[Profiles] Actress Nina Dobrev Biography

General Basics & Summary
Name: Nina Constantinova Dobreva
Stage Name: Nina Dobrev
Height: 5′ 6½” (1.69 m)
Nationality: Canadian
Birth Date: 9 January 1989, Sofia, Bulgaria
Occupation: Actress
Early Life

Dobrev was born in Sofia, Bulgaria, and then moved to Canada at the age of two. She lived in Toronto, Ontario, until her relocation to Atlanta, Georgia for her job. Her mother is an artist while her father is a computer specialist. She has one older brother who is now studying to become an engineer. She attended J. B. Tyrrell Sr. Public School and Wexford Collegiate School for the Arts in Scarborough, Ontario. From a very young age, she showed great enthusiasm and talent for the arts — dance, gymnastics, theater, music, visual arts, and acting. Dobrev attended the Dean Armstrong Acting school where she was discovered by many different talent agencies in Toronto. Aside from participating in international gymnastics competitions as a teen, Dobrev also did commercial modeling, which eventually led to auditioning for film and television.

Career

Modeling jobs led to commercials, which then turned into film auditions. Shortly thereafter, she booked roles in feature films. 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.
Favorites:
• Books – The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold, The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, Fugitive Pieces by Anne Michaels
• Movies – Knocked Up, Schindler’s List, Juno, The Notebook, Transformers
• TV Shows – House, Gossip Girl, So You Think You Can Dance, Heroes, Nip/Tuck, Grey’s Anatomy

* In August 2009, Nina’s The Vampire Diaries co-star Ian Somerhalder encouraged her to buy an Audi car to help her get to and from the show’s film set in Atlanta.
* One of Nina’s hobbies is making jewelry. She plans on starting her own jewelry line in the future.
* Being a huge fan of the musical film Chicago, Nina derived inspiration from “Cell Block Tango” for her performance of “Survivor” in American Mall.
* Since she began filming for the CW series The Vampire Diaries in 2009, Nina and co-star Kayla Ewell have been sharing an apartment in Atlanta.
* Nina considers Rachel McAdams as her hero and idol. She also lists child rights advocate Craig Kielburger and veteran actress Meryl Streep among the people she admires.
* To keep in shape, Nina does everything in moderation and maintains a balance when in comes to exercise. She is also into Moksha yoga.
* Before being cast as the love interest of two vampires in CW’s The Vampire Diaries, Nina was a fan of the Twilight book series and dreamed of playing the part of Bella in the movie. She is also a huge follower of another vampire show, HBO’s True Blood.
* Nina is 5′ 6½” (1.69 m) tall. She has dark brown hair and dark brown eyes.
* Nina, together with Degrassi co-star Lauren Collins, graced the cover of the August 2007 issue of Verve Girl (Canada).
* Nina went into a general audition for Degrassi: The Next Generation and read the part of Manny. Later, she was called back, read the part of Mia, and got the role.
* Nina watched all of the previous seasons of Degrassi before she auditioned. Her favorite character was Craig.
* Nina attended Wexford Collegiate, an arts school in Toronto. In 2007, she began her post secondary studies at Ryerson University in Toronto, where she is majoring in Sociology. Nina also trained at the Dean Armstrong Acting Studio in Toronto, Ontario.
* Nina and other Degrassi stars spoke at Me to We Day in the Ricoh Coliseum. More than 7,000 students from across Canada attended.
* Nina traveled to Kenya where she built a school with fellow Degrassi castmates through Free The Children (a non-profit organization). She also wore a top promoting the cause towards the end of her movie, American Mall.
* She is fluent in Bulgarian, French, and English. For her role as Bella in the World War II drama Fugitive Pieces, Nina had to learn Yiddish phonetically.
* Nina was in a Family Channel commercial about standing up against bullying.
* When not on set, she enjoys playing Rock Band and engages in water sports including swimming, windsurfing, wakeboarding, 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.
* Nina 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.
* With acting being her true passion, Nina has shown love and talent for the other arts as well (dance, gymnastics, visual arts, theater, and music).
* In 2007, Nina dated actor and Degrassi co-star Daniel Clark. She is best friends with fellow CW talent and The Beautiful Life star Sara Paxton.
Source:http://www.nina-dobrev.org/