Molly Rosenblatt - mrosenblatt@abc26.com ABC26 News

May 5, 2010
NEW ORLEANS—
ABC 26 News Reporter Molly Rosenblatt was lucky enough to get to spend a day with Somerhalder. Here's your chance to get to know him and why he's so passionate about helping to clean up this oil mess.

Ian Somerhalder is the star of CW's hit show "The Vampire Diaries." He's gorgeous, smart and successful, but now he's home in Louisiana to help bring attention to the oil spill disaster.

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He was born in Covington and raised in Mandeville. Somerhalder says he couldn't have asked for a better childhood. "When you grow up here you don't really understand it and when you leave and come back, you realize what an amazing place and how lucky we were to grow up on that lake," says Somerhalder.

That's why he's shooting Public Service Announcements for the St. Tammany Humane Society's "Partnering for Pelicans" program and the Audobon Aquarium.

Naturally, he calls himself an animal lover. "You grow to love these animals because you see them all the time, you know when you're in your boat and there's pelicans all around you and you sort of see how they live- you all appreciate the same thing- the fish the crabs, the shrimp," says Somerhalder.

He says that's why he was shocked, sad and angry when he first heard the news. Now, he says he's remaining cautiously optimistic. "This is the worst way to learn this lesson and I hate that it happened right here in our back yard- but I think we now know that with things like this, we have to start protecting our environment," says Somerhalder.