Actress Shenae Grimes has paid a tattoo tribute to a late friend - she has had the image of Peter Pan's hat inked behind her ear.

The 90210 star stopped by her favorite parlour in New York City on Tuesday to get a previous design transformed into the iconic Disney character's hat to symbolize eternal youth.

She explains the skin art in a post on her blog, writing, "It's a very personal tattoo for me but it was a memorial tattoo for an amazing person in my life who was my very own Peter Pan.

"Some say he's in heaven, I say he went home to Neverland and his spirit will always be with me, whispering in my ear to 'smile, gorgeous' when life gets heavy."