Biography
Date of Birth
9 December 1989, Sofia, Bulgaria
Birth Name
Nikolina Dobreva
Nickname
Almond
Neens
Unicorn
Height
5' 6½" (1.69 m)
Mini Biography
Nina Dobrev is a Bulgarian-born Canadian actress. Her best-known television roles are Mia Jones in Degrassi: The Next Generation (2001) and Elena Gilbert and Katherine Pierce on The Vampire Diaries (2009). Her film work includes The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012), Let's Be Cops (2014), The Final Girls (2015), xXx: Return of Xander Cage (2017), and Dog Days (2018).
From a very young age, she showed great enthusiasm and talent for the arts: dance, gymnastics, theater, music, visual arts, and acting. Modeling jobs led to commercials, which turned into film auditions; she booked roles in the feature films Fugitive Pieces (2007), Away from Her (2006), and the popular CTV television series Degrassi: The Next Generation (2001), which led to The Vampire Diaries (2009), where she played the lead role for 6 seasons.
Nina loves to travel and has often visited Europe for pleasure, as well as to compete internationally, representing Canada in Aesthetic gymnastics. She enjoys playing volleyball and soccer, swimming, rock climbing, wakeboarding, snowboarding, and horseback riding.
Above all, acting is her passion, and she sees it as an adventure that has just begun; she believes that the journey and the characters we create along the way will help us understand ourselves.
Trivia
Studied acting at Armstrong Acting Studios in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Has competed internationally representing Canada in Aesthetic Group Gymnastics. In 2005 she joined both the Senior World Championships in Copenhagen, Denmark, and the Junior World Championships in Plzen, Czech Republic.
Enjoys playing "Rock Band" and engages in water sports including swimming, windsurfing, wake boarding and scuba diving. Nina also loves to travel and often visits Europe. Among her other activities are playing volleyball, soccer, horseback riding, snowboarding and rock climbing.
Traveled to Kenya where she built a school with fellow Degrassi: The Next Generation (2001) co-stars through the non-profit organization, Free The Children. She also wore a top promoting the cause towards the end of her movie, The American Mall (2008).
Went into a general audition for Degrassi: The Next Generation (2001) and read for the role of Manny Santos but didn't get it. Later she was called back, read for the role of Mia Jones and got it.
Shared an apartment in Atlanta, GA, with Kayla Ewell.
One of her hobbies is making jewelry. She plans on starting her own jewelry line in the future.
Is frequently compared, and is aware of bearing a resemblance, to Victoria Justice.
Some of her favorite films include Schindler's List (1993), The Notebook (2004), Juno (2007) and Knocked Up (2007).
Her favorite television series are Orange Is the New Black (2013), Homeland (2011), Grey's Anatomy (2005), Friday Night Lights (2006) and House of Cards (2013).
Is a fan of the HBO television series True Blood (2008).
Her favorite actresses are Meryl Streep and Rachel McAdams.
Lists child rights advocate Craig Kielburger and Meryl Streep among the people she admires.
Is a huge fan of Chicago (2002). She derived inspiration from the song "Cell Block Tango" for her performance of "Survivor" in The American Mall (2008).
Has played a teenage mother on Degrassi: The Next Generation (2001) and played both a teenage mother and daughter of teenagers on The Vampire Diaries (2009).
Ranked #44 in the 2011 "FHM" Australia list of "100 Sexiest Women in the World".
Wears glasses.
Second child and only daughter of Konstantin Dobrev and Michaela Dobreva (nee Radeva).
Has an older brother named Alexander Konstantinov Dobrev.
Speaks fluent English and Bulgarian. Also speaks some French.
Is a very skilled ballet and jazz dancer and gymnast.
Is six years younger than Olga Fonda, who played her daughter on The Vampire Diaries (2009).
Named after her maternal grandmother Nikolina Constantine.
She was born in Bulgaria and speaks Bulgarian. For this reason Katherine, who was German in the books, became Bulgarian in the series.
Attended Wexford Collegiate, an arts school in Toronto. In 2007 she began her post-secondary studies at Ryerson University in Toronto, where she was majoring in Sociology.
She's a huge fan of the "Harry Potter" series, by J.K. Rowling.
Her father Konstantin Aleksandrov Dobrev is a computer specialist and her mother Mihaela Efiova Radeva is an artist.
Ranked #53 on "Maxim" magazine's Hot 100 Women of 2014 list.
Has two pets--a dog and a cat named Miss Linx.
Would like to open a yoga studio one day.
