Paul Wesley: Stefan, Stefussy & The Salvatore Brotherhood

It is your founding father, Alex Cooper, with call, her daddy, daddy, daddy, daddy, daddy, daddy. >> Paul Wesley, welcome to Caller Daddy. >> Thank you so much for having me. >> Okay, actor, advocate, director, bourbon connoisseur, father of Greg, best friend of Ian Summer Holder.

I mean, it is such an honor and a pleasure to be sitting down with you today. >> I do so sweet, thank you. >> Obviously, you were on one of the most iconic shows of all time in my opinion, the Vampire

Diaries, and I've always been obsessed.

I remember when I started watching it, I've rewatched it. I've told you in Nina that I am a fan multiple times, like Alex, we get it. And so it feels really full circle because now you and Nina are going to be doing a television show together, which is very exciting. >> Awesome.

You deserve to know the fact that you and Nina are going to be back on screen together. It feels like we're healing something within the world.

“How long has it been since you guys have worked together?”

>> Oh my goodness. Well, I mean, I gosh, let's see if my math skills are any good. So I guess the show ended in 2017, Nina left two years prior to that, but she came back for the finale. But I guess theoretically, 2017, we're in 2026, it's been nine years since we've actually

been on, it's almost a decade. >> By the time our show comes out, it will literally be a decade. >> By the time we're filming, and by the time it comes out, maybe a decade over a decade. >> Okay, I don't like that because that makes me feel old, but also I like it because everyone rewatches Vampire Diaries every five seconds.

So what feels nice is it feels like we haven't missed you guys too much. >> It's such a strange thing, is it's the weirdest thing, because once a show goes off the air, typically you're like, okay, it fizzles out and like, you know, whatever. And it's so funny because you know, Nina and I will do conventions, right? And I'll have someone show up with their teenage daughter, and they'll show up and make

me feel, and I grew up watching you, and now my daughter's watching you, and it's like

the weirdest like, it's this generational thing because of streaming, you know, and it never

ends. It's like a vampire, it's eternal. Paul, it's like we're still in mystic fall. >> We're still in mystic fall. >> We're still in mystic fall.

>> We never left. I've never left. I feel like I've never, it'll never leave me. >> Well, I love that so much, also I was thinking about it. You leave the show, obviously, and your life did eventually move on, but like, did you

and Nina know that you wanted to work together immediately after the show or didn't take

“a little second to get the itch, to be like, should we do something?”

>> Look, so it's like, it's very public that Nina and I had this very fun kind of back and forth relationship in the sense that what I mean by that is in the beginning, we didn't get along. And that's highly, you know, you publicize, that's something she's spoken about, I've spoken about, it's something like I'm breaking news, you know, and now we're like, we're

such good friends, and I absolutely adore her. And it's one of these things that like, it's not like the show ended and we're like, let's do something together. It's just sort of like, we would see each other, we would stay in touch, and then enough time went on where I was like, you know, I don't know whose idea was, but we kept saying,

we should do something, you know, and let's make it special, like, let's really make it great. And so we, you know, we were trying to find something for years, and then we would not talk about it for two years, and then another, we, oh, we should do this, and then until

finally, you deserve to know came about, and we're like, I think, yeah, let's do this.

Is he in jealous, do we need to write a man? We need to, maybe we need to like call a friend and ask him if he's jealous, right? He didn't. Do you want us to write you in? They're still time.

He's like, you'll pretend to know, but deep down inside, you know, he wants to be right in. Also I love, didn't you guys, you and Nina were, did you do court side together at one of the next game? Yes, yes.

“Just seeing it, I think the vampire diaries, every time you guys give any of those fans”

little something, we get excited. Because Nina just moved to New York City full-time, and I grew up in Jersey, but I consider myself a New Yorker. Because that's like a lot cooler. I was saying New York, and then people like really wear it, and I'm like, Jersey, they're

like, ah, but, um, no, but I, you know, I'm actually, I've been going to Nick's games for years, and I'm friends with Jalen Bronson, he's a good buddy of mine, and I called Nina, and I said, you gotta go to a Nick's game with me, and I know they would love to have you in Jalen. I'm gonna call him out.

I don't care. He's in my home. He's a huge vampire diaries fan, his him and his wife are huge vampire diaries fans. And so I was like, I gotta bring Nina to a Nick's game because Jalen is gonna love this. Oh, no.

Not him being a vampire, like everyone's like a huge sympathise, and he's like, Elena. So I texted him right before the game, I was like, hey, I just seen it, I'm bringing Elena to the, to the, to the, to the game, and he's like, no way, and it's so funny, because

They blew away.

“I forget who they were playing, but I think they won by like 50 points, which is like”

on her oven.

I was like, Jalen's doing this for Elena, isn't he?

I know. That's actually amazing. Yeah. Yeah. Okay.

In the new show that we're doing, Nina's husband is murdered, and you are the top suspect. I am. That is giving very different vibes from, Elena. It is. Very different.

What are you most excited about with this new dynamic? You're not in a romantic relationship, you're more, friends on a show. Yeah. I mean, you know, you were there when we were developing it obviously. Yeah.

Exactly. Producing it. But, you know, I mean, obviously Aaron Kappen, one of the EPs, he said, do you guys want to play, you know, romantic partners, and Nina and I talked about it, and we kind of like, we feel like there's some, like, there's just like this whole, like the Stephanie Elena

thing is so iconic, and so perfect, and in a weird way, we don't want to like, like, I, I, not ruin it, but like have a comparison, you know, we don't want to, we don't, like if we were playing husband and wife or boyfriend and girlfriend, like, people would compare that to Stephanie Elena, so we wanted to create a new dynamic, so that we offer something new to the fans, where we're still interacting on screen, but it's in a different

capacity. I know when I really respected that because just for everyone watching trust me, we sat there and were like, so you're sure you don't want to be married. You guys like Alex, but I really respect that you guys have so much respect for the craft of like what you built on Vampire Diary, and I do agree with you in a way that like, it

would almost be hard to see you two in a couple and not be like, Stephanie Elena, oh, wait,

“no, this is a different show, so I think we did it right, exactly, I think so as well.”

But don't worry, everyone, I asked, since the show is called, you deserve to know, I'm going to ask you, okay, the stories that we deserve to know Paul, okay, public deserves. Yes, we deserve it, and you're going to tell us these stories, please.

Here we go, tell us about your first kiss, okay, so my first kiss was kind of like, I remember

I was in the, I used to live in this like, um, community in New Jersey, where it was like townhouses, but there would be like a public swimming pool, and I was in the public swimming pool, and this girl, I don't even know she was, she dared me to kiss her underwater, and I was like, let's do this, I had my goggles on, I don't know, maybe I was like, 10 or something, and I went down there and we kissed underwater, I still remember her,

like, fractured face kissing the underwater, and none of our parents knew about it, it was really sweet. Not your first kiss being underwater. It was underwater. Paul, with goggles, and maybe even floaty, I may have taken off my floaties.

Yeah, otherwise. That's so romantic. And then eventually you did it on land, but eventually on it, and I remember my first on land as well, which was like my first girlfriend ever named Carolina shout out. And I remember my, somebody dared us to French kiss, right, where that's a bigger one.

Oh, that was so big deal. Oh my god, like a French kiss behind the, you know, after the school bus drives you off, and I was like, and I was like, okay, I can do this. And I just remember, like, you know, you would think I would be like very excited. I was just like, I cannot believe people like this.

How do people like exchanging saliva? I was still too young to like fully appreciate it. And I'm poor, Carolina, because I did not, I wasn't like, I wasn't hyped about it. You're just like putting tongue out and closing your eyes. Yeah, I was just like, you're like, you're like, let's get through it.

Okay, cute.

“What is it time when you completely misread the vibe, but still shot your shot?”

Like with a girl? Yeah. Oh, man. Twice. Oh, yeah.

I mean, there's twice twice twice that I could think of. I remember like the most simplistic one is like, I remember being on a date with someone who would go on name because she's actually an actress, and this was like obviously way back in the day. I was, you know, very single, pre-bamp art hours.

And I just remember like, I thought the date went really well. And I was like, I'm just gonna, like, I'm gonna go in for a kiss, like a good night, you know, like a good night kiss. And I just remember, she just, like, I went for the kiss and she was just like, no. And it was like, yeah, like the turn.

And then I had to pretend that it wasn't a kiss and then it was like just a hug. And I was like, it was the most awkward. It was so awkward. I haven't seen her since. Thank God.

No, literally sense that moment. Yes, you never saw them.

I've never saw her again.

Did you reach out after a evening? No. No, you both did. No, it was like the worst. Oh my God.

