About 16 hours ago by Erica Strauss

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.

我们看到《吸血鬼日记》里的Ian Somerhalder (Damon) 的照片,除了想到性感犀利的Salvatore哥哥很难想到别的(也许Ian在Rules of Attraction 里饰演的可爱Paul Denton除外)。你也许认为他已无所不有,但这个小帅哥选择演绎道路有一个遗憾:他真的很希望自己当初会去学艺术史!

“我热爱艺术。我原本打算去纽约大学,但最终我签了一个电视剧取而代之,并且一路搬到洛杉矶,”这个33岁的路易斯安娜州本地人这样告诉Status。

Ian虽然提到除了通过听单调无味的讲座和写30页的印象派方面论文,还有其他方发去了解艺术世界,但他还是对未能接受正规的教育感到难过。“我希望我能参加过这方面的速成班也好,”他补充道,“我最终想学会如何画画。”

嘿,现在开始还不晚——尤其对于你现在是实力派明星来说。

对于我们来说幸运的是,Ian的母亲看到了他的演绎天赋。小时候,Smolderhotter有个隐形的小伙伴——暂且叫做——Ian。“我喜欢的东西Ian都喜欢,于是我向我妈要了一整包口香糖,一个小时后她发现我吃的满嘴都是,”这个TVD 演员解释说。“于是我妈说,‘等等,Ian。我觉着应该给Ian也留点,’然后我说,‘不,不。Ian不喜欢这个’(笑)所以我过去常常做这种事。这使我妈开始有点意识到我注定成为一名演员。”我们确实对她的做法欣慰。如果Ian当初选择走在画廊里赏析的路,那么我们现在的每周四(美国时间)也就大不相同了。