Karrueche Tran (/kəˈruːtʃi ˈtræn/ kə-ROO-chee TRAN*]];^[2] born May 17, 1988)^[3] is an American actress and model. From 2013 to 2016, she starred as Vivian Johnson in the web series* The Bay She currently stars as Virginia Loc on TNT's series Claws.

Tran was born and raised in Los Angeles, California.^[4] by her Vietnamese mother and Jamaican godmother.^[5][6][7] Her father is African-American. Tran identifies as both Asian and Black,^[8] although her racial identity have come under fire, particularly for her use of the derogatory term "nigga".^[6] Tran first attended high school at Fairfax High School before switching schools, graduating from Birmingham High School in 2006.^[9]

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.^[3] Later, Tran worked as a free-lance celebrity stylist in Hollywood. She first gained public attention when she began dating R&B artist Chris Brown in 2010.^[10][11]

At the same time, Tran began modeling by participating in photoshoots for local brands,^[3] posing as the face of Lady Crooks, the women's division under the streetwear brand Crooks and Castles for their Summer 2013 collection.^[12] She also began working on her own clothing line, The Kill.^[13] Tran gain wider prominence after starring as Vivian Johnson on the Emmy award-winning web series The Bay from 2013 to 2016.^[14] For producing the series, she won two Daytime Emmy Awards.^[15][16]

In 2014, Tran appeared in volume one of the photography book, Love West Coast Girls, by celebrity photographer Mike Miller.^[17] Tran's TV One movie, The Fright Nite Files, was screened that year.

In 2015, Tran was featured in the Spring/Summer lookbook for French-based athletic brand Le Coq Sportif.^[18] She also appeared on the covers of several magazines, including Rolling Out,^[13] Flaunt Magazine,^[19] Ouch Magazine, The Hundreds,^[20] Cliche Magazine, Bleu Magazine ^[21] and Annex Magazine, including two feature stories on ELLE.com.^[22][23] Her work led her to a contract with Wilhelmina Models LA in 2015.^[24]

Tran's first featured film, 3-Headed Shark Attack, was released that summer,^[25] followed by the lead in the short film PrXde.^[26][27] She later gained recognition for her performance as Vanessa Ivy in the fashion web series by StyleHaul titled Vanity, sponsored by the makeup brand Maybelline.^[28]

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.^[29][30] All three movies were released in 2016. That same year, she partnered up with ColourPop Cosmetics to release the limited edition cosmetic collaboration, KaePop*.* ^[31][32]

After her departure from The Bay, Tran began co-starring in TNT Claws (2017), a TV series about five diverse manicurists working at the Nail Artisan of Manatee County salon in South Florida.^[33][34] Tran was selected for her ability to bring "a layer [...] that wasn’t one note" to the character, according to showrunner Janine Sherman Barrois.^[6]

Tran began dating R&B artist Chris Brown in 2010.^[10] The couple briefly broke up when Brown reconciled with his ex-girlfriend, singer-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.^[36][37] In February 2017, Tran was granted a temporary 100-yard restraining order against Brown,^[10][38] and was eventually granted a 5-year restraining order against the singer.^[39] She began dating former football player Victor Cruz in 2017.^[8] Tran is a Christian^[40][41] and has stated,