the closure of High Voltage Tattoo in late 2021.

In addition to tattooing, Von D authored two New York Times Best Sellers: her art compilation High Voltage Tattoo in 2009 and her illustrated diary The Tattoo Chronicles in 2010. In 2008, she launched a makeup line through Sephora that expanded to include fragrances, vegan reformulations, and charitable releases. She launched clothing lines in 2011 and sold her namesake beauty brand to Kendo Brands in January 2020, after which it was rebranded as KVD Vegan Beauty and subsequently KVD Beauty.

Von D expanded her career into music, providing guest vocals for artists including The 69 Eyes, Prayers, IAMX, and Gunship. She released her debut single "Exorcism" and debut studio album Love Made Me Do It in 2021, followed by her second studio album, My Side of the Mountain, in 2024. In 2018, she co-narrated the animal rights documentary Dominion, earning the 2018 Award of Excellence for Narration from the Hollywood International Independent Documentary Awards.

Von D chose to become sober in 2007 and actively advocates for animal rights, earning Farm Sanctuary's Compassion in Action Award in 2016. She was married to Oliver Peck from 2003 to 2007, and married artist Rafael Reyes in 2018, with whom she has a son. Raised Seventh-day Adventist, she transitioned to Christianity around 2019, was baptized in 2023, and joined the Eastern Orthodox Church in 2025. In 2024, she won a copyright lawsuit filed by photographer Jeffrey Sedlik over a tattoo of Miles Davis, after which she indicated she might permanently stop tattooing.