Nina Dobrev has told how fans were in uproar when she was cast in The Vampire Diaries – because of her hair colour.

The actress plays lead character Elena in the TV series, who was blonde in the books the show is based on, and said fans were “frustrated” to see a brunette in the role.

She said: “I couldn’t go online because everyone was like, ‘She’s not a blonde, Elena’s a blonde’.”

Nina went on: “But we had to change it because in the books Elena was a little bit more of a Queen Bee, the popular high school girl and it just didn’t seem relatable to a lot of people. The creators just wanted to make her more of a girl-next-door, who you can root for. If you’re not rooting for the main girl, then there’s no point in watching. You need to love her, you can’t hate her.”

The Bulgarian-born Canadian actress admitted landing the part was “a long gruelling process”.

“I’m so lucky that I got it because there was a lot of competition,” she added.

The Vampire Diaries begins on February 2 on ITV 2.

Source: The Press Association

Paul Wesley, Ian Somerhalder and Nina Dobrev, the cast of The Vampire Diaries is on the cover of Nylon. For February.

The photoshoot is in the gallery as well as a sneek of the cover. Scans will be added when we can find them.

Love Hurts

Up all night with the cast of Vampire Diaries.

Those well acquainted with Serena and Little J may find this fact hard to believe: Vampire Diaries, The CW’s budding show about bloodsuckers and the teen girls who love and / or get eaten by them, has double the number of Gossip Girl viewers.

What makes it such a hit? It could be the current cultural zeitgeist of Edward, Bella, Sookie, Bill, and immortal drama. It could be the lingering teen appeal of star Nina Dobrev (remember her from Degrassi?). Or maybe it’s just damn fun and funny.

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Can’t get enough of vampires? That’s exactly what the CW hopes, as they’re launching the latest and greatest bloodsucker saga, The Vampire Diaries, based on the books by L.J. Smith. The show’s leading lady is the lovely and talented Nina Dobrev, a young Canadian actress best known for her days on Degrassi: The Next Generation. She stars as Elena, a pretty and popular teen still smarting from the deaths of her parents when she makes the acquaintance of two vampire brothers, Stefan (Paul Wesley), who’s good, and Damon (Ian Somerhalder), who’s not. PopStar recently spoke with Dobrev by telephone as she headed into work down in Atlanta. The Vampire Diaries — which premieres tonight — will air on Thursdays.

How many girls did you beat out for the role of Elena?

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EW: Did you read the Vampire Diaries books?

ND: I have read the first three books. I’ve been told not to read any further because the creator, Kevin [Williamson], asked us to get the feel for it, read the first couple, but then he wants us to take our own interpretation. My character especially has been changed the most out of anyone because, on a superficial level, I’m not blond and blue-eyed. But other than that, my character, they made her a little more relatable and a little more vulnerable, because they want the audience to feel and relate to her, whereas in the book, she has a little harder edge. She’s a little bit more of a mean girl.

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Self-possessed, unassuming, laid-back–and dead tired after flying all night from the set of The Vampire Diaries in Atlanta, Ga.

This isn’t Nina Dobrev’s thing.

She’s 20 years old, she’s Canadian, her family moved to Toronto from Sofia, Bulgaria, when she was two, she attended Toronto’s Wexford Collegiate School for the Arts and she grew up on Degrassi: The Next Generation. Hollywood? Not her deal. Not really.

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There’s good evidence to suggest that actress Nina Dobrev’s new gig will prove her breakout role. After all, her upcoming teen soap “The Vampire Diaries,” premiering on Sept. 10, comes courtesy of the CW network, which launched the careers of the “Gossip Girl” cast two years ago. And with the popularity of recent projects like “Twilight” and “True Blood,” it seems viewers can’t get enough of fang-friendly fare.

“There’s just something about vampires that’s sexy,” says the 20-year-old Canadian. “It’s the same reason why women go for the bad boy — you want them but you shouldn’t have them.”

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Nina Dobrev

Oh, right, you’re thinking to yourself. Teenage mothers are so . . . 2007.

This is 2009, the year of the cult vampire.

If you’re one of the handful of TV viewers whose obsessions run to Degrassi: The Next Generation, you know Nina Dobrev as unapologetic party girl and teenage mom Mia Jones – the transfer student from Lakehurst who dropped out of school to become a model, only to return to her old haunts, and habits.

The Bulgaria-born, Toronto-raised Dobrev was a regular in Degrassi since that program’s sixth season.

Now, she’s about to be thrust into the bright, hot spotlight of U.S. network television in The Vampire Diaries, based on the popular series of young-adult novels by L.J. Smith.

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