Eye Candy :: Ian Somerhalder - the luckiest kid in Hollywood

As the second season of The Vampire Diaries continues, more and more tv viewers are discovering Ian Somerhalder, the dark, sexy actor who plays the vampire Damon. Others may remember him from his recurring role on Lost where he played Boone Carlyle on the first three seasons of Lost. He was the first actor to be hired for the series and the first to be killed off.

It's not that Somerhalder is new to show business or the limelight. According to his website, the 32-year old got his start at the age of ten as a model at the encouragement of his mother. He modeled in New York, Paris, Milan, and London. His modeling credits include Calvin Klein, American Eagle Outfitters, Dolce & Gabbana, Gucci, Versace, and Guess?. He was the face of Guess? for two fall seasons.

Top 10 Model

He made his film debut as the bisexual Paul Denton in Roger Avary's adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis' novel, The Rules of Attraction, alongside James Van Der Beek, Shannyn Sossamon, and Jessica Biel. In May 2006, Somerhalder was named one of DNA Models' Top 10 Male Models. He also guest starred as Nick in HBO's Tell Me You Love Me, appearing fully nude in a sex scene with actress Michelle Borth.

Somerhalder also appeared on the short-lived series The Young Americans as well as the hit series Smallville and Dawson's Creek. His other film roles include The Tournament where he played the role of an assassin participating in a lethal competition with other assassins and the Gothic thriller Cradlewood, to be released next year.

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Watch this interview with Ian Somerhalder:

Watch this interview with Ian Somerhalder from MTV's It's On With Alexa Chung:

HIs Foundation

His commitment to environmental causes and protecting animal habitats led him to establish Ian Somerhalder Foundation, an organization devoted to empower, educate and collaborate with people and projects positively impact the planet and its creatures. For more on the Foundation visit the Foundation's Facebook page.

Having been born and raised in Louisiana, Somerhalder was shaken earlier this year when the Deepwater Horizon exploded, leaking oil into the Gulf of Mexico and onto the beaches where he played as a boy.

"I feel like I could cry right now," he told the LA Times last May. "It's not just because it's my home. Just watching all these very proud, hardworking fishermen, who have never asked for anything in their lives, who support themselves and their families for generations with this one industry. Now it's likely to disappear. If it'll ever recover, we're talking decades and decades. It's beyond tragic."

Kick their butts

As for being part of one of the two teen-aimed Vampire franchise (the other being the Twilight series), Somerhalder recently told Extra that he and his fellow Vampire Diaries vampires would kick the butts of the vampires of Twilight and the new Breaking Dawn movie. "I'm a lover, not a fighter ... but I believe we would kick their butts," he told Extra.

And when asked by the LA Times about his relationship with his co-star on the series Paul Wesley, Somerhalder said: ""I remember right when we finished shooting those beautiful billboard ads that were everywhere last fall, Paul [Wesley] and I went to a restaurant that's a mutual favorite of ours and we got a bottle of wine and we toasted. I said, 'Man, we could have been doing this with anybody else in the world. That would've sucked. But instead, it's us.' We've got such a great understanding of each other. Sometimes you come into people's lives for a reason. There's an attraction there, between the energies. We're lucky. I tell these guys just to remember, we are the luckiest kids in Hollywood."

Watch this interview with Ian Somerhalder from Extra where he says the Vampire Diaries stars could kick the Twilight stars butts:

Watch this interview with Ian Somerhalder from 2010 ComicCon: