IAN SOMERHALDER

I aim to direct as much as I act at some point in time.

I have been doing commercials on camera since I was ten.

Love is tested in so many ways. How do I articulate this? Two people are together. There are stakes, strife, struggles, all these things that make us fall for someone, love someone even more, leave someone.

I'm from New Orleans. There's a lot of vampire mystique and mythology that resonates there, and I was fascinated by it. I always wanted to play one.

Lack of time and money create really bad green practices.

I can't let time move on without fighting tooth and nail and hopefully being a part of a revolution that is positive.

My great-grandchildren will not be able to enjoy the Gulf Coast of Louisiana the way I have.

I don't want to see blood spewing out but I don't mind it in controlled environment. Does it make me squeamish? No.

I just want to make it clear that I have been working since I was ten years old.

You spend enough time on set as an actor and it's great when a director was at some point an actor or understands acting. They're able to finesse performances out of you that a lot directors can't get.

We're made up of energy, so who's to say you can't transmit through electrical means? If you could transmit yourself wirelessly, then it's Armageddon pretty much.

Species conversation is beyond a doubt an issue that truly matters to the American public.

I work with the Humane Society a lot and have three rescue cats.

I don't know how to do anything else other than be an actor. If I wasn't in this, I would be in alternative energy and conservation.

Every love story needs a catalyst of some sort.

Before vampires were aesthetically appealing, they were physical anomalies and ostracized outsiders whom we banished to the dark, and they didn't have the appeal that they do now.

I mean, there are some amazing storytelling being done on the small screen right now. That's what so cool about being in television right now. Studios, networks are starting to throw more resources, better writers, more production values... and to be part of that is awesome.

I'm never running for office. I love being able to speak to members of Congress or members of the Senate and floating on either side, because it takes all of us. It's going to take both of them.

You can't get anywhere without the people who have come into your life.

I kind of think too much, I try do too many things at once.

To explore different parts of yourself and different emotional lives... not to hide from who you are but to actually explore who you are.

I've never been on a TV show for more than a season and you have to continually keep it interesting and you have to keep it connected, even as you change.

No one knows what women want!

As an actor, you always think that whatever job you have is going to be your last. In some way, shape or form, you think you're going to screw it up and you're never going to work again.

Maybe one of the only things I do well: I cook like a maniac! I would be a chef if I weren't an actor.