The Vampire Diaries

We have a hard time picturing The Vampire Diaries’ Ian Somerhalder (Damon) as anything but the sexy and snarky Salvatore brother (besides maybe the adorable Paul Denton in Rules of Attraction). You may think he has it all, but the hottie has one regret about his chosen path: He really wishes he would have studied art history!

“I love art. I wanted to go to NYU, but I ended up booking a television show and moving out to L.A.,” the 33-year-old Louisiana native tells Status.

Ian notes that there are other ways to explore the art world without tedious lectures and 30-page papers on Impressionism, but he still laments not getting a formal education. “I wish I just had been able to take a crash course in it,” he says, adding, “I eventually wanna learn how to paint.”

Hey, it’s never too late to start — especially now that you’re a certifiable star.

Luckily for us, Ian’s mother saw his theatrical potential. As a child, Mr. Smolderhotter had an invisible friend named — get this — Ian. “Ian liked everything I liked so I asked my mom for this whole pack of gum and then she found me an hour later with my mouth full of it,” explains the TVD star. “And my mom said, ‘Wait a minute, Ian. I thought some was for Ian, too.’ And I said, ‘Nope, nope. Ian doesn’t like this kind.’ [laughs] So I used to do things like that. It just kinda made my mom realize that I was meant to be an actor.” We’re certainly glad she did. Our Thursdays wouldn’t be quite the same if Ian was appraising paintings in a gallery instead.

Source: Status

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