DeVon Minters: Karrueche Tran’s Father, His Work and Family Story

DeVon Minters was a hairstylist and the father of actress Karrueche Tran. His name became known through her stories about growing up, trying new hairstyles, and learning to love every part of her family. He was not a TV star or a movie actor. Yet the memories his daughter shared offer a warm look at his role in her life.

Karrueche has talked about her dad in interviews about beauty, race, and family. She spoke of the fun they had with her hair when she was young. She also spoke with ease about who he was as a person. When he died in January 2023, she shared photos and a sad message as she took part in the Sundance Film Festival.

Who Was DeVon Minters?

DeVon Minters was the father of Karrueche Tran, an American actress and model known for Claws and The Bay. He worked as a hairstylist and helped spark her love of changing her look. Her father was African American, while her mother is Vietnamese. Minters died in January 2023. Karrueche marked his death with a tribute that showed moments from their time together.

That short family link is just the start. His trade helped shape some of her first beauty memories. Their bond also gave her a way to talk about identity in public. These were parts of home life that stayed with her as she became known on screen and in fashion.

Hair Was Part of Their Time Together

Long before she had makeup deals or a team to style her for events, Karrueche tried out new looks at home. DeVon Minters knew how to cut and style hair. One of her aunts did hair as well. She grew up with people who could show her how a small change in color or shape could make a look feel new.

In a 2017 interview with Allure, Karrueche recalled dyeing her hair while she was still in grade school. At one point, she had bright bits of color at the front. She was not sure if the first shade was blue or green, but she recalled how it faded. DeVon Minters had helped with the color, and she still found the memory funny years later.

The fun did not stop with one bold color. She said she tried many looks as a child because DeVon Minters worked with hair. That early chance to play helped her feel free to change her style later in life. Hair was not just a part of getting ready. It was a way to try something new and see how it felt.

According to Allure’s interview with Karrueche, her father was a hairstylist, and those first experiments left a mark on her. It is a clear link between his day job and an interest that later became part of her public image.

The Styles She Tried as She Grew Up

By high school, Karrueche had a flat iron and liked the smooth look it gave her hair. She later said that she used heat so often that her natural curls lost some of their shape. As an adult, she talked about caring for those curls and finding products that worked for her.

That shift is easy for many people to relate to. A new style can feel fun when you are young. Later, you may want to get back to the way your hair grows on its own. Her beauty interviews often moved between those two sides: the joy of trying something bold and the care needed to keep hair healthy.

DeVon Minters helped start that sense of play. He had skills she could see up close. She learned that hair could be changed, dyed, curled, or worn in a new shape. Those childhood memories offered more than a beauty tip. They gave her a hands-on link to her father.

Her African American and Vietnamese Roots

Karrueche Tran was born and raised in Los Angeles. Her mother has Vietnamese roots, and her father was African American. She has spoken in public about being part of both groups. For a child, that can mean many ways to feel at home. It can also mean meeting people who want to place you in only one group.

As her career grew, she spoke about comments on her mixed background. In a 2018 interview with Complex, she said that some people made her feel as if she did not fully fit either side. She pushed back on that idea and spoke with pride about her family.

Her name was one more part of the story. In that interview, she said her parents had made up the name Karrueche. It gave her something unlike the names she heard around her as a child. She later came to enjoy that rare name as part of who she was.

These details show a family with more than one culture. They also help explain why she speaks with care about race and self-worth. DeVon Minters was part of that background, but she has built her own views through life, work, and the things she has faced in public.

A Daughter Who Spoke Openly About Her Dad

Karrueche gave a personal interview during BET Awards week in 2015. She was building a life beyond the headlines about her past romance with Chris Brown. She wanted people to know her for her own work and views. In the talk, she also shared a detail about DeVon Minters that many fans had not heard.

She said he was gay. She had known since she was young and spoke about him in a calm, loving way. To her, he was simply her dad. His sexuality was not something she treated as a strange fact that changed the bond they had.

In the MadameNoire interview published in June 2015, she described becoming aware of this part of DeVon Minters’ life while still in school. She said they had talks about it as she grew older. What stands out is how ordinary the subject felt within her own family.

