Ian Somerhalder is feeling very reflective lately.
In September, the actor celebrated not solely the fifteenth anniversary of his hit collection The Vampire Diaries but additionally the twentieth anniversary of Misplaced.
Talking with PEOPLE completely about his newest partnership with Nutro for the corporate’s first-of-its-kind farmers marketplace for canines, the actor, 45, appears again on the hit ABC collection that marked one in every of his first breakout roles. (Warning: Spoilers forward.)
Somerhalder remembers that the job was a “very humbling expertise” particularly as his character Boone skilled the primary main character loss of life in season 1. Although his Boone comes again a number of instances for visitor appearances all through the collection, the actor says his preliminary exit was actually onerous on him on the time.
“Dropping that, I used to be the primary one forged and the primary one killed, that was a type of powerful tablet to swallow,” he explains. Nevertheless, there was a brilliant facet as his temporary time filming in Hawaii additional impressed his ardour for environmental conservation.
“I started working on a whole lot of reef conservation,” he explains. “I started working on a whole lot of soil and water conservation even there. That is 2004, I used to be already doing this, my voice simply wasn’t as huge. Minimize to 2005, [I] left Misplaced, which was humbling. After which very starting of 2009 got here Vampire Diaries. And that was a rocket ship. Initially, it was a really, very, very younger viewers, however that viewers matured and it bought larger and larger.”
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He provides that “streaming modified the sport” for each Misplaced and The Vampire Diaries, introducing an entire new viewers of individuals to his work, each on and off display.
“[The Vampire Diaries] now has been seen by virtually like 1.2 billion individuals globally,” he notes. “So when you simply run these numbers, you type of step again for a second and take into consideration that, there’s 8 billion individuals on the planet, so it is roughly about one-eighth of the individuals strolling the face of the planet have one way or the other interfaced with this IP, the story. They have been affected by it, perhaps they’ve seen it, heard about it. That is an unparalleled platform. So when you can chain hyperlink some information and keenness collectively for me, animals and soil well being regeneration at a really massive scale, that is going to be fairly substantial.”
Somerhalder provides that he feels “huge gratitude” for exhibits like Misplaced and The Vampire Diaries as they gave him a platform to discuss initiatives near his coronary heart. “That path has gotten me to the place I really feel most genuine anyway, which is in a pair of cowboy boots, feeding the cows and operating horses.”
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Whereas Somerhalder is tremendous grateful for his previous roles, he notes his primary precedence these days is off display. “August nineteenth makes 5 years since I used to be professionally on digicam as an actor/producer,” he explains. “I stepped away from that after V Wars to construct these firms, launch movies like Kiss the Floor, Frequent Floor and Floor Swell and lift my youngsters. I keep in mind sitting with my administration speaking about this, saying, ‘Hey, that is the one factor I’ve ever recognized that is ever sustained my household, and I am strolling away from it,’ at this type of peak, might have gone and completed something, however these partnerships imply far more to me.”
“I say this in all humility, in all respect, however I might a lot quite do that than go spend two months in some metropolis, taking pictures a TV present away from my household or transporting my household forwards and backwards,” he continues.
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“When you attain a sure degree, you’re like, ‘Okay, I need to concentrate on household and the way forward for farming and meals and vitality and the large issues.’ I needn’t chase awards and something that might make me really feel higher about myself,” he says.
“The very fact now could be I get to companion with individuals which are launching issues just like the Larger Floor initiative the place they’re actually holding the fingers and investing in these teams of individuals, these farmers which are truly creating this meals that our pets and us eat. That is large,” he provides. “So that you go and also you do all these fancy issues and also you notice on the finish of it, it is the grounding stuff that issues.”
