Nina Dobrev Elena Gilbert & Katherine Pierce

Nina Dobrev doesn't only play one, but two of Mystic Fall's leading ladies on The Vampire Diaries. Modern day Elena Gilbert, is a smart, funny, friendly, beautiful, family oriented, human, and a high school senior. She is the object of affection to her vampire boyfriend, Stefan, and his vampire brother, Damon. Prior to the airing of the Pilot episode, she suffered the loss off her adoptive parents, Miranda Summers and Graison Gilbert. She is currently living with her Aunt Jenna, and her brother Jeremy, Elena struggles to find a balance between the two worlds all the while uncovering the truth about her biological family. Katherine, also portrayed by Nina, is Elena's ancestor and also a vampire as well. In 1864, she was the love-interest of the Salvatore brothers and the reason for which they are now vampires. "Selfish, Conniving, and Narcissistic," as described by the actress herself, Katherine looks identical to Elena.

Nina was born in Sofia, Bulgaria on January 9, 1989. At two years old Nina's family relocated to Toronto, Ontario. She is the daughter of an artist, and a computer specialist. She has one older brother, Alexander.

Expressing interests in dance, gymnastics, theater, music, visual arts, and acting from a young age, Nina attended Wexford Collegiate School for the Arts. She competed in international gymnastics as a teen and went on to attend Ryerson University where she majored in Sociology.  A variety of talent agencies came to recognize Nina while she studied at The Dean Armstrong Acting School in Toronto. Once discovered, she left Ryerson to pursue her acting career.

On the road to success, Nina began her career as a commercial model, and eventually found her-self auditioning for movie roles. In 2006, she was cast as Monica in the movie Away From Her as well as, Shania, a minor role in the movie Playing House. The very same year she landed the role of Mia Jones; a teenage mother on the hit TV Series: Degrassi. Mia's character left Degrassi in Season Nine to pursue a modeling career. Not long after, Nina landed the lead role of Elena on The Vampire Diaries.

She went on to play Bella in Fugitive Pieces and Rachel in The Poet during 2007. She starred in two Lifetime movies: “My Daughter’s Secret” where she played Justine, the deceitful daughter of a successful jewelry store owner, and “Too Young to Marry” as Jessica, a 17 year old married Harvard student.

Nina has also been credited for her leading roles in: The American Mall (Ally Sheppard),Never Cry Werewolf (Loren Hansett), and Degrassi Goes Hollywood (Mia Jones).  Her minor roles and guest appearances consist of: How She Moves, Mookies Law (Rosebella),Chloe (Anna), You Got That Light, The Border (Maia), and Eleventh Hour (Grace Dahl).  Nina is also the voice behind Merry Madagascar's Cupid, The Reindeer.    

Nina is a fan of both Twilight and HBO's True Blood Series. Her three favorite books are:The Lovely bones by Alice Sebold, The Alchemist by Paul Coelho, and Fugitive Pieces by Ann Michaels. She is also multi-lingual; speaking Bulgarian, French, and English fluently. She learned to speak Yiddish phonetically for her role as Bella in Fugitive Pieces. During her spare time she has expressed interests in: traveling, snowboarding, rock climbing, water sports, and horseback riding.

Nina currently resides in Atlanta, GA, where The Vampire Diaries is filmed. Sony Pictures Classics recently released her movie, Chloe, and she is scheduled to appear in the upcoming movie American Empire.