Nina Dobrev

Biography: Born January 9, 1989 in Sofia, Bulgaria, Nina Dobrev moved to Toronto, Ontario with her family when she was two years old. Growing up, she had a fondness for the arts and had her heart set on acting. Aside from participating in international gymnastics competitions as a teen, Dobrev also did commercial modeling, which eventually led to auditioning for film and television.

Nina appeared in several TV movies produced in Canada. Most notable among her credits are the critically-acclaimed and award-winning drama films Away From Her (2006) and Fugitive Pieces (2007), both of which were played at the Toronto Film Festival. In 2007, she got to wear her dancing shoes for the MTV movie musical The American Mall, where she played the lead character Ally, an aspiring musician struggling to keep her family's music store afloat.

On television, Nina is famous for portraying the character of a teenage mom, Mia Jones, in the 6th and 7th seasons of the popular CTV teen drama, Degrassi: The Next Generation. In 2009, she joined the CW family when she was cast as the female lead, Elena Gilbert, in the network's vampire drama, The Vampire Diaries.

Dobrev attended Wexford Collegiate School for the Arts in Toronto until her graduating year. She entered secondary studies at Ryerson University in Toronto, majoring in Sociology, before dropping out in 2008 to pursue her acting career.… Expand