It was those embarrassing. They ever, yeah. Paul. Yeah. That.

And then I remember one time I was in New York. I just remember, I was on like a fire scape in New York City and I was having this conversation with this girl. I was like at a party.

And it's like, there's any guys listening.

Don't do this. I was just like, I looked and I was like, can I kiss you? And she just goes, no. It was like, Paul. And I was like, oh, okay, those were like the two times I can think of.

What do you do though to recover from that? Did you say on the fire scape, or are we like, I don't recall it was so long ago. But I remember being like, what a dumbass I cannot believe I just asked her. When she clearly has no interest in me. That's actually completely basic.

Okay.

“What is a night out that you can remember that gave you the worst Sunday scaries?”

Oh, God, I've had so many of those. You mean like, is that what you mean by that is like? He made some bad decisions and I before you woke up really bad hangover like, oh, what

did I do like, Paul, what did we do last night?

I mean, I was a bit of a troublemaker when I was a kid. And my friends and I got fake IDs like, you know, at the age of 15. And we would, you know, these horrible fake IDs, but somehow they worked in New York City. And we would take the train up to the city at like 15, 16 and go to these clubs and stay out till like seven, eight in the morning.

And like that was like, oh, it's the worst. I can't even imagine doing that this living in New York City when they're young or in New York City. You're like, you lived a different life. Yeah.

What do you mean you're at a club at 15? That was crazy. And I just remember like sneaking out of my house and like, you know, doing the traditional like stuffing my bed with something that looked like a human. And then like losing track of time.

And then like my phone, of course, like I didn't even have a phone. I don't even this is like pre cell phone. And I was at like a beeper. And I just remember like seven in the morning with hit on a Sunday. And I would get like a beep.

The beeper would go off my mom would be like 911 911 call me right now.

“Paul and I'd be like, oh my god, how am I going to explain this?”

Oh, wow. But also like 15 year old boy being in the club. Oh my god. Like not having much success. I would assume.

None. None. I like about as much success as I had on the firescape. You're not, you're not buying bottles. No, I'm not doing anything.

I'm standing in the corner doing God knows what you're like, you know, like, getting the balms or like, get out of here. And they all knew it was a fake idea, but there's something I'm letting you know. I was like New York in that time was like a totally different round. Okay, a time when you did something petty to get back at someone.

Oh gosh. Um, I, I mean, I'm not, I would not consider myself a petty person. However, however, um, you know, like in high school, um, I went to three different high schools. I wasn't like a cool kid at all, and um, and even in middle school.

And it was like, you know, the, the, there was definitely like tap times where I was like, you know, the, the town bully or like the cool kids who were older that didn't want to invite you to the parties or like, you know, kind of making you feel like, you know, you're not part of the in crowd and all that. And I remember, you know, there's the, the, I got on this big TV show.

I was 26 and all of a sudden out of the woodworks come all these guys that wanted nothing to do with me in high school that, like, all, you know, the girls that wouldn't give me the time today. And all of a sudden, they're like, hey, man, like, oh my gosh, my girlfriend, you know, my girlfriend and my sister, whatever, like, let's hang out or hey, can you, you know,

can you, can you, can I, can you call my sister or something, just say hi, and I was

“like, you know what, like, as petty as this is, no, like, like, like, no, you know what I mean?”

It just felt like now you want to be friends, you know what I mean? I appreciate, though, when people do that, because you're like, I remember. Yeah. And I don't think that's fully being petty. That's, you being, like, oh, I clocked exactly up at the right now.

You don't get me now. Yeah. Bit of all good. Yeah.

And I, you know, in my philosophy these days is always like, killing with kindness.

Like, I'm always a kind of guy who's like, if it, to always just be nice to, like, kind of, like, that's my technique, like, I don't, I don't want to be petty. But I do remember when I was in my mid 20s and the show came out, I was like, you know what, I'm going to be petty. I'm going to be a little bit better.

I'm going to, you know, I think we're all backing you on that one. Yeah. Something you did unexpectedly that went viral on the internet. I mean, I can think of a very, one very big thing that became viral on TikTok, which was when a fan asked me if I'm, I like Madison beer.

And I thought it was, I thought that was a type of beer. And I said, I've never had that kind of beer before. And I was like, I don't, I've never had Madison beer on beer. So that was, that was special. And then as it, like, kind of spy rolled, and then, like, how did you handle that moment?

Do I need to, like, make a public apology?

Because she obviously is very famous. She's like, you know, but I'm just like an idiot. I don't know. And, you know, you're in your own world. I don't know.

It's going. And so I was like, you know, it was, it was very funny because it became this whole thing. Like, I remember, I forget there was some publication that, like, I get, you know, frankly, it was during COVID, too, so it was less, less stuff going on, but it was like, top 50 pop culture moments of 20, whatever, 20, 90, whatever the heck it was.

And I remember it was like, Paul Wesley thinks Madison beer is a beer. And I was like, that makes the top 50.

“Do you get anxiety when something like that you did is trending?”

Or do you not care? I think it's funny. I don't care. Yeah. You don't care.

Yeah. When I was preparing for this interview, I discovered something new about you. Oh, no. I didn't know that your name isn't Paul Wesley. Right.

I'm going to try to pronounce it, and then you're going to-- I can't wait. Okay. Hold on. Your first name is Pave.

Almost. Okay. And your last name is Vashi-Lefski. Whoa. Oh.

Do you have something like Eastern European descendant? No, I actually put the pronunciation down for myself, Vashi-Lefski. That's perfect. So, okay. Wait, you say it.

Say your full name. Pavel Vashi-Lefski. Pavel. Pavel. Pavel.

Oh. Oh. Wait, that doesn't suit Philly. Hold on. Let me try that.

Pavel? Pavel. Pavel. Pavel. Okay.

What happened? I want to play any senior pain on you deserve to know.

“Like you want to play a polish like murder suspect, like as I think you could do?”

Honestly, maybe. Yeah. How did we get here? How did you get from that to Paul Wesley? So my mom, so my parents are both from Warsaw, and they immigrated to this country.

My older sister was born there from Warsaw, Poland, and I was the first of the family to be born in the United States, and growing up, we didn't speak any English. Or sorry, my parents didn't speak English well, and we spoke Polish at home, primarily. So my mom always called me Pavel, and Vashi-Lefski is my name, but in school, it was Paul, Wasoluski, because that's how the Americans would pronounce it, which you know,

what I've finetically, I guess that's like, or whatever if you read it. That's, so it was like my whole life, it was Paul Wasoluski, and I'm like, it's really, like, Wasoluski doesn't like speak to me. Do you know what I mean? Like, that's not who I am.

So I try to like correct people and be like, no, it's Vashi-Lefski, and really, no, no.

And I started acting, and then I got my first few TV shows, and it was like, always

this huge drama to pronounce my name, and I just said, you know what, if they're going to call me Paul Wasoluski, I'm not as well just change it, you know what I mean? So I didn't change it legally. I remember thinking, I wanted to, I'm on my last name to start with a W, and I wanted to end with an E sound, because like my real name, Wasoluski, Vashi-Lefski,

so I started like, I just literally started writing down random, like, like, last names I could work, and I somehow stumbled upon Wesley, and I was like, like, the ring, I like the sound of that. And I just came up with it. It was as simple as that.

It's like totally arbitrary.

“We, what did your parents think about you changing your name?”

Like, I remember asking my grandfather, who, who, on my mom's side, so technically, it wasn't his name. But I remember being like, he's like, go for it, absolutely change it. Like, duh, of course you just changed it. My dad was a little bit like, I'm not so sure, but then they kind of came around to it.

And I didn't change it legally. Yeah, legally, I'm still, yeah. Oh. Vashi-Lefski. Yeah.

Okay, so your parents can be really happy about that. Exactly. Okay, that's good. Just my stage name. From New Jersey.

Not New York. Good to clarify. Your parents immigrating from Poland. Can you paint the picture of what your house was growing up? Put us right in there, Paul.

What are we experiencing in this home? I had a great childhood, you know, my parents are, they're wonderful. And you know, what's great is I grew up in the proximity 45 minutes south of Manhattan.

And so it was always like Manhattan was just kind of like, oh my gosh, this is like

the place, right? Thank you always, like I was so enamored, like I really wanted to end up somehow in Manhattan. And I remember I was playing ice hockey my whole life and my parents were, they're pretty smart people like my down into Columbia. He's a computer engineer, my mom's as a master, and it's like college, and my sister's

a lawyer. They're all pretty like highly educated. And so I just never fit into that mold. I always wanted to do something different. And I started doing theater and all this, and my parents were so great because they put

And so I started doing these acting classes in Manhattan. And somehow an agent saw me and was like, hey, do you want to audition for stuff?