Enjoys competing in athletic competitions.
Is a huge fan of the Netflix series, House of Cards (2013).
Attendee at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).
Very good friends with Julianne Hough.
She is very creative in making jewelry and also she used to design her own jewelry.
She took acting classes at Armstrong's acting studios in Toronto.
Trademarks:
Big brown eyes
Tall, curvaceous figure
Quotes
Looking back on high school, I just remember specific scenarios and thinking, "Wow, that was such a big deal at the time, but right now it feels like it never even happened". So I guess if I can give any advice, I would just say that everything will pass, and it'll feel like it was a big deal over nothing. Life goes on and then you change and other things happen, and everything feels like it's so much worse afterwards. It'll always get better.
I did Degrassi: The Next Generation (2001) for four years. It was my constant; no matter what movie I would go on hiatus or whatever I would do elsewhere, every year I would always go back to "Degrassi", to my family, and they really sort of taught me all the groundwork and got me started. Before that I was really green, I didn't know what I was doing, so it kind of helped ease my path into the whole industry.
[on working on The Vampire Diaries (2009)] There were daily challenges, there were yearly challenges, there were character challenges. The whole show was challenging in different ways throughout the six years. The multiple characters, the hours, creating characters, deaths. I was constantly crying, it felt like. But for that reason it kept me occupied, I was never bored, it never felt stale. I always came to work excited, and looking forward to the next thing I got to do. It was almost like actor boot camp, or a college experience. I started college in real life, but I never finished. I went to high school in real life, and then went to "Degrassi" high school, and then four years as Elena--12 years is a long time to go to school. I need to graduate! I'm ready now. I'm ready to go into the real world. I've literally grown up on this show. I was a baby when I started, and now I'm a woman. I feel like I've learned so much and have grown so much because of every single person, and every single character, and person I've worked with. They made me who I am, and I'm excited to apply that to the next chapter.
People aren't defined by their relationships. The whole point is being true to yourself and not losing yourself in relationships, whether romances or friendships.
I've reached a point where I'm comfortable in my own skin, and I do what I need to do, to feel good, but I'm built the way I am. The dancer's feet, the bruises on my legs, they're not going to go away. I think real girls have bruises. Tough chicks get bruised. They get dirty. And they have fun.
I'm an artist; content is incredibly important to me. I only want to keep moving up and up in terms of quality and be careful with perception. I don't just want to do things that are the pretty girl with lots of makeup, I want to get into the gritty stuff and get down and dirty and dark and really feed my soul and not my vanity.
Dearest TVD Family: [ . . . ] I always knew I wanted Elena's story to be a six-season adventure, and within those six years I got the journey of a lifetime. I was a human, a vampire, a doppelganger, a crazy immortal, a doppelganger pretending to be human, a human pretending to be a doppelganger. I got kidnapped, killed, resurrected, tortured, cursed, body-snatched, was dead and undead, and there's still so much more to come before the season finale in May. Elena fell in love not once, but twice, with two epic soulmates, and I myself made some of the best friends I'll ever know and built an extended family I will love forever [ . . . ] There's more to come before we wrap this up [ . . . ] but until then I invite you to hop on the roller coaster ride that is Elena Gilbert's life and join me as I celebrate her and prepare to say goodbye to her--and to my work family--as I move on to the next chapter of my life. I want to share this goodbye with all of you [ . . . ] You, the wonderful fandom who gave more love, support and passion than anyone could have ever imagined seven years ago, when a young Degrassi girl from Canada showed up in L.A. to audition for "that 'Twilight' TV show". ;-) I love you all. Fasten your seat-belts . . .
[2017] The things I want to do aren't necessarily the things that are expected of me. I don't want to play a teenager anymore. I want to play adult roles and be challenged and work with great filmmakers and tell incredible stories, and that has meant being really picky.
[2017, reflecting on leaving The Vampire Diaries (2009) in 2015] That was the plan from the get-go. If anything, the fact that [leaving] terrified me drove me even more. I needed to feel that fear of "Oh, my God, what if I never get a job again?". That just made me want to work five times as hard to make sure that didn't happen.
[August 2017, interview in "Ocean Drive" Magazine] I moved around a lot. My parents grew up in Bulgaria, and I was born and lived there for a very short amount of time before we moved to Canada. Every summer we'd go back to Bulgaria and do a lot of road trips to Turkey and Romania and all the neighboring countries, so I definitely got the travel bug young. I didn't have a privileged life, but I had the privilege of experiencing many cultures and meeting people from all walks of life.
