According to The Hollywood Reporter, actress Nina Dobrev (Reunion, Sick Girl), one of the stars of The Vampire Diaries, shared that she felt unappreciated because she received less pay than her male counterparts. Although Dobrev was the only actor to have played multiple roles during the first few seasons, she still got less pay than her other co-stars, Ian Somerhalder (V-Wars, Time Framed) and Paul Wesley (History of Evil, The Ready Room).
The Hollywood Reporter detailed that the recently published book by Samantha Highfill (Yellowjackets: PaleyFest LA, EW Reunited), I Was Feeling Epic: An Oral History of The Vampire Diaries, is where Dobrev opened up about the behind-the-scenes battle about equal pay. Highfill said in her book that the negotiations for an actor’s pay usually start to happen during the third season of a show. Highfill also mentioned that Dobrev did get more pay, but not an equal amount to her male co-stars.
“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,” Dobrev said via The Hollywood Reporter. Dobrev was also playing Katherine Pierce, which started in the season one finale.
Dobrev recalled to The Hollywood Reporter, “I remember feeling like the studio didn’t appreciate what I was bringing to the show, and it felt like they were saying that all the hard work I was putting into it didn’t matter to them and that I wasn’t an equal to my male counterparts, and so that was upsetting to me.”
Highfill’s book, I Was Feeling Epic: An Oral History of The Vampire Diaries, is currently available for purchase.