“And I was like, sure, and that's how I ended up in Manhattan.”

I got a TV show at 16. I started making my own money, and I got my own apartment in the city. But so they, I, I guess, in answering your question, like, I credit them with giving me the kind of like flexibility and like allowing me to pursue my dreams and being really like, they, they wanted me to be happy.

They weren't like, you have to go to, you know, they wanted me to get good grades. But they weren't, they weren't, they were like, more important is for you to be passionate about what you do. And so I feel like I was able to do what I love to do and to have this career in, in film and television because they were supportive.

Well, that's incredible because I feel like so many people don't have that experience

with feels like you have to rebel, but to have actually supportive parents, it must have felt so safe for you to explore your passions. Absolutely. Being close to New York though, obviously there's so many different cultures that come in and out of New York in a beautiful way, but like, you were in New Jersey.

Yeah. So was, and, and close, Jersey Shore, right? Yeah. Yes, 20 minutes. You're like, please.

Come on. Come on. Calm down. But if I showed you some photos of me, you'd be like, for sure, that guy could have been on the

“Jersey Shore, you remember the Jersey Shore out there, right?”

Paul? Yeah. Oh, my God.

So I've never seen the Jersey Shore, so, but there's a funny story to tell you.

So I used to do the whole Jersey Shore thing at a house in Belmar, my friends and I used to lift weights and, you know, like, it was like, you know, Jim Tan Londry and all the kind of, like, literally wax our eyebrows and like, you know, walk around like this in our tank tops, anyway, it was like, so pathetic. And I remember, like, I was in my 20s and I was doing, like, something for the vampire

diaries and somehow, they're like, oh, the cast of the Jersey Shore is here and I was like, oh, cool. I don't know. I've never seen it. And, um, the guy who plays the situation.

Well, if you say the guy who plays the situation, that is really, yeah, yeah, like this situation. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. So that guy comes up and he's like, hey, Paul.

And I was like, hey, and he's like, we used to hang out in the Jersey Shore and I was like, we did and he's like, yeah, we, and I asked a few friends, but like, yeah, he used to hang out with us. We used to go out with the Jersey Shore. I didn't even know.

I was part of the Jersey Shore, you know, this bumping, you had this situation right under your fingertips. Yeah. And you didn't even know. I had no idea.

You may have been out with Snookie and you didn't even know. For all I know, I could have been actually, yeah. Paul, why do I feel like that's your life? You're like, I didn't even have this in here with a beer. I didn't know I was pet friends with the situation.

I didn't know anything. Exactly. Like life just keeps happening in Paul's, like, oblivious to that's crazy. Yeah. Okay.

So did you ever get a spray tan? Of course I got a spray tan. You could get a tan laundering, actually. I did. I did a spray tan when I was at my friends.

I'm telling you. I mean, I, it's like, I shouldn't be admitting this, but like, I'm telling you when I was like 17 and we used to like literally, like, it was all about like how big our muscles are. I was like 40 pounds heavier, like it was all about muscles and being tan and then like making sure you have no chest hair and like walking around the jersey store like this and like

honestly fighting, we would get into like fist fights all the time and like, oh my God. It was like, you have no idea. When you were saying that you were getting jacked and you were doing all that, you know what it made me think of? What?

Donnie. Donnie from the OC. Paul. Donnie from the OC. One of my favorite shows.

Were you in one episode? I was only on one episode. Okay.

“You made such an impression to remember that you were on the OC and to only be in one episode,”

that's pretty incredible.

You'd be surprised how many people come up to me and go, Donnie. It is the craziest thing, like just one episode and I remember because I read for the main guy who's Ryan, who's Ben McKenzie's a good friend of mine. I adore him. By the way, so is Adam Brody and I just met them on when I was doing Donnie when

I was playing Donnie. But anyway, when I was doing Donnie, no, and I, no, I remember I read for Ryan. I didn't get it. I was very devastated and they called me and they're like, how about Donnie? You're more of a Donnie and I was like, sure, I'll play Donnie and I just played myself

basically. Oh, it came so because that was like, you were in Chino with Ryan or something and you guys like, or like, whatever, you, you were there, you were like the scary guy. Oh, yeah, I shot somebody, I shot the, the blonde guy, I was like, yeah, bitch, you shot Luke.

You shot, I shot Luke. You fully shot, I shot Luke. You came into the party. You had the gun.

Oh, my God.

Cut the clip with good old Paul, roll the clip with Donnie.

Bring it back.

“I remember I think you would like a thick arm band and, oh my God.”

Oh, you were so Donnie. I was so Jersey. I was so old. I felt organic. A hundred percent didn't have to study for that roll at all.

See you eventually get into that thing. Right. And in the early days, you end up living with your childhood friend, Ricky and his Pomeranian in a studio apartment in the Westville, in the Westville. Yes.

Did you have two beds? Oh, that's the one. The Pomeranian and him on one, me and the other, two twins, you know. Oh, two twins. Yes.

We're right there next to each other. Yeah. Oh, like, they're on nightstand in between. And by the way, this is like, yeah, exactly, literally. And this is back when we were like wearing tank tops and like, you know, and you know,

still feeling yourself. Oh, yes, still feeling so everyone was like, welcome to the neighborhood. And Westville. And Westville. And Westville.

What were you three getting up to around that time?

Um, God, no, by the way, I love that you said you three including the Pomeranian. Yeah, like the Pomeranian. Pomeranian was clubbing with us. No, it was like, I was on a soap opera with Brittany Snow. Oh, who was like, yeah, who's I think she did, she did the show.

Yes, I do. She's one of my dear friends. I sure. She's the best. So Brittany and I played Boyfriend and Girlfriend on a show called The Guiding

Light. I was like 16 years old, making a bunch of cash. I was like, Ricky, I'm going to get an apartment in the West village. And he's like, great. Is that how you would talk?

Yeah, yeah. Pretty much. Okay. Something like that. There was a lie in there.

It was a little near. It was given a little like a soprano. Yeah, you know, I used to have a fixtures, yeah, accent. But anyway, and then I was just like, let's just like get the, and it was just like the best time of my life.

You know, it was like fake IDs and just partying and, you know, doing this soap opera.

“And like, frankly, like, that's where I like kind of learned how to, you know, I remember when”

I first got on the soap opera, I was so uncomfortable. And like the soap opera taught me how to like work with the camera and like, you know, be more relaxed.

And like, it was an amazing training ground and so many great actors came from from that.

But like Brittany. Brittany's important. I want to hear something funny. I'm going to call out Brittany. She said this story.

So it doesn't really matter. I think of it to us. Really funny. Brittany's. I wonder, Brittany.

She said this story. So it's fine. So I, we were on set and like, you know, I'm like, 16, 17, so like, you know, whatever. I had like, you know, done a bunch. I've, I've kissed.

I had a girlfriend. I'd kissed women girls before. And, and Brittany and I had their first kiss scene. And I was like, cool. No big deal.

Like, whatever. X. We're playing barbing up. And Brittany was younger than I was. And we did the kiss scene.

And I'm like, okay, like, that was fine, like that went well. And remember afterwards, her mom comes up with me goes, just so you know, that was her first kiss ever. And I was like, what, I didn't know that in like, to this day. I'm so cute. Yeah.

So sweet. To this day. This is like kiss on camera with me. It was really sweet. I mean, you're a good guy.

I feel like that you probably made it just like so sweet. And like, yeah, yeah. That's cute. So it was really nice. Now we're really good friends.

Yeah, it was really nice. And see, just how both, like, successful you've been in your own rights. And just think about you like little young in. Yeah. Imagine Brittany also being probably so nervous.

Oh, my god. I can imagine. Yeah. It's actually really good that you didn't know. Yeah.

Exactly exactly exactly. Yeah. Okay. So what would you and Ricky do though? If you both, if you had like a girl that you wanted to bring back.

And we got the twin bets, Paul. Like, what are we doing? Oh, my gosh. Like, what happened? What did I do?

You're like, Ricky? Yeah. No, it was um. I don't remember. I believe the fifth.

No, I don't know. I think we probably. Yeah, like Ricky, you know, go take a walk. Get out of here. You can leave the palm rain here.

Yeah, leave the palm rain here. It doesn't care. Okay, fair. So you and Ricky had your stint. You did your thing.

Yeah. Then there's been another romance in your life. Uh-huh. With none other than your vampire diaries. So it's our holder.

Ian's on our holder. It's molder. Is that what we call him? I call him the smolder holder.

“Like, when you call him every day, or is that what you're saying?”

Just smoldy. I call him the smoldy. Smoldy. Is he like that? I think deep down inside he likes.

