She is best known for her work as 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.

[2][4] Her parents, René and Sylvia (née Galeano),[5] both of whom were missionaries for the Seventh-day Adventist Church,[6] were born in Argentina, and are respectively of German, Italian, Spanish, and Indigenous descent.

[16][17] 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.

"[28] 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."

[39] Von D provided the female vocals to the song "Rosary Blue" on X, a 2012 studio album by the Finnish gothic rock band The 69 Eyes.

[40] In August 2013, she tweeted that Dave Grohl and producer Danny Lohner had finished two tracks of an album she had talked about recording as early as 2011.

[42][43] In 2018, she collaborated with Rooney Mara, Sia, Sadie Sink and Joaquin Phoenix to narrate Chris Delforce's animal rights documentary Dominion.

[46] She also appeared on synthwave band Gunship album Dark All Day in the song "Black Blood, Red Kiss".

[13] Her makeup line received controversy after the release of a lipstick called "Selektion," because the word is considered controversial and inappropriate in the word's native Germany, where it was a term used for Nazis who decided which individuals would be chosen to either be put to work or death upon arrival to concentration camps during World War II.

[55] Von D recalled that "getting sober was not easy for me...I still clearly remember the physical pain from withdrawals, the profound desire to die, and the overwhelming sense of loneliness I felt that day that I decided to quit.

"[56] Von D has tattooed herself with the emblems of the bands HIM, Misfits, Turbonegro, ZZ Top, Guns N' Roses, AC/DC, Kent, Slayer, Mike Got Spiked and "Slutallica", a modified Metallica logo.

Other musical artists that Von D lists among her favorites include Lemmy Kilmister, The Mars Volta and Selena.

She had inked him with multiple large tattoos and had named a shade of her 'Kat Von D Everlasting Liquid Lipstick in Jeffree' after him.

[60] In July of 2016 Von D publicly ended her friendship with him, firstly in an Instagram post, citing problematic drug use, racial views, and bullying.

[61] She then elaborated via a YouTube video that the specifics of her issue with him was due to him allegedly not compensating their mutual friend and tattoo artist B.J.

[63] By March 2023, Von D had sold her Isaac Newton Van Nuys mansion in Windsor Square, Los Angeles.

[73][74] She subsequently began dating motorcycle customizer, West Coast Choppers CEO, and reality TV personality Jesse James.

[80] In September 2012, Von D began dating Canadian music producer Joel Zimmerman, known professionally as Deadmau5,[81] and gave him a star tattoo below his eye to match her own.

[86] Von D is referenced in the Eagles of Death Metal song "High Voltage", which was named after her shop and is featured on the band's third album, Heart On.

In an interview, Eagles of Death Metal's Jesse Hughes said, "I wrote that for Kat Von D, because that girl's bad ass.