Looking forward to Heroes Dutch Comic Con Winter 2025 - Ian Somerhalder

In the weekend of 22-23 November, the winter edition of Heroes Dutch Comic Con will take place in the Jaarbeurs Hallen in Utrecht. We sure can't wait to go! We have been there for every edition, since they started in 2015 and Dutch Comic Con really feels like our 'home' comic con. Today we are talking about one the guests for this upcoming edition and it's a good one.... Fans of "The Vampire Diaries" will go wild, because the one and only Ian Somerhalder (who plays Damon Salvatore) will be a guest at Heroes Dutch Comic Con. You might also know him from "Young Americans", "Lost" and a lot more. Sit back, relax and let us tell you all about the man himself!

Ian Joseph Somerhalder was born on December 8th, 1978 in Covington, Louisiana (United States) as the second of three children. This means that he has an older brother ( named Robert Jr.) and a younger sister ( named Robyn). Ian's mother, Edna, worked as a massage therapist, while his father, Robert Sr., was an independent building contractor. According to most sources, they divorced when he was 13 years old and Ian grew up with his mother. In later interviews Ian talked about how his mother was a spiritual woman. Ian grew up eating organic soy based food and he even ate green blue algae when he was a child.

Looking back on his childhood, it seemed to be predestined that Ian would get to play the role of vampire Damon Salvatore later on in his life. Young Ian grew up on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain, near the city of New Orleans. In that city (nicknamed The Big Easy), the occult still is very much a part of daily life. It served as an inspiration for many vampire novels and locals still believe that New Orleans is the home of the real vampires. Ann Rice, the writer of one of the most famous and popular vampire novels ("Interview With The Vampire"), was born in New Orleans and Ian's mother was a big fan of her books. Add to that mix the fact that Ian is of Cajun ancestry and the Cajun people are very much linked to folk magic and voodoo.

During his early school years, Ian already showed an interest in acting. He was in the school's drama club and he also performed with the local theater group. When he was 10 years old, his mother insisted on him giving modeling a try. Ian later explained that when he was growing up, money was tight, but his mother spent every spare dollar they had on putting him through modeling and acting classes. When he was about 12 years old (1990), Ian got a contract with Ford Models, which at the time was one of the biggest names in the fashion business. In the summertime, he would get on a plane with his mom and flew to New York to do modeling jobs. He worked for GAP Kids and Ralph Lauren (among others). In New York, Ian learned about the city of New York and its culture, but also about being on sets, art direction, camera angles and so much more. At the age of 13, he put his modeling work to the background and turned his focus on school and sports. He played American football and had a pretty normal life. Besides this, Ian played soccer, was in tracks, rode his skateboard and went fishing. Despite all of this, he missed the international feel that he had come to know during his modeling days. At the age of 16, Ian told his mother that he wanted to go back to work and back to modeling. He got a manager and a New York agency and they booked him a shoot with Steven Meisel (who at that time was the biggest photographer in the world). At the age of 17, Ian decided he wanted to refocus on acting, because modeling provided money but it was not intellectually challenging. He began studying the craft with acting teacher William Esper. The William Esper studio is dedicated to the acting technique of Sanford Meisner and William was a former student of Meisner himself. During this time, Ian also kept on doing modeling work to pay the bills and save up some money. Later on he stated that working with Esper helped him solidify his ideas to commit to acting to the fullest. 

In 1999, while Ian was shooting a GUESS advertising campaign in LA, he was asked to read for the pilot of "Dawson's Creek" spin-off "Young Americans". He begged for a few days off, to be able to do the audition and luckily GUESS owner Paul Marciano was kind enough to let him do it. Ian nailed the audition and got the role of Hamilton Fleming on the show (a role he played for 8 episodes). It was one of his first major TV roles and in later interviews he talked about his time on set in Baltimore. At that time Ian was 21 years old and he says he has never been more hungover on a set in his life. Ian says that he took his work very serious, but he also took his afterwork very serious. In 2002 Ian played the role of Paul Denton, alongside James Van Der Beek (who played Dawson in "Dawson's Creek") and Jessica Biel, in the dark comedy movie "The Rules of Attraction". Although Van Der Beek was the big star of the movie, it was Ian that stole the spotlight. Especially with his scene in the hotel room, dancing in his underwear with George Michael's 'Faith' in the background. Ian later mentioned that the scene was not choreographed or rehearsed. It was a one shot set up. 

Ian was on a family trip in Las Vegas, when he got a call about the role of Damon Salvatore. It was around 9 P.M. that the phone rang and he was told that the role of Damon was still open. There were 11 pages of script in his inbox and he had to be in Los Angeles the next morning. Ian was determined to get the role, so he went down to the business center of his hotel, printed out the pages and taped them on the dashboard of his car. He then got in the car and learned the lines while driving across the Mojave desert.  Showrunner Julie Plec was a big fan of Young Americans, so she was instantly interested in Ian when he showed up for the audition. She says he tanked the audition. Ian later said that the audition process was a period of total hell. While the studio test went pretty well, he totally blew the network test. Kevin Williamson took him apart and asked him what happened and said he just had to do what he did at the studio test (8 hours earlier). Williamson convinced the network people to give him another chance and Ian landed the role of Damon Salvatore. To prepare for his role as a vampire, he read some of Anne Rice's books. "The Vampire Diaries" premiered on the CW on September 10th, 2009 and it ran for 8 seasons. The show ended in 2017 and after playing a vampire for 8 years, Ian played a vampire hunter in the next TV show he played in. He played the role of Dr. Luther Swan in all 10 episodes of "V-Wars". Unfortunately the show got cancelled after one season.