What does he call you? Um, fuckface. Probably. Yeah. My lathe curse.

No. I mean, we're so funny. We call each other. Like, in an eye or like, we're like in this like domestic partner. No, not in domestic bar.

We don't live together. It's like this, like, we're in like a marriage. You know, it's like, we started off as like colleagues working together. Then we're like best friends. Then we're like, okay.

We see each other. Every day for eight years. I love you. But also like, then we're like brothers.

It's like, we are so, it is like such a complicated.

It's like my longest relationship. I've ever had in my life. We've been, I feel like we've been together for 20 years. And we know we, I can know what he's going to say before he's even going to say it. And he knows what I'm going to say.

And we're in and young. Deep, bigger like a married couple. Oh my god. We bigger. We hug it out.

“We like, I mean, it is like, how do Nikki and Natalie feel about it?”

Like when you guys are all together. They're like the calm energies and like, we're the Tasmanian devils. Like they're like, by the way, thank God for Nikki and Natalie. Like Natalie's like, comms me down so much. And I feel like Nikki comms him down so much because him and I are alone.

No, Natalie's energy when we got drinks. I was like, she is so good. She's so good. She is so steady. So steady.

So steady. So sophisticated. Oh my god. Lovely. I'm so happy for you.

But now knowing the two of you are like that. I'm like, oh, even more now. Yeah. And like, yeah, Nikki and Nikki as well is like much more. Like Ian is like Ian is like moves a thousand miles a minute.

You know, and like have you met Ian? No. He's like, I mean, the guy will literally. He can talk to anyone for like two hours. Like he will literally just corner you and talk to you and lose track of time.

Like he is like this. He's the most personable person that you'll ever meet. Like you would love him. Everyone just looks into his blue eyes and just like melts. It's like, it doesn't work on me anymore.

I'm like, get the hell out of here. Yeah, but it worked initially. Wow. Okay. Almost 20 years in this partnership in this marriage.

Yeah. Go back think about what was your first first impression of him. And like when did you first meet him? I my first the first time I met him was in Burbank, California after we both got cast on the show. We knew we would be playing brothers.

“And they're like, you need to go to this dental office because you need to get a fang of fitting.”

We need to get your fang's fitted for the show because they have to mold them. So I remember I was like pulled up to this dentist and he's like leaving. And I'm like, hey, hey. I guess we're going to play brothers. He's like, yeah, yeah. He's like, I just got my fangs fit.

I'm like, yeah, I'm going to get my fangs fitted as well. I was like, I'll see you on the plane tomorrow. And then I remember like being like, okay, cool. And then I remember we sat to be decided to sit next to each other on the plane on the way to Vancouver because we shot pilot in Vancouver. And I'm sitting there and we're chatting.

And this is a perfect example of how me and Ian are total polar opposites. I'm glass half empty. I think everything is doomed. He's glass half full.

And we're usually someone, the truth is usually somewhere in the middle.

This time he was right. I look at him and I go, so we're doing this pilot. He's like, yeah, I'm like, I don't know, man. I'm like, vampire diaries. I was like, I was like, you know, you think we're going to get picked up?

He's like, yeah, I think we're going to get picked up. I'm like, I don't know, you think it's going to be a hit. I don't think it's going to be a thing. And he just looks at me. And I still remember to this day.

He just goes, oh, contrary. It's a fair moon frayer, it's going to be a big deal. Mark my words. And I was like, oh, contrary, I'm on frayer. I was like, who speaks like that?

But anyway, he was right. He was right. He was right. He was right. He was dead on.

Oh, my god, that's actually kind of crazy though because knowing because you guys ended up shooting all the time in Atlanta. Yes. But going for that pilot, I've obviously interviewed actors before that it is crazy to know like most

of the time that first episode is not filmed with where it's going to be filmed.

And you have no idea if you're going to get picked up. No idea.

“When was the moment do you think you were like, oh, I like, I think I really like this guy.”

Like, so first you're kind of like dipping your toe in the water. You're like, oh, conjure effort. You're like, okay, this guy's like kind of cookie. And I like him and he's uplifting. But when were you like, oh, we're friends.

Well, so we, so the show got picked up. And then I was like, okay, I was like, well, and then I was like, I'm going to take this shit really seriously. Like, this is a big deal. This is like huge because I had done like eight pilots and they all failed.

And like, I mean, some got picked up, but none of them lasted. And I had this feeling after the show got picked up. I was like, and it tested really well. They tell you about like whether it tests well with the audience. Like, they're like something special with this one.

I was like, we have to do a good job. So I was like, Ian, we need to like, we're playing brothers. We need to like bond and we need to like really study together. He's like, you're right. He's like, I have an idea.

He's like, let's fly to Atlanta and let's get apartments next to each other. So we can just live next to each other. And I was like, good idea. So I remember and to this day, I remember we literally get to the airport. And I pull up.

I'm wearing these light blue jeans, a black leather belt, a white hand shirt, a black ray bands and cowboy boots. These like fry boots. And I look over at him and he's wearing the exact same thing.

he looked like the blues brothers. We got off the plane and we were like, decided to go apartment hunting and got apartments next to each other. So that we can be close to each other so that we can practice and study lines together. And it was just like the funniest thing pulling into Atlanta where in the exact same.

And we had the same back color backpack as well.

“And I remember we what we stated the like the W hotel for the first night.”

We walked in and everybody just looked at us like, we're these guys, it's really funny.

He's basically your soul mate.

Yeah, so he was like my brother the minute we landed in Atlanta. Okay, but then I'm like, I can't help but be like, why do I feel like I can see Ian and you living next to each other was a good idea at first. And then you're literally like coming home after a long time. Yeah.

Then you go into rooms. You're like talking about playing. Yeah. I was like, you'll be in the long. He's like knocking on the wall.

You know, truthfully like jokes aside, like we really like we didn't mess around. Like the first two seasons we were like, oh my god. And then like by the third season we're like, we're good. This doesn't need to be fake bourbon on set anymore. Like, let's go ahead and maybe switch to that with some woodford reserve.

And by the way, yeah. Sorry, Warner Bros. Because you guys did drink so much. But we were just constantly. By the way, it's not like we were shit based on set.

But like, you know, towards the end of the day, you know, you're like, I'm, I've drank enough of this like unsweetened iced tea, which is supposed to be bourbon. I think I can like, you know. And like the amount of scenes that like Ian had to do like dancing,

like in the mansion alone. Yeah. Give that man a little something. Give that man. Yeah, get him some bourbon.

Yeah. Yeah. Speaking of bourbon. Look at that transition. You guys started brothers Bon bourbon inspired.

Kind of by these like vampire diary days that you had together. Yes. How many drunk nights did you guys have? I'm too developed this and get it right. So, you know, so COVID hit, right?

So we always talked about doing a bourbon.

And I remember COVID hit. And it was like, I couldn't leave. Like I was sort of a no mad. I was shooting these TV shows. I was like up until COVID.

And then I was stuck. We were all stuck. We couldn't leave. And I remember being in, in, in, we live in the same little community at the time.

In, um, we had houses in, in, in, to Pango.

“And I remember, um, Ian called me up one day.”

He's like, hey, man, we're not doing shit. We can't leave our houses. We can't do anything. So you want to just come over and like blend some bourbon. And like, let's figure out how to blend some bourbon.

And like, let's launch a bourbon. And I was like, yeah, I'm not doing anything else. So we, I just would go to his house. And we would just like drink. Create these blends for like, and in his kitchen.

And we'd go by the fire pit outside. And we would just like try. Like he would come to his house. And he would have all these like graduated measuring cylinders. He looked like a mad like, you know, like, uh,

in back to the future. What's his name, Doc? Oh, oh, it was like a way. He kind of looked like that. It's hair.

Was it? Everybody was mad at him. He had his beard. He was like, had all this bourbon. I was like, like a chemist.

And I remember we would just like, we just like, we just like spent, like months, just like creating these blends that we liked. And then we finally found something we loved. And then like, we sent it into this lab, essentially,

to analyze the mash bill. And they were like, this is your mash bill. Is that great? That's Brother's Mon. And then we like did a small friends and family,

uh, round and raised a little bit of money and launched the bourbon. And boom. Exactly. That it's like so crazy to see. And it's such a great idea.

Obviously you guys have such a strong brand already in the two of you, but then to launch that that felt very organic for you guys to get together. And we like genuinely like jet, and this is not like a plug. Like we genuinely love bourbon. And like that's all we drank in Atlanta.

You know, when we would finish filming, we like, God, like we just shot 14, 14, 15, 16 hours.

Let's go to the bar and we would always drink bourbon.

That was like our thing. And so like the brothers bond. Obviously it's like a nod to me and Ian on screen. We have a bond as brothers. But also like off screen, that was like our brothers bond.

