Gossip Teen

Zach Roerig is still a small town boy at heart. The Vampire Diaries actor – he plays Matt Donovan, Elena’s (Nina Dobrev) ex and Caroline’s (Candice Accola) maybe current boyfriend – gave Teen Vogue a peek into how he got started acting, his family history with gravestones and a big red barn he’s working on.

On the gravestones: 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.

Not going into the family business: 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.

Summer downtime or If you build it, they will come: 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.

His barn painting days may be numbered. It looks like Roerig’s storyline and screen time will be expanding as his mom makes an appearance (the characters all find out Vicki is dead) and I like pairing Matt with Caroline on the show. New episodes of TVD return March 25th.

[image: Vinnet Bradshaw/WENN.com]

‘Twilight’ star Robert Pattinson has a busy year ahead of him. With the vampire sequel ‘New Moon’ scheduled to start filming and his latest movie ‘Little Ashes’  both happening in March 2009 and an (as yet) uncomfirmed role in ‘Ohio,’  the in demand actor may be headed to London’s West End theater district. David Pugh, the producer who brought Daniel Radcliffe to the live stage in the revival of Equus, has confirmed to Variety that he will be developing something with Pattinson for the year 2010. It is the perfect time for him to expand his acting career to theater if he wants.