Nina Dobrev is famously known as the lead of The Vampire Diaries, Elena Gilbert, besides her two doppelgängers Tatia and Katherine, and their common ancestor Amara Petrova. Her natural charm and her chemistry with her two co-stars Ian Somerhalder and Paul Wesley, who played the vampire brothers Damon and Stefan Salvatore, were some of the main appeals of the show. Before The Vampire Diaries, she made her debut in acting with small parts in the film adaptation of the Fugitive Pieces novel and the critically-aclaimed drama Away from Her. Her first major role came with Degrassi: The Next Generation, in which she played the model and teen mother Mia Jones for three seasons.

Undeniably, The Vampire Diaries was the show that shot her to stardom since it started in 2009. It allowed her to exploit her acting skills by playing an extensive range of variations to her characters, something that helped her gain a faithful audience and a strong presence in the TV geek community. The show wasn't the only project she worked on at the time though, as she was cast in Atom Egoyan's erotic thriller Chloe in 2010, and then played a minor character in the thriller The Roommate. Right after the latter flopped, a bigger role came with The Perks of Being a Wallflower in 2012, in which she acted alongside Emma Watson, Ezra Miller, and Logan Lerman. Two years later, she played Damon Wayan's romantic interest in the comedy Let's Be Cops.

Related: The Vampire Diaries: Every Character Nina Dobrev Played

Before the end of season 6 of The Vampire Diaries in 2015, Dobrev felt that she was done with her characters and made the decision to depart the series to explore new opportunities. The show went on to have two more seasons centered on the Salvatore brothers and other supporting characters, while Dobrev found her next role as Vicki Summers in the well-received horror comedy The Final Girls, a parody of slasher movies in which she played the popular girl. In 2017, she played the weapons specialist Becky Clearidge in the Vin Diesel vehicle xXx: Return of Xander Cage, before making an appearance as one of the participants in the fake date show "Termidate" inside the TV series Workaholics and later returning for the Vampire Diaries series finale to conclude the long-standing conflict between Elena and Katherine. That same year, she co-starred with Ellen Page and Diego Luna in the Flatliners remake before closing up the year with a small comedy called Crash Pad, alongside Domhnall Gleeson and Thomas Haden Church.

Nina Dobrev in xXx Return of Xander Cage

Dobrev then starred in 2018's Dog Days, a romantic comedy about five dog owners who meet each other beacuse of their canine friends. Her co-stars included High School Musical alum Vanessa Hudgens and Desperate Housewives' Eva Longoria. CBS subsequently cast her as the star in the short-lived sitcom Fam, which premiered on January 2019. Despite being canceled after only one season, Fam earned Nina a Teen Choice Award for Actress in a TV Comedy. More recently, she starred in the 2019 action film Lucky Day and the upcoming comedy Sick Girl, which remains in post-production. On April 2020, it was announced that she has joined the cast for Redeeming Love, an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Francine Rivers.

Slow but steady, Nina Dobrev has played variety of roles that have proved her talent and ambition. Everything suggests she's achieving her goal of growing beyond the role that made her famous. Still, her return to Mystic Falls is not entirely beyond the realm of possibility since the world of The Vampire Diaries has continued to expand with The Originals and Legacies.

Next: The Vampire Diaries: Why Nina Dobrev Left After Season 6