Kat Von D

Katherine von Drachenberg (born March 8, 1982), known professionally as Kat Von D, is a Mexican-born American tattoo artist, television personality, entrepreneur and recording artist. She was a tattoo artist on the TLC reality television show LA Ink, which premiered in the United States on August 7, 2007, and ran for four seasons. She is also known for being the former head of Kat Von D Beauty (renamed KVD Beauty). In May 2021, Kat Von D released her first single "Exorcism" from her album Love Made Me Do It. Her second studio album, My Side of the Mountain, was released in 2024.

Katherine von Drachenberg was born in Montemorelos, Nuevo León, Mexico. Her parents, René and Sylvia (née Galeano), both of whom were missionaries for the Seventh-day Adventist Church, were born in Argentina, and are respectively of German, Italian, Spanish, and Indigenous descent. Von D has a sister, Karoline and a brother, Michael. She moved with her family from Mexico to the United States at age four and grew up in Colton, California. Von D was classically trained in piano beginning at age six. Von D speaks Spanish and English.

Von D credits her paternal grandmother, Clara von Drachenberg, as an inspiration for her in music and art, and the culture of San Bernardino County as a major influence on her tattoo art and style. She began listening to the Ramones, Misfits, and other punk rock bands at the age of 12. She got her first tattoo at 14 and quit school at 16 to become a tattoo artist.

When she was 15, Von D was sent to Provo Canyon School for six months, a notorious facility of the troubled teen industry, where she says she suffered abuse. Provo Canyon School is the same boarding school that Paris Hilton attended; Hilton has also alleged that she was abused while attending this school.

Von D appeared in two seasons of Miami Ink, the reality TV show taped at 305 Ink in Miami for the cable network TLC. She was offered the place on the show after fellow artist Darren Brass broke his elbow, preventing him from tattooing. While on the show, she had a falling out with Ami James, which led to her decision to leave the shop and the show.

She subsequently acquired her own TLC series, LA Ink, which chronicled her work at her tattoo shop, High Voltage Tattoo, in Hollywood, California. On the show, she broke the Guinness World Record of most tattoos given by a single person in 24 hours, with a total of 400. Accomplished in December 2007, it involved a Von D-designed logo for the city of Los Angeles, with proceeds going to the children's-blindness charity Vitamin Angels. LA Ink ran four seasons, ending September 15, 2011; TLC announced the cancellation on August 18, 2011. Von D has publicly said that the cancellation was because she chose not to continue doing the show.

Her first book, High Voltage Tattoo, compiling her artworks and tattoos, with a foreword by Mötley Crüe's Nikki Sixx, was released in January 2009 and reached #6 on The New York Times Best Seller list. Von D described the book as "not an autobiography, you know, 'cause I'm too young to do that. But this is just kind of like a picture-driven outline of my career as an artist. So, you see everything from my drawings when I was six to tattoos that have never before been seen." Her second book, The Tattoo Chronicles, an illustrated diary following a year in her life, was released October 26, 2010, and reached #3 on The New York Times "Hardcover Advice & Misc." Best Seller list.

In 2008, Von D created and launched a make-up line for Sephora. She has released new collections every year and has expanded her line to include fragrances. In 2012, through Sephora, her New American Beauty Art Tour benefitted the Art of Elysium charitable organization. In June 2016, she announced that all products in the line would be reformulated to be vegan. In August 2016, the line released a limited-edition lipstick named Project Chimps, with 20% of sales being donated to Project Chimps, an organization dedicated to providing care for retired research chimpanzees.