Ian Joseph Somerhalder (; born December 8, 1978) is an American actor. He is known for playing Boone Carlyle in the TV drama Lost, Damon Salvatore in The CW's supernatural drama The Vampire Diaries, and Dr. Luther Swann in Netflix's sci-fi horror series V Wars. Early life Ian Joseph Somerhalder was born on December 8, 1978, in Covington, Louisiana, the second of three children of Edna, a massage therapist from Mississippi, and Robert Somerhalder Sr., an independent building contractor. He has an older brother, Robert, and a younger sister, Robyn. His paternal grandfather's biological father, a landowner in England, whose mistress became pregnant, paid off one of his immigrant workers, whose surname was Somerhalder, to marry her and take the newborn baby far away. His paternal grandmother was French. His mother has Irish ancestry; her maternal grandfather was Choctaw. He lived with his mother after his parents divorced when he was 14. Somerhalder attended Saint Paul's School, a private school in Covington. He embarked on a modeling career from age 10 to 13, and by the age of 17 he decided to go into acting. Career In the summer of 2000, Somerhalder starred in the short-lived WB series Young Americans, a spin-off of Dawson's Creek. He played Hamilton Fleming, the son of the dean of a prestigious boarding school. In 2002, Somerhalder played bisexual character Paul Denton in Roger Avary's adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis' novel, The Rules of Attraction, alongside James Van Der Beek, Shannyn Sossamon, and Jessica Biel. In 2004, Somerhalder scored his breakthrough role when he played Boone Carlyle in Lost. Despite his character's death in the twentieth episode of the first season, he returned to the role of Boone for seven more episodes between 2005 and 2010, including the series finale. He was the first major character to die. Following his departure from the show, ABC signed him to another one-year contract. In 2005, he stated that being a part of Lost was "the greatest experience" of "the greatest year of his life". In 2009, Somerhalder appeared in the movie The Tournament where he played the role of an assassin participating in a lethal competition with other assassins. He appears in the coffee table book About Face by celebrity photographer John Russo. In June 2009, Somerhalder was cast in the role of Vampire Damon Salvatore as a series regular in The CW television drama series The