You know what I mean? So it was very funny because when we started the company, we were like pitching Walmart. And our CEO was like, "We need a name." And they were all calls in an hour.

We can't just like pitch a brand that doesn't have a name. And he was like, "Okay, I got it, I got it, I got it, I got it." I was like, "Okay, what is it?" He's like, "Brother supreme." And I was like, "Brother supreme."

I was like, "To that's the worst name for bourbon brand ever." I was like, "We are not brothers supreme."

“He's like, "I think it should be brothers supreme."”

I was like, "I give me a minute." And I sat there, I was like, "I just started texting all these, and I was like, "Brother's bond." He was like, "Brother's bond." He's like, "Great done."

And then like 15 minutes before our pitch to Walmart, we had the name brothers. Well, I also love it because it's so you and Ian. Like, he basically came up with the first word. And then you're like, "No, no, no, no, no."

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Second word is this boom, go.

but do you have any alter egos when you're drinking?

(laughs) I'm like a pretty good drinker. Do you know what I mean? Which is probably not a good thing. Are you like happy or you're quiet?

I just know, I'm just like happy and like funny. And like, you know, sometimes I do these Q and A's online. Oh, we're getting there. Okay, like half the time I'm like drinking. Okay, so like, you know, yeah.

Well, that's how I-- Maybe more than half the time.

“No, I love it so much, that's how I know.”

Like, that is some people's worst nightmare. It's like, "I don't want to do anything online, unless I am what-- no, exactly what I'm posting." You're like, "Oh no, I'm drinkin'." I know give me a drink.

No, give me a drink. I'll tell you what I-- like, what I don't react well to is like, some people are like, "Oh, I'm going to smoke a joint." And then I'm relaxed. That's like my worst nightmare.

If I smoke a joint, which I don't-- I don't react well to marijuana, I will be the most awkward, insecure. Like, I will have a total mental breakdown. Like, I'll have a panic attack.

But if you give me like a bourbon or whatever, I'm like chilling. You're ready. I'm-- I'm my real self. Okay, let's talk about those Q&As.

Yeah. You have really-- you've really cornered the market. I-- unintentionally for the record. This was not a master plan. Paul.

Another byproduct of COVID. Okay. A lot of good things came for you, okay? I guess so. So you started posting this like,

close friends Q&A thing basically.

And talking about the criteria for close friends. Okay. So this is how-- this is the Genesis. Okay.

“So a girl that works with us named Remi,”

who's awesome. She does all the brothers bond. Like, she does our social media. She does a lot of our marketing. She does whatever.

Long story short. Remi was like, "Hey, there's this app that allows you to have close friends that subscribe to your-- like, as I didn't have a close friends,

like on my own Instagram, and there's just like, it allows your fans to be close friends. It's this app thing. I forget the name of it.

And I was like, she's like, "Should I sign you up?" I'm like, "Sure. What the hell else am I doing?" It's COVID.

And so she's like, "Great. Do whatever you want." I'm like, "Well, I'm not going to like, it's not only fans. I'm not going to like post shirtless selfies."

But I'm like, "So what can I do? What can I do to like make people feel-- so I'm like, how can I interact with people?" So I just started doing these random, like, ask me a question.

And like, let's just shoot this shit, you know? And then suddenly, this was-- I didn't realize that you could then take those Q&A's--

Oh, huh? Screen record them. And then suddenly they ended up on TikTok. And by the way, unbeknownst to me. So suddenly,

I'm all over TikTok with these Q&A's. And that is how this whole thing happens. It is like, the real line of this is Paul Wesley. I have no idea what he's going on. I have no idea what he's going on.

This whole interview. Yeah. And then somehow, this thing called tick. I know. It sounds like it's this pre-meditated.

I promise you it's all just-- I know I believe you. Yeah. You could tell. Okay, so we're going to make Daddy gang

feel like close friends of yours today. All right, let's do it. We're going to do a little Q&A. Okay. And you're going to get in the headspace of, like,

your phones in front of you. You've had a little bourbon. Yeah. And you're just going to answer from the heart. Whatever comes to mind.

Okay.

“What is something that really pissed you off lately?”

What is something that really pissed me off lately? Oh my gosh. So many things pissed me off all the time. Well, I haven't spoken to Ian in a week, so I've been pretty calm.

Zen, more than use. No, I mean, I listen. I love Ian, but he will drive me crazy. Because he is-- He's too positive.

He's too-- he's too-- glass half full. And I need some negativity in my life. So I would say, like, Ian. The answer is Ian.

Why haven't you spoken to him in a week? I just-- I don't have been busy. Yeah. I got a call. Please call him.

We'll call him. Yeah, we'll call him now. Should we call him? Yeah, just tell him. Say hi.

Come on, Ian. All right.

Let's see if he picks-- by the way, he never picks up the phone.

Let's just say, maybe. Do I even have-- I don't even have him in my favorites, such as going to show you-- I think it's in my phone. No, I haven't in my phone.

Do you have a minute's in some more holder? Oh, my God. You're going to laugh. I have him. I make fun of Ian's Fedora's.

Of course. Of course. I have a giant exaggerated Fedora as his profile photo. He won't pick up. This is going to piss me off.

He has me with pissing me off. This is what's going to piss me off. Looks like I'm in the middle of the show. Never picks up. I feel like he would pick up.

I think that's his personality. Ian, come on, pick up the phone. I feel like you're the one that wouldn't pick up. I'm the one I definitely wouldn't pick up. Your call has been forwarded to voicemail.

Are you kidding me? This is what pisses me off. Ian. Oh, wow. OK, so he doesn't answer your calls often.

He's just, you know, Ian's a kind of guy that, like,

he's, like, literally will, like, put his phone down and corner someone for, like, three hours. And then you, no one can get a hold of him and we're all just like, yeah. He's very focused on what he's doing, which is probably a good thing. He's not a multitasker.

Got it.

“OK, what is something that gives your fiance Natalie the "ic" about you?”

Hmm. Oh, um, I refuse to go to bed unless I have a humidifier in a sound machine. Oh, wow. So I have to travel with a humidifier in sound machine. You're high maintenance.

I like good sleep. It sleeps important to me. Sleep important to me. Do you do the mouth tape? No mouth tape.

OK. I cover. I cover. Your plugs? Sometimes.

Oh, you're strapped in. I'm strapped in. Natalie's like, I'm not feeling turned on right now. She's like, she's like, I look over you. You have a malvguard, a sleep mask, a white noise machine,

and a humidifier blowing in our faces. She's like, Paul, can we just, like, can you chill? Just throw it down. Can you just, like, relax? Can this, this is a good visual to have.

Yeah, or not? No, no, no, no. Yeah, yeah, yeah. OK, what is the craziest thing a fan has sent you? I mean, I have a crazy story.

I don't know if this is something that they've sent me, but one time, I came home. I was living at the time in Hollywood Hills. And I came home from a, um, this is kind of weird. This is actually kind of creepy. I came home from something.

And it was like the middle of the night. And I remember, like, at 11 p.m. I pull up, and I don't live in this house anymore. So it's okay. But I pull up in the driveway.

And all of a sudden I see, like, like, nine suitcases in my driveway. OK. And like, you know, those, like, it was the weirdest thing. You know, like, back in the day when women would go to the hairstyles, and they had those bowls.

Yeah, yeah. What do they call them for, like, a perm? Yeah, like a perm? Like a perm bowl. Yeah, yeah.

It was a perm bowl. I was in your driveway.

“I was like, why is there a perm bowl in my driveway?”

Why is it going on? And there was a fan there. And she goes, hey. And I was like, can I help you? And she's like, I, we've been emailing.

You told me I can move in. I, by the way, swear to God. And I was like, what are you talking about? She's been, she was emailing with someone who thought She was pretending to be.

She was pretending to me and said that I, she can move into my home. And she brought the perm bowl. Oh, I was going to say, I don't know what's a weirder that she was ready to move in. I'm not weird at all.

The perm bowl was the thing that we were doing. The, the luggage was like whatever it's fine. We could deal with this. The perm bowl was like, why does that have to come with this? I wasn't ever going to perm bowl.

Yeah, or whatever, what do you say? It's a dryer. But when you're getting a perm bowl. Yeah. Well, so what did you do?

I just, I said, look. It's not me. I haven't been emailing.

First of all, I was like, how do you know where I live?

And she's like, what do you mean? Everyone knows. I was like, everyone knows. It's like, what are you talking about? So that was, yeah.

Yeah, that's weird. That was weird.

“I also heard someone sent you a big box of sausages.”

