Biography

Full Name: Ian Joseph Somerhalder

Birthdate: December 8, 1978

Age: 39

Hometown: Covington, Louisiana, USA

Nationality: American

Occupation: Actor, Model

Spouse: Nikki Reed

Children: 1

Ian Somerhalder is an American actor, model, and director who is popularly known for his role of Damon Salvatore in the supernatural drama “The Vampire Diaries”. He was born on December 8, 1978, in Covington, Louisiana, USA. His father Robert Somerhalder is an independent building contractor and his mother Edna is a massage therapist. He is the middle child in his family. He has an elder brother named Robert who is a woodworker and a younger sister named Robyn who is a broadcast journalist.

During childhood, Ian went to the St. Paul’s School which is a private Catholic school in Covington, Louisiana. Later, he attended the Mandeville High School which is a public school situated in Mandeville, Louisiana. During school, Ian also did modeling as a child artist. During school, he also played soccer and baseball for the school team. At the age of thirteen, his parents got divorced and were raised by his mother. Later, Ian along with his sibling opened a pizza parlor in Idaho. Later, he dropped out of high school because he had to travel to Europe to pursue his career as a model. In 2012, Ian along with his elder brother Robert also known as Bob opened a reclaimed furniture shop where they sold and built pieces by themselves. The shop was named as “Built of Barnwood”.

Career and Salary

Ian started his career at the age of 10. He worked as a model until the age of 17 and modeled for companies such as “Calvin Klein”, “Dolce & Gabanna”, “Gucci”, “Versace” and “Guess”. He was also the face of the company “Guess” for two consecutive Fall season. During his modeling career, he gained a lot of name and fame. However, now he doesn’t talk much about his modeling days because he doesn’t want people to think of him as just another pretty face.

At the age of 17, Ian started pursuing his career as an actor. In 1997, he appeared in the episode “The Black Bag” in the TV series “The Big Easy” as I.Q. Later, in 1999, he appears as Brian in an episode “A Girl’s Life” in the TV series “Now and Again”. In 2000, Ian got his first main role in the short-lived WB series “Young Americans” as Hamilton Fleming. The following year, he appeared in the movie “Life as a House” as Josh. In 2002, he appeared in two movies such as “Changing Hearts” as Jason Kelly and “The Rules of Attraction” as Paul Denton. In the same year, he also appeared in the episode “Revenge Is Best Served Cold” as Tony Del Negro in the series “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” and “Dominance” as Charlie Baker in the series “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit”.

In 2004, Ina was cast as Boone Carlyle in the hit TV show “Lost” which became his breakthrough role. Ironically, he was the first actor to be cast as one of the survivors and first major character to die in the show. The character died in the 20th episode of the first season, however, the character came back in the next two season and was included in the series finale. In the same year, he also appeared in the TV series “Smallville” as Adam Knight for 6 episodes. Also, he appeared in “Fearless” as Jordan Gracie.

In 2009, Ian was cast as Damon Salvatore in the TV series “The Vampire Diaries” in The CW. The series became the highest premiere ratings among all the series since 2006. The series was a huge success and received a lot of positive reviews from the critics. Ian’s performance was also praised by the critics. The series aired for 8 seasons and ended in 2017. Ian also directed some of the episodes in the series such as “The Downward Spiral”, “Days of Future Past” and “We Have History Together”. For his role in the series, Ian earned 2010 Teen Choice Award for “Choice TV Villain”, 2011,2012 and 2013 Teen Choice Award for “Choice TV Actor Fantasy/Sci-Fi” and “Choice Male Hottie”.

According to sources, Ian Somerhalder was paid 40,000 dollars per episode of “The Vampire Diaries”.

Relationship

Back in 2002, Ian Somerhalder used to date the American actress Kate Bosworth. The two first met on the set of “Young Americans” in 2000. They also worked together in 2001 in the movie “Rule of Attraction”. After completing the shooting, the pair started dating. However, after dating for just 4 months the pair separated. Later, in 2004, Ian briefly dated Nick Hilton who is an American Business Professional. The two were spotted on dinner dates multiple times. After 4 months, the two separated.

In 2006, there were rumors of Ian dating his co-star in “Lost” Maggi Grace. However, the two never confirmed their relationship. Also in an interview, Maggie said: “Ian’s great, I adore him, although I`m only 22 – far too young to even think about having a serious relationship.” Later, Ian briefly dated the actress Ashley Greene. The two were seen in a concert in Vancouver where the two were spotted kissing. That was the first and last time the two were seen so it was a fling rather than an actual relationship.

In 2010, Ian started dating Megan Auld who is a non-celebrity. Though the two kept things very private, they were once seen holding hands in the New York City. Later, in the same year, Ian started dating his co-star Nina Dobrev which reported the split up between Ian and Megan. The two worked together in the supernatural series “The Vampire Diaries”. The two had a very romantic chemistry on-screen as well as off-screen. From the beginning, there were speculations about them dating and the two confirmed their relationship in 2011. In an interview, Nina said that he didn’t want to date her co-star and “My goal on the show was to be professional. But sometimes you can’t help who you have a connection with, and you can only fight it for so long — which I did for a really, really long time.” The pair dated for 3 years and split up in 2013.

After a year, Ian started dating the American actress Nikki Reed. The two were first seen at the farmer’s market holding hand and kissing. They were also seen at the Comic-con party later. The two also spend the whole weekend together. Just after dating for three weeks, it was reported that the pair has moved in together. There were also rumors that there was a feud going on between Nina and Nikki. However, later Nina posted “So here’s to putting an end to all those fake stories of on set jealousy, betrayal, made-up-friendships lost & women hating women. Because at the end of the day, that’s what this is about: teaching girls that you have to hate other girls only breeds a generation of women who believe you have to hate other women.” Later, all three of them also posted a picture of them hanging out together.

After dating for 6 months, it was reported that the two are now engaged to each other. And just after being engaged for 3 months, the two got married on April 26, 2015. After the marriage, there were a lot of rumors about Nikki being pregnant with Ian’s child. The rumors were confirmed on May 4, 2017. On August 10, 2017, Nikki gave birth to their first child, a baby girl named Bodhi Soleil Reed Somerhalder.