Categorie: Katerina Graham
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Kat Graham Explains the Meaning Behind Her New Identity “Toro Gato”
Kat Graham is gone—meet Toro Gato.
The former Vampire Diaries star debuted her true identity during E! News’ Daily Pop on Aug. 31.
“I think that we as entertainers have this identity that we have to give to the public and be presentable, and I think sometimes we forget our core and our truth,” Toro Gato exclusively explained today. “As our artist, I want to explore that with this Toro Gato project and this entire NFT collection. I wanted to kind of dismantle my former identity.”
The “SWIM” singer continued, “I actually bury myself in one of these films. So this is a new version. They say it’s the alter ego but I actually think the more and more time I spend in this space, I think Kat is the alter ego and I am becoming the West African, the ruler, the monster, that’s not scared of anything that can show up without shoes on. I think that’s really fun, and a terrifying place to be.”
Toro Gato embraced her tribal ancestors and collected different garments that “represent who I am as a woman and where my ancestors are from.”
Gato noted, “In this Western, vey American-ized world, I think that sometimes it can look like a spectacle, but you will see that it’s not actually a costume,” she opened up. “What we’re wearing is a costume.”
And don’t expect there to be anything unnatural about Toro Gato. “I don’t think Toro Gato wears wigs,” she joked. “I just wanted to annihilate this idea that we needed to be a certain way to be accepted, that we need validation, and I hope that people can see that and find their own monster or creative outlet.”
The name Toro Gato shows the duality between the two egos, according to the artist formerly known as Graham.
“Toro Gato shows the light and the dark sides, so you know when you get really really angry and you’re scared of that monster and you don’t want to let that side out? Like, this is that version of that,” she said. “Gato is maybe the peaceful side, and both sides can exist. It’s showcasing the subconscious mind and the conscious mind.”
Toro Gato concluded, “I think with everything we’ve all experienced with COVID and quarantine and finding our truth, that is just kind of birthed it. I’ve been working on this since 2016 and I didn’t want to come out like this. I think a lot of it was the pandemic, a lot of it was looking at young Black girls crying after watching me celebrate my ‘fro and seeing that there is something really cool in truth.”
Watch the full interview above to meet Toro Gato ahead of her live presentation of “SWIM” on Sept. 8 to celebrate both her birthday and her “death day.”
“SWIM” is available now and the upcoming visual EP, TORO GATO: PART I will drop Sept. 10 and be available as an NFT exclusively through YellowHeart.
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‘Emperor’ trailer
De trailer van Kat’s nieuwste film ‘Emperor’ is verschenen, deze zal 5 april uitkomen in o.a. GB.
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Kat benoemd tot UN Goodwill Ambassador
Actor, singer and longtime supporter of the United Nations Refugee Agency Kat Graham has been named a Goodwill Ambassador in the world. She is just one of five Americans to have received the title.
Variety caught up the “Vampire Diaries” actor, who recently starred in Netflix’s “Operation Christmas Drop,” to talk about her work with the UN.
How does this position influence the work you’re hoping to continue?
My grandfather was a UN ambassador. And it’s a rare opportunity to be appointed UNHCR ambassador — I’m the fifth in the United States to be appointed. There are a lot of people that work hard within the UNHCR so to be recognized for my efforts, my passion for this agency, is a profound moment for me. I’m still processing it because it’s been probably my greatest dream.Given the multiple crises facing the world, what priorities do you see UNHCR taking on?
UNHCR takes on so much. All of the work that they’re doing to not just raise awareness, but to rush staff and supplies to the border in Ethiopia in the Tigray region for refugees that are fleeing for safety into Sudan, even in the midst of this pandemic.They do so much in raising awareness, not just of the plight of refugees but also the voice of refugees because a lot of people think that refugees are victims or have so many misconceptions. For me, it’s important that I stand also within their messaging.
People have criticized those with privilege for not taking more action. What do you hope to see fellow Hollywood figures do to help make the world better?
We all have our soul work. I really can’t speak on to what another celebrity does with their time because a lot of people do things in private. I don’t judge or want to spend the time knocking somebody down for what they might or might not do publicly or at all.For me, it hits a little bit harder, because it’s literally in my blood. I’m the granddaughter of refugees, and I now have an opportunity to fight for them. I have made it my mission to not take the fact that I exist for granted, to not take the fact that I’m a celebrity for granted.
