It's hard to put a label on this singer-actor-activist but one thing's for sure: Kat Graham is positively bewitching. By now, you've caught her on the CW's The Vampire Diaries or listened to her channel Janet Jackson. The rising star spoke about her adventures in Hollywood and being self-sufficient. But first, she reveals a few of her favorite things.
FAVORITE TYPES OF MOVIES: "Anything with Thandie Newton and Zoe Saldana. I'm also a huge Tyler Perry fan--I have all of his plays on DVD. I enjoy mind-altering films like The Matrix too."
THE NEXT CITY I MUST VISIT: "I love Paris. I even designed my Atlanta townhome in a Parisian theme.
TUNES YOU’LL FIND ON MY IPOD: "French pop music, songs by Trey Songz, The Queen, Billy Joel (I’m trying to learn to play Piano Man on the piano), and Kanye West’s latest album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy."
ONE DAY I’D LIKE TO SING WITH: "Cee-lo, and write with Bruno Mars"
THE SPECIAL GUY IN MY LIFE: "I won't say his name but I’ve been with the same guy since a skateboard was my only mode of transportation. He’s an actor too."
FAVORITE RESTAURANT: "The Cheesecake Factory, I like the Mac and cheese balls. I’m a simple girl."
HOBBIES I ENJOY: "I love antiquing, pastel drawings, making clothes, cooking and cleaning. But I hate scrubbing the kitchen floor."
IN MY FANNY PACK YOU’LL FIND: “A blackberry, charger, eyebrow pencil, external hardrive, wallet, a script and my diary—you never know when you’ll get inspired."
CREEPING INTO OUR CONSCIOUSNESS: She’s everywhere, earning her stripes on TV, in film, and in music. The 21-year-old sang on two tracks for will.i.am, danced backup for Missy Elliott and Pharrell, did her fair share of commercials, and even released a single, “I Want It All,” last fall. More recently she starred in The Roommate.
INTERNATIONAL FLAVOR: Born in Geneva, Kat also speaks Hebrew, Spanish, and French. Her mother is Jewish-American and her father is Joe Graham, a Liberian journalist (and godfather of two of Quincy Jones’ kids). Kat’s grandfather was Liberia’s U.N. ambassador and served in Sweden, Romania, and Kenya.
GIVING BACK: Kat lends a hand to The Water Project, the UNICEF Tap Project, and Invisible Children, which seeks to stop the abduction of children for use as soldiers in Uganda.
I HIGHLY SUGGEST: “Reading The Autobiography of Quincy Jones, watching the 1961 film A Raisin in the Sun and Black Swan.”
BIGGEST ACCOMPLISHMENT TO DATE: “Landing a role on the CW’s Vampire Diaries.”
FAVORITE HOTEL IN THE US: “The Paramount in New York City”
MORE KAT FACTS: Katerina Graham wrote and sung "Derailed" which was featured in a Jean-Claude Van Damn movie. She also has dinner dates with her Twitter followers from time to time.
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