Nina Dobrev

Early life

Dobrev was born in Sofia, Bulgaria, as Nikolina Konstantinova Dobreva, (Bulgarian: Николина Константинова Добрева) and moved to Canada at the age of two, where she was raised in Toronto, Ontario. She has an older brother, Aleksandar Dobrev. Her father, Konstantin Dobrev, is a computer specialist, and her mother, Michaela Dobreva (née Radeva), is an artist.

Dobrev attended Vradenburg Junior Public School and J. B. Tyrrell Sr. Public School, where she started ballet and jazz classes, and competed in rhythmic gymnastics. She took acting classes at Armstrong Acting Studios in Toronto. Dobrev subsequently attended the arts program at Wexford Collegiate School for the Arts in Scarborough until her graduating year.

Dobrev entered post-secondary studies at Ryerson University in Toronto, majoring in Sociology, though her pursuit of an acting career prevented her from graduating.

Career

Dobrev's first major acting role was as Mia on the teen drama television series Degrassi: The Next Generation, a role she played for three seasons starting in 2006. She appeared in several feature films in the mid-2000s, including Fugitive Pieces and Away from Her. Dobrev also headlined a number of television films, including Sci Fi Channel's Never Cry Werewolf, MTV's The American Mall, and two Lifetime original movies. In 2007 she appeared in the music video of "You Got That Light" performed by Wade Allain-Marcus and David Baum.

Dobrev subsequently left Degrassi in 2009 to star in The CW's supernatural drama series The Vampire Diaries, a television adaptation of the book series of the same name, playing the lead role of Elena Gilbert. Dobrev also played a series of dopplegangers of Elena on the series, most prominently 500-year old vampire Katherine Pierce. She crossed over to The Vampire Diaries spinoff The Originals, as doppleganger character Tatia, in an episode in 2014. In April 2015, Dobrev announced via Instagram that she would be leaving The Vampire Diaries after portraying Elena for six seasons. In January 2017, it was announced that Dobrev would return as Elena in The Vampire Diaries series finale.

Dobrev had a minor role in the erotic thriller Chloe, theatrically released by Sony Pictures Classics on March 26, 2010. The film had enjoyed commercial success and became director Atom Egoyan's biggest moneymaker ever. She also had a small role in the 2011 film The Roommate.

In April 2011, Dobrev was cast as Candace Kelmeckis in the film adaptation of The Perks of Being a Wallflower, alongside Logan Lerman, Emma Watson, and Paul Rudd. In August 2014, she starred alongside Jake Johnson and Damon Wayans Jr. in the 20th Century Fox comedy Let's Be Cops.

Dobrev played the role of Vicki Summers in the 2015 horror comedy film The Final Girls. In September 2015, Dobrev was cast in the film Arrivals, opposite Asa Butterfield and Maisie Williams, portraying the role of flight attendant Izzy; the film was later retitled Departures, and was scheduled to go into production in April 2017. The same year, she was cast in the romantic comedy Crash Pad, alongside Domhnall Gleeson and Christina Applegate, which began filming in Vancouver in fall 2015.

In January 2016, it was announced that Dobrev was in talks to join the cast of the action film sequel XXX: Return of Xander Cage, opposite Vin Diesel and Samuel L. Jackson; the film was released January 20, 2017, with Dobrev playing the role of weapons specialist Becky Clearidge. In April of the same year, she was announced to be joining the 2017 film remake of Flatliners, opposite Ellen Page, playing the role an overachiever named Marlo.

Personal life

Dobrev is multilingual and speaks English and Bulgarian. While filming The Vampire Diaries, Dobrev lived in Atlanta, but moved to Los Angeles after leaving the series in 2015.