Oh, yeah. Yeah. Someone did send me a big box of sausage. Thanks for reminding me. But yeah.

No, I did. I did get sausage. And what, what did you take from that? I didn't eat the sausages. Yeah.

I don't know if it was in you end of. It was, maybe it's because I'm Polish. Yeah. We'll go. It will make you feel better if that was it.

It was because of the Cuba. Yeah. Maybe they were meant for Ian. So they were like, get this to Ian. I was like, no worries.

I'll get that over to him. Love Island. Have you watched?

I've never seen love Island.

So do you not know what the clamslam? I don't know. I do what the hell you're talking about. Is the weirdest thing I've ever heard in my life? If you had to think about like, are it a clamslam?

What? I don't even know where to start. Okay. Walk me through this. This is your new Madison beer. Okay.

So everyone in the world is talking about like the clamslam. Really not everyone in the world. But you know nothing wrong. Okay, true. It's the clamslam that was heard around the world, basically.

Okay. So there is this woman Kenzie. And on Love Island. Yeah. She could just be mid-conversation with you.

And then she just drops to the ground and she does a split. Okay. I'm seeing your face. Oh my god. I'm laughing so hard.

Boom. But just a quick little one-two boom to the ground. It's just snorted. Um. What?

I mean this is so... I don't love feeling. I know. But I just didn't know maybe you. Jersey.

I don't know. Like, didn't you know? Are you asking me?

Like, as...

“Have I seen a clamslam in the Jersey Shore?”

Why? Have you ever seen a clamslam in real life? It's like... I have never... I didn't even know.

I don't even know where... I don't even know what to say. I've met up for some of my life. I'm a lot of loss for words. I'm not allowed to start an interview.

So yeah. No. Okay. Okay.

You've never witnessed a clamslam.

No. Okay. Okay. No, this is good. This is good.

I think fans are going to love that. We're moving on. Please. Kenji's going to love that one. Okay.

Are you in Justin Bieber in any way related? I don't think so. I don't. Not to my knowledge. You see people say you look like.

Yeah. Not when when I was younger. It is true. Yeah. I've seen some photos of the fans have taken photos of the two of us.

And they put them. And yes. No. Have you ever met him? I don't think so.

We got to get that together. Yeah. Okay.

Someone who also looked like you.

There was a Halloween costume. Situation. Oh. Yeah. And.

Yeah. I'm going to have to find the pictures and put them up because when I was looking at them. Yeah. It is so.

Insane. It's unbelievable.

“Can you tell the story to everyone watching of like what happened Paul?”

Right. I don't even know how they came to my like how did I how I learned about them. But effectively like. I just started getting word of these that I was. People were like hey man like.

Didn't know you were doing Halloween costumes now and I was like. What? Like what are you talking about? Like yeah. My sister just saw you in the Halloween store.

And like yeah man. Like your heart on cash. Like what's going on? I was like what is that? So I was like somebody find me this Halloween costumes.

And suddenly fans started sending them to me. People online were like hey Paul I just saw you at this Halloween store. And they would send me photos. And so I got wind of these Halloween costumes that are so unbelievable. Because they're so awful where they just literally took my face.

And they would put them on various. It's almost like a comedy. They would put me in like various positions like. You know like Luigi but then like the mustache was upside down. And then they'd be like warrior warrior.

You know Zen warrior master and it was like me in a robe. And I called my lawyer and I'm like what can I do about this? Like there's Halloween costumes with my. I was like one there's one with me with a sombrero. It was like unbelievable.

And I was like what did they come up with these ideas? Anyway, I had a few people bring them to me.

“Like I actually have them physically have them.”

So anyway my lawyer found out the comedy that was making the Halloween costumes. She was like hey, see some assists. Like what are you doing? Like you cannot use my clients face. And they were like we have no idea what you're talking about.

They're like this is not this is someone that looks like Paul Wesley. This is not Paul Wesley. Like this is and it's literally my face. And I'm like what do we do? She's like we don't it's a company out of like the company's base in China.

Like we don't know how to get to look. They don't know what to do. So to my knowledge, they're still producing these Halloween costumes. Oh, Wesley still out there. He's out there like and I'm just like GI Joe.

And there's always a new one.

There's like doctor. And then it's like, but then it's like my hands are huge. But then I have these like short legs. It's like the weird. It's like they're like the worst Halloween costumes ever.

I see you just keep seeing like every Halloween. There's like a new. I'm playing it. It's like it's like cosplay. Like I'm playing a new character.

Oh my god. And so you have no compensation for that. No comment. By the way, should be getting tons of compensation. The roof.

The roof. Okay. That's really weird. Yeah. Yeah.

Can you? This isn't really big question. Yeah. So I need you to lock in. Okay.

Can you still throw an off in the clam slam? But I'm still recovering by the way. Like I'm frazzled. Well, I started sweating. I was laughing so hard.

Yeah, me too. I snorted. I don't snort. The clam slam will go down. You know what the clam slam is?

It will. Really. This is. This is a good transition from the clam slam. Okay.

It's kind of. Same caliber. Okay. Lock in. Okay.

Can you define. Steffesy. I got to lock in. Yep. That's what I've said.

I got to take my time with this. The water break. Whatever you got to do. It's a bit. It's a bit of an enigma.

It really is. I was doing the Q&A. As you know, the infamous Q&A. And, um, and one of the questions someone called me a Steffesy.

I am going to answer that question.

“They say, I think they said are you a Steffesy?”

Or something like that. And I was like, I'm going to answer it. I could choose the questions, you know. So I willingly chose that question. I was like, I think this is a good idea.

This is a good one to answer. And I, and I was like, and I don't remember. I guess I am a Steffesy. And somehow this became the greatest. Like, now when I walked down the street.

I swear to God, people aren't like, hey Paul or like, hey, you know, Steffin from the van hurtaries or whatever any other thing. Or just like, what's up Steffesy? So now for the rest of my life, I am a Steffesy. Because I, someone asked me if I was a Steffesy on my Q&A.

Paul? So Paul? If you want, you tell me what a Steffesy is. I have no idea. Nor do I.

I can't even. Like, we kind of maybe understand what it's like. It's like, it's, yeah. It's almost better to not define it. It's almost better to not define it because it could be whatever it is for anyone.

Exactly. We can't put it in a box. Yeah. Wow. Yeah.

And by the way, I keep waiting for it to fade. I'm like, surely in time. Oh, no. Oh, no, no, no. You're on Caller Daddy.

And we got Steffesy questions. Oh, no, no, it's been years. Yeah, yeah. We will not leave me. But you did it to yourself.

I did it to myself. You almost wonder. Who? Who was that person?

“And, and are they pissed that they are not getting the credit?”

Come for it. And how do you prove? How do you prove? How do you prove? Who came up with Steffesy?

Some genius. Some genius. Who knows? Who knows? We're going to circle back to that.

We will. I have a question. Yes. Even though, obviously, you touched on this way earlier, but I still have to ask. When you and Nina started vampires and you were like, we hate each other.

How did you, when you look back, how did you two come together and make it look so good on camera? Because I'm like, just, you know, just for the record. It's not that it was like, we immediately were like, all right. It wasn't like that.

We were like, actually great. And then it was just like, we would have these like, it's slowly.

You know, it was like, first of all, we were all in our 20s.

I was, I will take a lot of responsibility because I was a bit of a curmudgeon. I was like a bit of a grumpy pain in the ass. I was like, taking my acting seriously.

“Yeah, I think you were a little intense.”

No phones on set. Like, I was a little bit intense. I was a little bit intense. And then, you know, everyone else was like a little bit more chill. And so I think I'm going to take a lot of responsibility for being a bit of a pain in the ass.

Okay. All right. So that's that's number one. And so, but we were both professional. And we both knew and the work mattered to us.

So regardless, so we would, we would like butt heads on set. But then the minute the camera's rolled, it was like, we knew we wanted to make it magical. And like, some actors just, you can be like, to have two really good actors and the chemistry isn't there.

For whatever reason, Nina and I had this chemistry. And I remember when I was auditioning for The Vampire Diaries, screen testing for it, it was like me and nine other guys. And I remember like all these guys were like, you know, kind of kissing your ass, trying to like, you know, whatever. And I remember I just was like, I'm not going to look at her.

I'm not going to look at her. I'm not even going to acknowledge her because I want to meet her in the audition.

I want to meet her for the first time in the audition.

And that because our scene was us meeting for the first time. And I just remember being in the audition at Warner Brothers, like in front of all the executives. Like, we looked at each other and it was just like this immediate chemistry. And we wore these two characters and it just was magical. And so regardless of us not like getting along, it's somehow cool.

