Teen Vogue
August/September 2003
"Secret Agent Man"
Thank you, Estee!
Ian Somerhalder goes undercover
on his new TV show, but his risk-taking skills don't end there.
It's fitting that Ian Somerhalder is starring in a new show called Fearless; so
far his approach to work has been just that. Not only did he kiss James Van Der
Beek in last year's The Rules of Attraction, but he's also determined to move
forward in his career by relying more on his brains than his brawn. "I've
written a screenplay about the sociological implications of the fashion
industry," says the former Guess model, who recently started his own production
company, Journeys End (named for the 900-acre Louisiana ranch where he was
raised). "All I do is work-I wake up, make breakfast, and I'm in my office until
eleven," the 24 year old insists. "It's sort of sad, because when you're in your
20s, you should be partying and having a good time!"
The fledgling producer originally got into modeling for one reason: to acquire
more stuff. "My parents worked their butts off to give us everything, but I
always wanted more-another horse, another motorcycle, or whatever," he admits.
From the age of ten to thirteen, Ian and his mother would go to New York so that
he could fulfill modeling obligations. It wasn't until years later, when he was
nineteen and visiting a friend on a movie set, that a manager approached him
about acting. "I probably looked like an extra," Ian says. "I was reading a book
and she just walked up." Appearances on Law and Order: Special Victims Unit and
CSI were followed by the TV show Young Americans and the films Life as a House
and Changing Hearts.
In Fearless, Jerry Bruckheimer's new show for the WB, Ian plays a criminal
turned FBI agent who falls in love with the wrong woman (Rachael Leigh Cook).
The concept certainly resonates with Ian: "I had an apartment in New York for
ten years. Then the week I moved to LA I fell in love with a girl from New
York," he says with a sigh. At least Ian's bicoastal love story has a happy
ending: His girlfriend, a designer named Sarah, is relocating to Los Angeles,
and the two are currently house hunting. Though Ian will happily gush about his
gal, he won't reveal her last name. "The last time that happened, she got 1500
phone calls from prepubescent girls who wanted to kill her," he says with a
laugh.
This summer the couple plan to get away from it all in the Florida Keys. Their
life together sounds fairly idyllic: "You know what we do together?" Ian asks.
"We fish. And we fly great distances to do that. Deep sea...lots of it...big
fish." Sounds like a model relationship. --ANNA DAVID