By Anastasia Macovei
Ian Somerhalder is an actor, model and producer. He was born on December 8th 1978. He is famous because he played Boone Carlyle in the television series ''Lost''. He has also appeared in ''Smallville'' and ''CSI'', and he played the character Damon Salvatore in the famous series ''The Vampire Diaries''.
He was born in Covington, Louisiana. He has a sister, Stella, and a brother, Bob. His father is an Irish man who worked in construction. His mother, a mixture of Irish and Choctaw, grew up in Mississippi. His parents divorced when he was 15, and after that he lived with his mother. His relatives in Louisiana were affected by Hurricane Katrina.
He wanted to be model, like his mother, so he studied for this career. He appeared in fashion shows in New York, Paris, Milan and London and worked for various firms: Calvin Klein, American Eagle Outfitters, Dolce & Gabbana, Gucci, Versace and Guess.
His first performance on television was in ''The Rules of Attraction''. Then he appeared in ''Smallville'' as Adam Knight (a dead person who lives because of special drugs). He also appeared in ''CSI: Miami'',''Law & Order: Special Victims Unit'', "Now and Again " and "The Big Easy". The character Boone Carlyle from the first season of ''Lost'' made him very famous. Later he was in the second and third seasons and then in the sixth, and, furthermore, he appeared in different short scenes.
In 2006, he was the protagonist of the movie "Pulse'' (the Japanese movie "Kairo" was a remake of this) with Kristen Bell and Christina Milian. The movie is not very famous, and when it was premiered it had little success in its first week. The same year, DNA Models selected its Top 10 Male Models" and Ian was on this list. He also played Nick in "Tell Me You Love Me'', for HBO.
Nowadays he appears in "The Vampire Diaries'' on the CW channel, as a wicked vampire. This character made him famous and earned him a Teen Choice Award in 2010.