Yeah. I don't know. I guess I didn't really answer your question. No, like, when did you guys start to be like, okay, like, maybe we can be friends. Like, was it like season one?

We were like, you know what? No. It was like season. It was like season. So her last season was season six.

And I remember. And then five minutes before she left. No. No. And I just remember like in during the season six.

I remember we like, we all kind of grew up and I chilled out. And I was like, less of a pain than the ass. And I just remember looking at her. And I was like, you know what, you know. She's still, I was like, you're going to miss me one day.

I said that to her. I was like, you're going to miss me one day. And she's like, maybe, maybe. And I remember like, then like, she and then like years. Like two years went by and we kind of kept in touch.

And then she came back to do the finale. And I like, and we like, we like hadn't worked together in two years.

And I was like, I was like, I missed you.

You know, hey, like, I missed her. Like I missed having her around. And then, and then like it was like just, and then to this day.

“She's always like, I remember you said to me,”

you're going to, you're going to miss me one day. And you know what? You were right. Like you were right. And it was like, it's just like this thing that just like slowly happens.

Well, you know what's so cool about that? And yeah. Because I remember talking to Nina about it. And it's like the amount of episodes that you guys were doing. TV shows don't really do it.

Like that anymore. Like how many were in a season? 22. Sometimes we would do 23. I wish we could go back to those days so I could just binge it all.

But now there's like eight. But like that amount you guys were together so much. And so sometimes you almost like don't recognize what you have until it's gone kind of thing. Absolutely. And I also think like it's different environments.

There was a lot of stress, you know, in your young and like there's this whole like,

you know, this was like very pop culture, you know, like we were like at the forefront. It was very different from like having like a success in like a prestige show. Where it's like people know you, but you don't have like screaming, you know, fans. And we had this like a lot of pressure and it kind of like we just didn't not.

I, I'm going to speak for myself. I did not handle it in a way that was like, like really mature. And I was going to ask like the becoming so famous and having such a fandom.

“Like how, how did you feel about it in the beginning?”

And how did you like navigate that? I was really a very deeply uncomfortable. Um, a truthfully. I'm not just saying that's like, oh humility. Like I genuinely like was deeply uncomfortable.

And I kind of like turned into like a bit of a recluse. Like I didn't go out that much. I didn't do that much. And I think God, we were in a way thing. God, we were in Atlanta because we were kind of like separated from the Hollywood

and all the parties and all the nonsense. And so, but I definitely like sort of like try to hide under a rock a little bit. You know? Um, and I didn't like luxuriate in that moment because this is such a special time. You know, acting is such a difficult career and like to have something that's successful

that people love and people like look forward to is such a privilege.

You know, and I didn't take it for, it's not that I didn't, I didn't take it for granted. But I definitely, the things I came with it. I didn't enjoy them. Whereas now I'd be like, this is awesome. You know?

But at the time I just didn't, it was like whipped. Yeah. Did you guys in Atlanta like, would you guys hang out and like go to bars all together? Yeah. Together 24/7.

Totally. Were you able to go out? Yeah. Yeah. We had like our one bar that was like our stomping ground.

That was like our bar. And it was, it doesn't exist anymore, but it was called Crog bar. And it was this tiny little bar. It was like a wine bar and we took it over. Every Friday night, every Saturday night, it was like our thing.

The, all the whole cast would go. The crew would go. And that was like, and nobody else would, the, and like nobody else really went. And that was like our thing and we didn't really go anywhere else. Oh, my God.

That makes us, that makes me really happy. [MUSIC] Okay. Steffen. Yeah.

Yeah. If Steffen had told Elena in season one that he stalked her because she looked like Catherine.

“Do you think their relationship would have survived?”

Probably. It's kind of creepy. Kind of weird. No. I don't think it would have.

Okay. Did Steffen and Caroline's relationship feel like a natural evolution to you? Not really. I agree. Yeah.

I, I didn't need that. Yeah. Do you think he should have ended up with Caroline or Elena? I think the brother should have died together and he should have ended up with no one. Oh my God.

morbid. Ian feels the same. Wow. Do you have you guys talked about that a lot? Oh yeah.

Ian's like, I wish I died with you. He's like so upset. I love so you guys like. Oh my God. He's so upset.

Oh yeah. Okay. I'm glad you guys agreed, though. Yeah. Did you overtake anything from set?

Yes. I took the daylight ring. And then I lost it. Paul. Can you believe it?

Ian still has Paul. I took a pair of jeans. They saw Steffen on them. They had them engraved. He's Steffen.

No. Just so they wouldn't get mixed up with Damon's. Oh like a bomb. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Now that we would do that anyway. Come on.

Go to events and wear my ring. Me a little bit. But you have them. Theoretically. Oh, Ian's like, oh, I have my ring on.

Just to give them a taste of a game. And I was like, you're losing. But you're also secretly like, I was so happy. But I was secretly in jealous. He needs to get you one made for your birthday.

Yes. I'll work on that. Yes. Okay. Most within real life.

Steffen. Silas.

[laughs] Silas.

“That is such a good segue to the next one.”

Okay. Where do you stand with Matt Donovan today? I, first of all, love a Zechroy who played Matt Donovan. I have a,

my whole gag with Matt Donovan.

The whole reason I, always giving Matt Donovan shit.

This is because Matt Donovan was the only human. He's the only mortal. Okay. And he's the only one that like didn't die. How did he not die?

And I'm like, how did Steffen die like nine times? And then like, how did Elena, he also, there's this one scene where like Steffen, I don't know if you remember this. Like Elena's drowning in a car with Matt Donovan.

And seven's like this immortal vampire. And I'm like, I'm going to go save the love of my life. And he dives down there. And he's like trying to get her out. And she's like, no, no, no, don't save me.

Save Matt Donovan. And, and, and Steffen's like, okay. And then he just takes Matt Donovan and she drowns. So like, I have this like, you know, I'm like, what is going on?

Okay. We, I forgot that he was Matt Donovan in the car. That's my whole beef. That's my beef. Wait, that was so unbelievable.

But it was because like Elena felt bad for Matt Donovan. I didn't even expect that. Whatever. Imagine, are you kidding me? Like, what? No. We don't care about all that.

We don't. We don't. We do not. I mean, we love, we love Matt. Look, Matt was an instrumental character. And we love Matt Donovan.

But we will, the love of my life here. Come on. I'm going to say, I'm not going to save the sheriff. And you save the sheriff and let her drown. Okay.

So till this day, it's a big problem for me. As it should be. Thank you.

“What storyline could you just knock it behind still?”

Still. Um. God, there was so many storylines because we did like 170 episodes. It's like, it's like my brain is like, it's all just like this. Mishmasha.

I mean, there was a couple. What? There was like these. What, what did they have these? These, um.

Gosh, you know, the show better than me. I didn't even seem the show.

They had these, um, I've never seen it.

I've seen it. I've seen the first couple of episodes. And then I directed a few episodes. I watched the episodes I directed. I've never seen the show otherwise. So I actually don't remember.

How are we going to do like a, do we watch? Should we wear daylight rings? You know, uh, you want to make some bank. Yeah. You and Ian rewatch podcast Vampire Diaries.

I thought that would probably do well. Call me. I'll call you. Can we, like, do a. Yeah, we'll do a whole lot.

Yeah, I got a whole lot. I got a whole studio for you. Okay. Okay. Let's just say it.

We'll talk. We're going to get everyone to excited. So now you actually have to do it. That is true. You can't fall through.

Let's talk about your love life. Okay. You got engaged last summer. Yeah. Last summer.

Yeah. Congratulations. You guys met in the wild. Yeah. Which is like, that's so few people meet in the wild.

“Now, so can you indulge us like, how did you guys meet?”

You know, it's funny. Ian was there. Course he was there. Ian was there. So it was there was we were promoting brother's bond.

Hi. And my buddy owned a bar. The bar doesn't exist anymore. Sadly in the east village. And he said, hey, pop into our bar.

And like, well, we'll get you guys a brother's bond cocktail. And we'll, you know, you know, whatever. Shoot a few photos for us. Like get us some press for the bar. And like, we'll support brother's bond.

And he's a good friend of mine. I was like, yeah, of course. Let's do it. So we were like Ian and I were in New York. And I was like, let's pop into this bar.

So we went to the bar in the east village. And we were shooting some content and stuff. And I had a couple of the friends meet me there. And I just see this beautiful woman sitting there. And I was like, who's this?

Like, hot girl. I was like, I, and I looked at her. And I was like, okay, I don't want to be creepy. I'm not going to look. And then I saw her look at me.

And I was like, aha. It's like, okay. So clearly there's like some sons going on. So I was like, I'm just going to go.

And I never, like, I, like, don't hit on girls.

