Karrueche Tran

Early life

Tran was raised in Los Angeles, California. Her mother is Vietnamese, and her father is African-American. Tran first attended high school at Fairfax High School before switching schools, graduating from Birmingham High School in 2006.

Early career and The Bay: 2009–2014

Tran began her career in the fashion industry as a personal shopper. From 2009–2012 she worked at Nordstrom located at the Westfield Topanga mall in Canoga Park, CA. After her spell in retail, Tran worked as free-lance celebrity stylist in Hollywood. She first gained public attention when she began dating R&B artist, Chris Brown, in 2010.

At the same time, Tran began modelling by participating in photoshoots for local brands, posing as the face of Lady Crooks, the women's division under the streetwear brand Crooks and Castles for their Summer 2013 collection. She also began working on her own clothing line, The Kill. Tran later won the role of Vivian Johnson in the Emmy award-winning web series The Bay, which she co-starred in from 2013 to 2016.

In 2014, Tran appeared in volume one of the photography book, Love West Coast Girls by celebrity photographer Mike Miller. That same year, she hosted the BET Awards red carpet and multiple events during the official BET Weekend. She had previously co-hosted the BET show 106 & Park. Tran's TV One movie, The Fright Nite Files, was screened that year.

Film and television roles: 2015–present

In 2015, Tran was also featured in the Spring/Summer lookbook for French-based athletic brand Le Coq Sportif. She also appeared on the covers of several magazines, including Rolling Out, Flaunt Magazine, Ouch Magazine, The Hundreds, Cliche Magazine, Bleu Magazine and Annex Magazine, including two feature stories on ELLE.com. Her work led her to a contract with Wilhelmina Models LA in 2015.

Tran's first featured film, 3-Headed Shark Attack, was released that summer, followed by the lead in the short film PrXde. She later gained recognition for her performance as Vanessa Ivy in the fashion web series by StyleHaul titled Vanity which is sponsored by the makeup brand Maybelline.

After supporting roles in A Weekend with the Family and The Nice Guys, Tran landed the lead in Only for One Night, portraying Chloe, a married woman whose perfect life deals with betrayal when her sister drugs her husband and sleeps with him. All three were released in 2016.

After her departure from The Bay, Tran began starring in the TNT series Claws (2017), whose storyline follows five diverse manicurists working at the Nail Artisan of Manatee County salon in South Florida.

Personal life

Tran began dating R&B artist Chris Brown in 2010. The couple briefly broke up when Brown reconciled with his ex-girlfriend, Barbadian singer and songwriter Rihanna. After the latter's relationship ended, Brown and Tran continued their relationship but split after it was revealed in March 2015 that Brown had a daughter, Royalty, with Nia Guzman. In February 2017, Tran was granted a temporary 100-yard restraining order against Brown, and eventually a 5-year restraining order against the singer.