Kat Graham (News)

Katerina Alexandre Graham (born September 5, 1989), better known by her stage name 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 was born in Geneva, Switzerland and raised in Los Angeles, California. Her father, Joseph, is of Americo-Liberian descent, and her mother, Natasha, is Jewish (of Russian 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. Her parents divorced when she was five. She has a half-brother, Yakov, born in Tel Aviv, Israel. Graham was raised in her mother's Jewish religion[8] and attended Hebrew school. She speaks English, Spanish, and French, as well as some Hebrew and Portuguese. Graham began her career in the entertainment industry at age six. 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. 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. 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".