It's like, not my thing. I'm terrible at it. And I, whatever. So I was like, I'm just going to go there. And I'm just going to like say hi.

And thank God, my friend, who owns the bar, happened to be there. And I walk over. And he's like, hey, and he's like, hey, by the way, have you met Natalie?

And she was right there. So thank God, he introduced us. Because it's probably would have been a disaster if I just like, cold, you know, whatever. And I said, hey, nice to meet you.

We started talking and found out she was from Europe as well. She spoke five languages. I speak two languages. And we started talking and then just like, just really hit it off.

And that was it. That was kind of like, you know. And then just like, I left the next day. Actually, we just like exchange numbers. And I left, I left for Europe.

I went on a guy's trip to Europe to Italy. Funnily enough. And then we just were texting. And I would send her some picks from Italy. And then I got back to New York and she was still there.

Because we had been texting for like a few weeks.

And then fast forward, you're now engaged. I'm now engaged. How, how was the proposal? Were you stressed? Did you put a lot of thought behind it?

I put some thought behind it. Because so I had to go to, once we started dating, we hadn't been dating for very long. And I had to go to Italy for, I was doing a, there's a magazine called Icon.

It's an Italian, whatever. It's a cool fashion magazine. I did the cover and we were doing a launch party in Rome. And they were like, you can bring a guest if you want. We kind of like, we'd only been seeing each other for a little bit.

“And I said, hey, do you want to come with me to this to Rome?”

And she's like, sure. So it was in October. All the hotels were closing. I was like, let's rent a car and drive down to the Amalfi coast. Like, let's just go see, like, I didn't book anything.

And there was a hotel down there. Bellman, Caruso, it's called. And it was the final day before the closing for the season of final two days. So we, and I booked a room and I was like, we had the hotel for ourselves. And we had this like magical time there.

And really kind of like fell in love. And so I thought, so I thought, why don't I contact the hotel? This is a years later when I went to prosa. And tell them the story and tell them I want to propose there. And so I contacted the bell and I said, hey,

this was like our first trip together.

And I want to make it special. And they were so awesome. This, this girl actually her name is Elena, who works at the Bellman. And now she works for a different company.

But at the times we're for Bellman, she's like, of course, I'm going to make it really special. So she set up this. We, we sort of talked about it on our last night there. I took her to the Bellman.

And our last night there, there's this like private olive grove. And she set up this long table with candles and a private chef. And I, and I, and I tricked Natalie. I was like, hey, you know, the Bellman wants to do like a, a good buy dinner for us because it's our last night here.

And she's like, oh, that's so nice. I was like, dress, yeah, dress nicely. Like, you know, I was like, and I kind of like made it,

you know, like it was then like the Bellman did this and not me.

And then we got there and she was kind of suspect. And then, of course, that's when she realized. And then I pop a question and that's when she realized like, oh, this was a set up pulse at this whole thing. Oh, yeah.

That is so romantic. Yeah, it was really sweet. Wow. Well, I was also so sweet to like connect it to an early core memory that you guys had together and bring it back.

Exactly. Yeah. Wow. Oh, my God. I'm so happy for you.

Thank you. Well, you have a lot to look forward to. Mm-hmm. You are starring in season four of Star Trek Strange New Worlds. Yeah.

Can you give fans anything? Like, what can we expect? Um, so I love this show so much. Um, and I, I play a young James Kirk, which, you know, is one of the most iconic characters like in the history of television.

So obviously, it was like a huge honor for me to be given this role. Um, and, you know, what I love about our show is that it pays homage to the original TOS from the 1960s,

“which is such a important iconic piece of television history”

and so important to so many people. While we also pay homage to that, but we also kind of create our own spin. And our modernized spin. And we sort of like, we tell the story pre-entreprise.

So this is Kirk, James Kirk before he was captain. He's Lieutenant Kirk. He's not as like, he's not, it's like the genesis of who he is. But it's really about like the crew that was on the enterprise prior to James Kirk, taking the helm as captain.

And this show is like, it's this beautifully imaginative, adventurous, cinematic series that has humor and heart. And we explore all different genres. And if you watch, sorry if I'm blabbing, I love this show. So I can like go on about it.

What I love about the original series about Star Trek is that it is so optimistic. It is so filled with imagination. And our show is exactly that. It's like this every episode is like kind of like individual. You can enjoy them individually because they all have their own like sort of like story of the week.

But there's this beautiful through line with all the relationships and all the characters. And I don't know, we're just really proud of it. We want people to tune in.

“I know, of course, as you should be proud of it.”

Also, it's so cool like being a part of such a huge franchise. Obviously, I and now obviously knowing you and knowing how much you take your craft really seriously. It's so cool to hear you also talk about like recognizing what was so well done before. Yeah. And still having the respect for that and also leaning into a new version and finding a way to bring that to life.

Yeah. It's really cool. Yeah. I'm proud. It's a lot of pressure.

Obviously because it's like William Shattner.

He is, yeah, exactly.

Kirk's look is quite, you know, the switch up from Stephens.

Like talk to me about that costume. You know, well, I mean, it's the Starfleet uniform. It's like it's, it's very, everyone's kind of wearing the same thing. Although I will say when he's, when he's not on the ship, you do see him in some civilian clothing. But like, you know, it's definitely a switch up like it's definitely.

And I sort of lean into this sort of, you know, Kirk can be interpreted in so many different ways. And my interpretation of Kirk is like a little bit more less of the kind of, you know, muchismo kind of like ladies man. That sort of like is in pop culture. And he's more of like kind of this.

I wouldn't say like bookish, but he's definitely like a little bit more of the sort of not nerdy Kirk, but like like still coming of age Kirk. Like still trying to find out how to be like a captain, you know what I mean?

“That's what I love so much about like obviously everything you've done so far.”

Like this is so different from stuff and yeah. And then even this, I feel like it's so different from what you're about to do on the show that we're making. Yeah. Because the character on you deserve to know, like your character is pretty sus. Yeah.

And like, you know, when you're, when you're, when you're get cast in a show or when you're,

when you're starring in a show that has become so popular, it is so difficult to break away from that image, right? Like that's such a thing. Like it's like a CW thing, too. Like, or even like friends or whatever.

And so like my whole goal ever since I ended, um, uh, my work on the Vampire Dars has been like, what can I do that's the opposite of stuff? And like how can I possibly, how can I differentiate myself? Because I don't want to be, you know, I mean now I am, now I am stephysey. You're forever stephysey and not like that going for me.

No, no, no. That is like in the Hall of Fame. Like Stephens Elvator is kind of yet to the way. It's like, in the shadows, right? It's not a big deal. It's not a big deal anymore.

It's stephysey through through. But that's not even like a television character now. So now you can focus on Kirk.

“You can focus on, you know, our new show.”

Stephens over there.

But it is stephysey is kind of like the top pro.

Yeah. And then we've all these little things. It's like unwell, right? And then it's like we have, Yeah, there's a bunch of different,

and it's like stephysey. And then within that is, you know, that needs to be on your trailer. Yeah.

I'm going to make sure that's on your trailer. Please. Do you have anything weird on your writer? No, I don't know. I don't know.

I feel like Ian would have good tune in his right. I feel like he would have like hair mirrors and hair products and a cowboy hat of Fedora's. You don't ask for anything? I don't ask for any. I'm going to start.

Which I asked you? You need to put a writer together. And we're going to make you ask for.

“I asked him for like sour patch and like,”

No shit. Ice tea. You can do that. Oh my God. But before I was pregnant,

I'd have like, Cosmigo's repissato in there if I need a little hit. Brother's bond. Brother's bond. I told you when you gave me that bottle.

By the way, you loved it. Matt and I. Joranket. We were like, oh, and then it was so nice because like,

it was really good. And that was like, okay, now it's like, Yeah, it's like a little bit of that. You don't have to, you don't have to pretend.

It's delicious. Okay, so we'll work on your writer. Yeah, please. Paul, this has been so fun. Such a pleasure.

I am so like, I love getting to talk to people who have such a good personality. And you are one of those people where I could talk to you forever. But the range in this episode from Jersey Shore from Donnie, then we had this stuff.

We had the same, we had the same slam. We got, yeah, yeah, yeah. We got it all. We got it all. Called, yeah.

Fussy and the clams. I had has to be. Your public opinion. That's a good spin off. Yeah.

They're going to, Stapussy and the clams. They're like, what is it? No, that's all. What have you done?

Yeah. So this was, we were going on here with a vision. Yeah. And we were just, yeah, we went off on a tangent. No, it was so, so fun getting to sit with you and talk with you.

And I, you know, a big fan. And all the things, like thank you for your time. Thank you so much. Thanks for having me. (bell rings)