Tattoo enthusiasts are likely familiar with Sara Kori, an Israeli artist whose reputation has been steadily growing. How far has it reached? Far enough to catch Hollywood’s attention. A year ago, Kori moved from Israel to New York to pursue her dream, and it appears to be paying off.
Kori shared on her Instagram page, which has more than 100,000 followers, a photo of herself tattooing former One Direction star and pop singer Zayn Malik. That was enough to prompt us to reach out for more details.
“About a month ago, I got a call from the production of The Drew Barrymore Show,” she said. “They told me a guest star would be coming on and they wanted to interview him while he was getting a tattoo, and that he had chosen me from several artists. So I came to the shoot, and we talked briefly, just a little, only about the tattoo.”
Did he know you’re Israeli? Did that come up?
“I have no idea if he knows. We didn’t talk about it at all.”
Who else have you tattooed?
“So far, just Drew Barrymore and Zayn, but I’ve met Adrien Brody, Miley Cyrus and Rita Ora. I just haven’t tattooed them yet.”
Malik, a British singer of Pakistani Muslim background, has previously expressed pro-Palestinian views on social media, including using the hashtag #FreePalestine during the 2014 Operation Protective Edge and sharing fundraising appeals for Gaza and the West Bank in 2023.
He was previously in a relationship with model Gigi Hadid, with whom he shares a daughter, Khai, born in 2020.