TVGuide.ca: This must have been the craziest year for you.
Nina Dobrev: Yeah! It’s been pretty crazy, literally an entire year since we first started the pilot. This time last year I was at my first CW upfronts and here we are in Season 2, starting in a couple of months. It’s just been doing so well; it’s so nice and refreshing. It’s what everyone always hopes for – they want their show to be successful and for people to enjoy it.

TVG: As a younger star, how do you stay grounded? Because we always hear these stories of young people reaching stardom and going a bit crazy.
ND: I don’t know, it’s not really something that I necessarily thought about — I didn’t sit down and make a checklist on how to stay grounded. It’s just not taking myself too seriously and I guess my upbringing has to do with it. I have a really cool mom who I talk to all the time and I hang out with and she flies down to see me in Atlanta. And I think that’s a lot of it too, the fact that we shoot in Georgia instead of a big city like L.A. or New York. We’re kind of away from all the media and the press and the temptation.

TVG: And maybe when you’re hanging out on a bridge and it makes the news, it doesn’t necessarily become an international story.
ND: (Laughs.) Yeah — that kind of stuff … it really made me realize being in the spotlight on a show that has this much publicity and how many people watch it, how much the media sensationalises and how many stories are made up out of nowhere. Like that story! People can write anything they want and put it on the Internet. It makes me laugh what people can make up. Continue Reading

TV Guide Magazine has an interview up done by Ileane Rudolph with Nina talking about Vampire Diaries so check it out!

Talk about teen angst! It’s hard enough to be dating a fangster like The Vampire Diaries’ Elena Gilbert does. But to stand by her undead man after catching him chowing down on another girl, now that marks a woman who doesn’t give up until she gets what she wants.

Minus the blood and biting, Nina Dobrev, who plays Elena, shares that same drive. It’s how she got the role. “Nina was one of the first girls to come in,” recalls executive producer Julie Plec. “She was sick, and we didn’t really look at her twice. So she went home to Toronto, put herself on tape and sent it in. It was so perfect our jaws fell on the floor.” Says Dobrev, “I loved the role so much that I had to keep fighting for it until I won it.”

The 21-year-old Bulgarian-born, Canadian-raised actress is no newcomer at reaching for the gold ring. As a former gymnast, she competed around the world. When she switched to acting at age 16, she landed the first three roles she auditioned for, including teen mom Mia Jones on the popular teen drama Degrassi: The Next Generation. After three seasons on the show, she hit the Hollywood pilot circuit and soon won the role of Elena on The Vampire Diaries.

Dobrev felt an immediate connection to the character. “She’s not a one-dimensional high-school girl who’s just about boys, popularity and clothes,” she says. “Elena’s strong and courageous and looks out for her loved ones.”

It’s not much of a stretch for the actress. “Nina is the happiest one on the set,” says Plec. “She’s the one who will throw her arms around you, take a picture, put it in a frame and send it to you as a gift. She’s that sweet, nice girl who encourages people to hang out and have fun. Continue Reading