Ian Somerhalder plays Damon Salvatore, the elder and far more dangerous of two vampire brothers who share a long and bitter history, in The Vampire Diaries.

Somerhalder is well known for his role as Boone on JJ Abrams' critically acclaimed drama Lost. He won the 2005 SAG Award as part of Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series and Lost won the 2005 Emmy Award for Best Television Series — Drama. The show was also nominated for the 2004 Golden Globe Award and the 2004 People's Choice Award.

Somerhalder appears on the big screen in Scott Mann's The Tournament, opposite Robert Carlyle, Ving Rhames and Kelly Hu. The film is about a battle that takes place every 10 years between 40 of the world's deadliest assassins.

Other film credits include starring in Ellie Kanner's Wake, opposite Bijou Phillips; Aaron J Wiederspahn's The Sensation of Sight, with David Strathairn; Roger Avary's The Rules of Attraction, alongside James Van Der Beek, Kate Bosworth, Kip Pardue and Jessica Biel; Irwin Winkler's Life as a House, opposite Hayden Christensen, Kevin Kline and Kristin Scott Thomas; Martin Guigui's Changing Hearts, with Lauren Holly and Faye Dunaway; and Tony Giglio's In Enemy Hands, with William H Macy, Jeremy Sisto and Scott Caan.

On stage, Somerhalder starred off-Broadway in Trip Cullman's Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead, an "unauthorised parody" of Charles Schulz's comic strip Peanuts which follows the travails of a grown-up Charlie Brown and the original gang as their beloved beagle dies. Somerhalder co-starred in the production with Eddie Kaye Thomas, Eliza Dushku and America Ferrera.

Somerhalder starred in the Sci-Fi Channel's Lost City Raiders, opposite James Brolin, which premiered to record ratings. And he also starred in the miniseries Marco Polo, playing the title character opposite Brian Dennehy and BD Wong. The film traces the Venetian adventurer's journey to Mongolia, where he was an envoy to the court of Kubla Khan.

Somerhalder's other television credits include the lead role in Young Americans, the TV movie Anatomy of a Hate Crime, and guest-starring roles in CSI, CSI: Miami, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and Smallville.

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