Nina Dobrev Recalls Fight for Equal Pay to ‘Vampire Diaries’ Male Co-Stars Ian Somerhalder and Paul Wesley

Despite being the only actor playing multiple characters during the early seasons of The Vampire Diaries, Nina Dobrev has revealed that she was paid less than her fellow male co-stars Ian Somerhalder and Paul Wesley.

The actress opened up about the behind-the-scenes equal pay battle in Entertainment Weekly editor Samantha Highfill’s new book, I Was Feeling Epic: An Oral History of The Vampire Diaries. Dobrev not only played Elena Gilbert in the hit CW series, but also her character’s evil doppelgänger, Katherine Pierce, starting in the season one finale.

“Candice [King], Kat [Graham], and I were the three lowest-paid series regulars in the first two seasons,” Dobrev said. “It was a bit of a tricky situation because my contract only said to play Elena, but I was playing multiple characters, which doubled my workload. I had to be on set for double the amount of time, I had to memorize double the amount of lines.