What advice would you give to people who want to make a difference?
Find the thing that you connect with directly. I think that if people can even donate in somebody’s name, that would be the greatest gift. I do believe the biggest gift we can all give ourselves in 2020 is the gift of awareness: the awareness of systematic racism, of our health workers, the awareness that we are in one of the worst refugee crises that we’ve had in a decade, that this is not a political issue, this is a human rights issue.When will we be seeing “The Vampire Diaries” reunion or reboot?
I am truly grateful that I was on a show that blanketed across the world. I went to countries where I couldn’t believe anyone knew who I was. That to me is so humbling and lovely. One of the greatest things about the show ending is that I now actually am able to travel and to go to these countries, and to look people in the eye and hold their hands and see what they need. The chapter of my new position as a Goodwill Ambassador has arrived, and I will not sacrifice that time for anything. -
Kat gecast in ‘Forget To Remember’
Kat Graham (The Vampire Diaries), Alex Pettyfer (I Am Number Four) and singer and actress Macy Gray (Change In The Air) are set to star in romance-thriller Forget To Remember.
Filmmaker Michael Dinh (Prodigal)’s feature, currently in pre-production, will follow an emotionally vulnerable young man who gets tricked into fulfilling a mysterious young woman’s dying wish by taking her on a cross-country road trip.
Dinh scripted with Audrey Easton from a story by Yahkaeem Jasper Thos.
Beverly Hills-based sales firm Motus Studios has acquired worldwide rights and is also co-producing. It is being produced and financed by 444 Film Group and Go Media Productions. Autumn Bailey-Ford is also producing. Shoot is scheduled for January 2021 in Atlanta, Georgia.
Vampire Diaries actress Graham has most recently starred in Netflix rom-com Operation Christmas Drop, RZA’s Cut Throat City, and Civil War drama Emperor.
As we revealed last week, I Am Number Four and Endless Love star Pettyfer will direct, produce and star in action-thriller Phantom of Belgrade with Oliver Masucci. Grammy-winner Gray has appeared in movies including Cardboard Boxer, Change In The Air and Dutch.
Dinh was invited to student event Campus Movie Fest at the Cannes International Film Festival in three consecutive years (2015-2017).
Pettyfer is represented by ICM Partners and Independent Talent Group. Graham is represented by APA and 3 Arts Entertainment. Gray is repped by Paradigm.
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Kat Graham Signs With APA
Kat Graham, who currently stars in Netflix’s holiday hit Operation Christmas Drop, has signed with APA.
Kat Graham, who currently stars in Netflix’s holiday hit Operation Christmas Drop, has signed with APA.
The actress-singer-dancer broke out with a starring turn in The Vampire Diaries and was recently seen in RZA’s Cut Throat City opposite Terrence Howard, Wesley Snipes, T.I. and Ethan Hawke. She also appeared in this year’s Civil War drama, Emperor, produced by Reggie Hudlin.
Graham is also doing voicework for the Trolls animated spinoff series TrollsTopia as well as Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
Additional recent credits include Lionsgate’s Poison Rose opposite Morgan Freeman and John Travolta, Netflix’s How It Ends opposite Forest Whitaker and the Tupac Shakur biopic All Eyez On Me.
She is also a brand ambassador for L’Oréal.
Graham is additionally repped by 3 Arts Entertainment.
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Kat Graham on Pursuing Roles That “Challenge and Rebel Against the Mold”
Kat Graham isn’t just an incredible actress; she’s also making a positive change with the roles she takes on. The 31-year-old first began acting at a young age — with guest spots on Lizzie McGuire, Greek, and Hannah Montana — but gained a huge following for her starring role as the fierce and powerful witch Bonnie Bennett on The Vampire Diaries. While the role helped jump-start her career in a lot of ways, it also taught her an important lesson about representation.
“The role of Bonnie was so, so special because it really shaped my career in a lot of ways,” she told POPSUGAR. “I owe so much of my fan base internationally to the awareness of that show. It was also a show where I was the only African-American regular, and it brought to my attention certain things that I wanted to make sure I was thoughtful of when I move forward in my career. I learned so much moving forward. I mean, not every character has to be a badass and has to start off strong in any way. I think we as women, we have things that happen to us that make us strong. We have things that happen to us that change the way we see ourselves, and that’s OK, too. The journey doesn’t have to be, ‘I have the answers all the time.’ The journey is, ‘I trust myself enough to go through what I need to go through to find it.’”
