Before Ian Somerhalder became the heartthrob of millions of young teens with The Vampire Diaries, he was one of the lead characters in Lost. The actor had his breakthrough with the role and was one of the first main characters to die in the series. Despite that, he reportedly considers the show the best time of his life.
Somerhalder recently gave an interview stating the reasons why he left acting at the peak of his career. Playing Damon Salvatore in The Vampire Diaries seemed to be a position that people killed to have, but Somerhalder mentioned that he wanted to focus more on his family and the environmental conservation projects that he was working on.
Ian Somerhalder Left The Glitz To Go Live The Farm Life Five Years Ago
Ian Somerhalder reportedly celebrated the 15th anniversary of The Vampire Diaries and the 20th anniversary of Lost this September. The actor has stepped away from the limelight for the past few years, working on his production and environment conservation projects. Somerhalder mentioned that his true passion lay in the farm life.
Talking to People magazine, the actor opened up about the type of reach he had as the lead of The Vampire Diaries and how that fame has helped him shed light on the projects he has been working on. He credited the advent of streaming for giving him a much larger audience and a new generation of them who would see what he had been working on.
Celebrating his fifth year of retiring from acting, Ian Somerhalder expressed why he found stopping away was the right choice and how he has prioritized his family.
I say this in all humility, in all respect, but I would much rather do this than go spend two months in some city, shooting a TV show away from my family or transporting my family back and forth…Once you reach a certain level, you’re like, ‘Okay, I want to focus on family and the future of farming and food and energy and the big things.’ I don’t need to chase awards and anything that would make me feel better about myself.
The Vampire Diaries was the CW’s most-viewed show until the beginning of Arrow and still remains one of the network’s biggest crowd-pullers.
Ian Somerhalder Credits Lost For Inspiring His Conservation Work
While his role as Damon Salvatore in The Vampire Diaries may have given him the attention of more than a billion people, Somerhalder credits his role as Boone Carlyle in Lost as one of his greatest works. The actor was reportedly the first character to be cast in the series and was also the first main character to die.
Despite his short time on the show (though he returned as a guest star in later seasons), Somerhalder reportedly owes a lot to the show and its filming location in Hawaii. He told People,
I got to work on a lot of reef conservation. I got to work on a lot of soil and water conservation even there. This is 2004, I was already doing this, my voice just wasn’t as big. Cut to 2005, [I] left Lost, which was humbling. And then very beginning of 2009 came Vampire Diaries. And that was a rocket ship. Initially, it was a very, very, very young audience, but that audience matured and it got bigger and bigger.
The actor also reportedly adopted a feral cat named Roo with his Lost co-star Maggie Grace. The two reportedly found it while filming for the show in Hawaii.
The Vampire Diaries is available to stream on Max.