New Blood: The Vampire Diaries' Paul Wesley

"I hate to admit this," Paul Wesley says, "but I've never really owned a TV." It's quite a confession, given that the actor's appeared in more than two dozen small-screen series, including 24, The O.C., and C.S.I. "I've had cameos on some cool shows," he says. "But it's nice to now be doing something that I'm involved in from the beginning."

He's talking, of course, about The Vampire Diaries--the new CW drama based on L.J. Smith's bestselling books. Starring as sensitive vampire Stefan Salvatore, Paul's a natural on camera, but getting into character was challenging: "I'm 150 years old but trapped in a teenager's body, I have these supernatural abilities, and whenever my hormones go out of whack"--like, for example, when he sees his love interest, Elena (Nina Dobrev)--"my eyes turn bloodred, and I get all pale and veiny." He could, however, relate to Stefan's reclusiveness: "I wasn't some weird loner in school, but I definitely wasn't invited to any of the cool parties," the New Jersey native, who started missing classes after he was cast on a soap opera sophomore year, says. "Girls didn't like me that much--I didn't even go to my prom."

Paul didn't just draw from his own experience; he also did his research. "The minute I was cast, I plowed through all the books." And he made a point of not reading or watching Twilight. "I didn't want to be influenced by it at all," he says. But the other bloodsuckers were hard to avoid: New Moon and The Vampire Diaries were both being shot in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, last April. "The cast was staying at our hotel--we saw them everywhere and hung out all the time. They're actually really nice people." And while critics have been quick to call the show a Twilight spin-off (though, for the record, Smith's books were written before Stephenie Meyer's), Paul, who recently relocated to Atlanta, Georgia, to continue filming, disagrees: "They have vampires and high school romance in common, but that's about it."