“I watch projects that challenge and rebel against the mold, especially for women.”
When Graham considers new projects, she’s always asking, “Does it make the world better?” “If you look at the films that I released this year alone, from Emperor, which was a pre-Civil War film educating people about Shields Green — who helped spark the Civil War — to Cut Throat City, which we shot in the Ninth Ward — which has been superneglected post-Hurricane Katrina — I look for things that help raise the awareness of what people might not know about or communities that might be overlooked or marginalized societies that are not getting the proper attention or support that they need,” she said. “For me, there has to be some element of what is new here that I can help bring to people’s awareness? I’m interested in chipping away at how stories are told, and I watch projects that challenge and rebel against the mold, especially for women.”That was in large part what drew her to her latest project, Netflix’s Operation Christmas Drop, which is based on the Air Force’s real-life humanitarian airlift operation. “The fact that I could do a project that centres around compassion and generosity and a different kind of Christmas, a different kind of relationship, a different kind of woman, that was really, really attractive for me,” she said. “I’m all about trying to break molds, and how people view women, or Black women, or women that have careers, or just the different dimensions that we are as women.”
The film was also the first Hollywood production to film in Guam, so Graham made sure to learn about its history when she arrived. “They have a museum there that I went to, so I learned the history of Guam,” she said. “I learned the positive, the negative, everything that the people of Guam have gone through, the nature of the people of Guam, and just really got a lot of education on what that looks like. I met with Indigenous communities, and they’re such a beautiful people and loving people with such an intense history, and they deserve to be celebrated and highlighted and profiled and seen all over the world.”
“They’re very important not because they helped my career; they’re important because they are important.”
As Graham continues forward with her career, she hopes to inspire her fans as much as they’ve inspired her. “I think overall, people have this [distinction of] celebrity and your fans, and I’m lighting that up in flames,” she said. “My relationship with my audience is much more intimate than that. Every Saturday, I take 10 fans internationally, and it’s a superprivate thing that we do, and we just talk and I check in on them and they tell me how much time they spend watching me and supporting me. I really feel that I’m an even bigger fan of them than they are of me. They’ve helped me understand myself better in a lot of ways and how I want to move forward. They helped me understand my responsibility to them. They’re very important not because they helped my career; they’re important because they are important. Their opinion matters. Their perspective matters. Their choices matter. Their health matters. They’re important because they matter. I constantly want them to feel that they matter and that their voices are heard.”Operation Christmas Drop is available to stream on Netflix now.
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Kat’s film ‘Where’s the Money’ zaterdag op Netflix
Kat’s film ‘Where’s the Money’ uit 2017 is vanaf a.s. zaterdag te zien op Netflix in Nederland
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Nieuwste instagramfoto’s
De laatste instagramfoto’s van de cast staan in de galerij!
Galerij Links:
http//: Candice King
http//: Charles Michael Davis
http//: Claire Holt
http//: Danielle Rose Russel
http//: Ian Somerhalder
http//: Jenny Boyd
http//: Joseph Morgan
http//: Kat Graham
http//: Kayla Ewell
http//: Kaylee Bryant
http//: Leah Pipes
http//: Malese Jow
http//: Matthew Davis
http//: Michael Malarkey
http//: Michael Trevino
http//: Nate Buzolic
http//: Nina Dobrev
http//: Paul Wesley
http//: Phoebe Tonkin
http//: Riley Voelkel
http//: Sara Canning
http//: Steven R McQueen
http//: Summer Fontana
http//: Torrey DeVitto -
Nieuwe fotoshoots
Ik heb de nieuwste fotoshoots in de galerij toegevoegd.
Galerij Links:
http//: Ben Watts (Cosmopiltan)
http//: Ben Watts (Womans Health)
http//: Fallon Wilson
http//: Hero Bean Stevenson (Rose INC)
http//: Matthew Sprout (La Ligne NYC)
http//: Mehdi Sef (Harper’s Bazaar China)
http//: Palm Sundays Co
http//: Palm Sundays Co
http//: Sam Marquart
