Nina Dobreva

Nina Kamenova Dobreva, credited professionally as Nina Dobrev , is a Canadian actress of Bulgarian
origin, three-time winner of the "Audience's Choice " award. She is best known for portraying Elena
Gilbert and Katherine Pierce on The CW's supernatural drama series The Vampire Diaries (2009–2015).

Nina Kamenova Dobreva was born on January 9, 1989, in Sofia, Bulgaria, to Kamen Dobrev, a computer
specialist, and Michaela Dobreva, an artist. She has an older brother. When she was two, her family
relocated to Canada.His father left 1 year earlier to secure a job and enough money for his family. At age
10, she moved back to Bulgaria with her mother for two years.In the beginning, they lived in a one-room
apartment with another family. Her parents taught her to work hard.

Nina studied at the J.B. Tyrrell School, where she performed ballet and rhythmic gymnastics and
participated in jazz classes. He later studied at the Wexford Academy of Arts in Scarborough, Ontario and
at Ryerson University in Toronto, majoring in sociology. In 2008, he stopped studying to focus on his
acting career. Dobrev takes acting lessons at Armstrong Studios in Toronto.

As a teenager, he started working in advertising agencies as a model.There are roles in the films "Fugitive
Pieces", "Away from Her", "Never Cry Werewolf". He appeared in the television series Degrassi: The Next
Generation. In 2007, he appeared in the music video of Wade Allen-Marcus and David Baum. He also
had a role in the MTV movie - "The American Mall". Nina plays the lead role of Elena Gilbert in the
supernatural series The Vampire Diaries ,which she almost didn't get.

On the day of the casting, Nina was not feeling well, and the best she was able to give that day was far
from the best she was capable of in principle. However, she did not give up and managed to send the
video to the producers, in which she presents herself in a much better light. At that time an actress had
already been chosen for the role, the studio changed its mind after seeing Nina's performance.

In the beginning she played 2 main roles. The first role is that of the ordinary student Elena Gilbert, in
whom the two Salvatore brothers fall in love. The second role is radically different from the first. She is
played by long-time vampire Catherine Pearce, who has had a relationship with both Salvatore brothers
in the past. She is also the one who turns them into vampires and spins them on her little finger.

After these 2 roles, she became popular all over the world. In season 5, she played the first female
immortal Amara, in 2014 she appeared in the sequel to "The Vampire Diaries", "The Ancients", where
she played the role of the doppelganger, Tatia. She then starred in The Perks of Being an Outsider and
The Three Hicks-Back in the Game.

She is not ashamed of her origin, she openly shows in interviews that she is proud to be Bulgarian. She
has won over 14 film awards.But apart from being an actress, she is also an activist.

Dobrev supports numerous charitable causes, including Puma's 2011 non-profit Project Pink, which
supports multiple breast cancer charities, and Hunger Bites, an organization dedicated to reducing
hunger in 27 counties in Pennsylvania. She is also recognized for her long-term involvement with the WE
movement, a Canadian-based charity that empowers young people as agents of change. She participated
in a Me to We volunteer trip to Kenya to help build a school. She was hosted the We Day event in
Toronto in 2011 and appeared on stage at WE Day California 2019.Other social and charitable causes she
has been involved with include the Elton John AIDS Foundation.

During the filming of "The Vampire Diaries" in 2010, she began a relationship with her on-screen partner
in the series Ian Summerhalder, and in 2011 they publicly announced their relationship. In May 2013, the
media announced that the actors had separated, but they remained on good terms and continued to
work together. Since July 2015, Nina has been dating Austin Sowell, but after 7-8 months of relationship,
they broke up.