Twenty-four year old actor Zach Roerig stars as high school football star Matt Donovan on the hit series The Vampire Diaries. (He's one of the few people on the show who isn't a vampire...at least, not yet.) The Ohio-native chatted with Teen Vogue about how he started his acting career, why he's having the time of his life on set, and his latest obsession. 

It seems like the whole Vampire Diaries cast is having a great time filming down in Atlanta.Definitely. It's funny: Everyone's constantly trying to get some kind of dirt on the cast but we've known each other for about a year now. If one of us is slipping up a bit or doing something that someone doesn't like, we'll call each other out. It's not that entertaining as far as the juicy gossip goes, but I'm having the best time of my life. You grew up in a very Vampire Diaries appropriate setting--your father and grandfather made gravestones for a living? Yeah, my family business was monuments. I'd been doing that since I was able to tie my own work boots. I'm from a really, really small town in Ohio and it was always set up that I was going to be the guy to take over the business. Then in high school, I told my folks I might want to give acting a shot. 

How did you start your acting career?When I was like 16, I drove to Cleveland every weekend to study at a small boutique acting school--it's actually the same school that Sean Faris started out at, and that's how I knew him before he came on the show [as Mystic Grill's bartender Ben McKittrick]. Then three days after high school, I took off for New York.

What were some of your first jobs in New York?

I did some catalog jobs, modeling for Sears and Kmart. I did a Footlocker commercial...things like that. My first commercial was actually for St. Johns University--I play a student and it still airs during the Final Four.

You also produced a movie last summer?

Yeah, I produced--and starred in--a movie called Strawberry Wine. It's kind of a love story. I'm definitely interested in producing more--I've got like a million ideas.

You guys have a couple-month break this summer from shootingThe Vampire Diaries. Do you have any plans set up yet?

Ideally, I'd like to do a movie. But if I'm not, I'll be in L.A doing some paddle boarding, kayaking, camping, and probably some surfing. I'll go back to Ohio to finish some work on my barn--we have a family barn that's really, really old. I'm going to get it stained barn red and get it painted. This is going to sound really country, but I'd like to get it in an Ohio barn magazine or something. I don't know if there is an Ohio barn magazine--I might even try to get one published.

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