The interview gave readers a side of her life that had little to do with fame. It was about a child getting to know a parent over time. As she grew, she learned more about him. She did not speak as if the news had erased their shared memories or made him less of a father.

The Family Influence Behind Her Sense of Style

Karrueche first made her name in fashion and modeling before taking on bigger acting roles. Her work in beauty also grew. She teamed up with ColourPop on makeup collections and spoke with beauty writers about the looks she loved. Her hair became part of the way fans knew her.

She wore curls, sleek styles, wigs, bold color, and looks made for photo shoots. Not all of that came from her childhood, of course. She worked with skilled artists as her career grew. But she had been trying new hair ideas well before she had an audience.

There is a nice link between those two stages of life. As a child, she could test out a wild shade at home. As an adult, she could work with a stylist on a look for a major event. In both cases, hair was a way to have fun and show a new side of herself.

Her memories also show how DeVon Minters had an impact through his craft. DeVon did not need fame to pass on that interest. His work gave his daughter a chance to explore color and shape before those skills became part of her job.

From Modeling to Film and Television

Karrueche began with fashion work and went on to act. The web series The Bay was one of her early screen projects. Her role in the TNT drama Claws brought her to a new TV audience. She played Virginia Loc, a young woman in the world of a Florida nail salon.

Claws gave its cast room for humor, drama, and bold style. Those were things Karrueche could bring to the part. In press talks about the show, she also had to deal with questions about race and the way viewers saw her. Her work and her family roots were both part of how she spoke about her place in entertainment.

She later joined the cast of the film Divinity, which screened at Sundance in 2023. The festival was an exciting career event, but it took place during a hard time in her personal life. She had just lost DeVon Minters.

That contrast became part of the news in January 2023. Fans saw photos of a film event while she was living through a family loss. Her tribute showed that the joy of a new project and the pain of grief can fall in the same week.

His Death and Her Tribute in January 2023

DeVon Minters died in January 2023. Karrueche shared the news while she was at the Sundance Film Festival. She posted old photos of herself with DeVon Minters and told fans that the days since learning of his death had been very hard.

Her message included a mix of feelings. She was proud to be at Sundance with a film, but she was also in pain. She had to face family decisions that came with a death. The tribute made space for both sides of her life without turning either into a show.

The pictures gave people a view of moments across the years. One showed them when she was younger. Others came from their time together as adults. They were family photos, not work shots, and they made the loss feel close and real.

That moment brought his name to a wide audience. For many fans, it was the first time they had heard about her dad. The most lasting part of the tribute was not a list of dates or awards. It was a daughter’s care for a parent she missed.

How His Memory Fits Into Her Public Life

Years before his death, Karrueche had already shared parts of her family life. She talked about DeVon Minters’ trade when asked about her hair. She discussed his identity in an interview about her own life. She spoke about the mix of cultures that had shaped her childhood.

Each memory came up for a different reason. One was about beauty. Another was about family. A third was about feeling at home with more than one culture. Together, they show how a parent can be part of many stories a child tells as an adult.

Those memories also give a fuller view of her than red carpet photos alone can offer. She is an actress and model, but she is also a daughter with a history that began long before her first screen job. Her dad’s hairstyling was a small, vivid part of that life.

It would be easy to focus only on his daughter’s fame. Yet the most personal things she shared were not about money or awards. They were about a dad who worked with hair, a child who liked to change her look, and a family where love mattered.

A Father-Daughter Story That Stays With Readers

DeVon Minters was known to the public mainly through Karrueche Tran. Her own words give this story its strongest human moments. She talked about the fun of trying hair color as a child, the way she knew and loved her father, and the grief she felt when he died.

His work as a hairstylist helped begin her love of fresh looks. His place in her family was part of how she came to see her own Black and Vietnamese roots. Years later, her tribute put their bond before the public at a time of loss.

These are the moments that make DeVon Minters part of his daughter’s story. They reach beyond beauty or fame. They speak to the way simple time with a parent can stay in a person’s memory, even after life takes them far from home.

For another story about the family behind a well-known actress, read our feature on Gloria Darlene Fox, Megan Fox’s mother at Turquoise Moon Homes.