9 January 1989, Sofia, Bulgaria
Birth Name
Nina Constantinova Dobreva
Height
5' 6" (1.68 m)
Dating
Ian Somerhalder
Mini Biography
Nina moved to Canada at the age of two and has lived in Toronto, Ontario since. From a very young age she showed great enthusiasm and talent for the arts: Dance, Gymnastics, Theatre, Music, Visual arts, and Acting! Modeling jobs led to commercials, which then turned into film auditions. Shortly after, she booked roles in feature films "Fugitive Pieces", "Away From Her" and the popular television series "Degrassi: The Next Generation" on CTV.
Nina loves to travel and has often visited Europe both for pleasure, as well as competing internationally representing Canada in Aesthetic gymnastics. She enjoys playing volleyball, soccer, swimming, rock climbing, wake boarding, snowboarding, and horse back riding to name a few.
But above all acting is her passion, and she sees it as an adventure that has just begun; she believes that the journey and the characters we create along the way will help us understand ourselves.
Trade Mark
Big brown eyes
Long dark hair
Trivia
Studied with Armstrong Acting Studio.
Ranked #44 in the 2011 FHM Australia list of "100 Sexiest Women in the World".
Is best friends with Matt Lanter and Sara Paxton.
She has competed internationally representing Canada in Aesthetic Group Gymnastics. In 2005, she joined both the Senior World Championships in Copenhagen, Denmark and the Junior World Championships in Plzen, Czech Republic.
She enjoys playing Rock Band and engages in water sports including swimming, windsurfing, wake boarding, and scuba diving. Nina also loves to travel and often visits Europe. Among her other activities are playing volleyball, soccer, horseback riding, snowboarding and rock climbing.
She is fluent in Bulgarian, French, and English. For her role as Bella in the World War II drama Fugitive Pieces, Nina had to learn Yiddish phonetically.
She traveled to Kenya where she built a school with fellow Degrassi cast mates through Free The Children (a non-profit organization). She also wore a top promoting the cause towards the end of her movie, American Mall.
She went into a general audition for Degrassi: The Next Generation and read the part of Manny. Later, she was called back, read the part of Mia, and got the role.
She have been sharing an apartment in Atlanta with Kayla Ewell.
One of her hobbies is making jewelry. She plans on starting her own jewelry line in the future.
She is frequently compared, and is aware of bearing a resemblance, to Victoria Justice.
Some of her favorite films are "Knocked Up", "Juno", "The Notebook", "Transformers" and "Schindlers List".
Her favorite shows are "House," "Gossip Girl," "So You Think You Can Dance," "Heroes," "Nip/Tuck," and "Grey's Anatomy,".
Is a huge fan of the Twilight series and had hoped to play Bella Swan before being cast as Elena in ''The Vampire Diaries''.
Is a fan of the HBO Series True Blood.
Her idol is Rachel McAdams.
Is in a relationship with costar Ian Somerhalder.
Personal Quotes
Looking back on high school, I just remember specific scenarios and thinking, wow, that was such a big deal at the time, but right now it feels like it never even happened. So I guess if I can give any advice, I would just say that everything will pass, and it'll feel like it was a big deal over nothing. Life goes on and then you change and other things happen, and everything feels like it's so much worse afterwards. It'll always get better.
I did Degrassi for four years. It was my constant, no matter what movie I would do on hiatus or whatever I would do elsewhere, every year I would always go back to Degrassi, to my family, and they really sort of taught me all the groundwork and got me started. Before that I was really green, I didn't know what I was doing, so it kind of helped ease my path into the whole industry.
