As a child, Nina attended J. B. Tyrrell Sr. Public School, where she began taking ballet and jazz dance classes and participated in rhythmic gymnastics. She later enrolled in the arts program at Wexford Collegiate School for the Arts in Scarborough, Ontario, and pursued sociology at Ryerson University in Toronto. During this time, she also took acting classes at Armstrong Acting Studios, setting the foundation for her future career in entertainment.

Early Roles and Career Breakthrough

Nina Dobrev began her career in entertainment with appearances in several feature films, including Fugitive Pieces, Away from Her, and Never Cry Werewolf. She gained early recognition through her role on the Canadian teen television series Degrassi: The Next Generation. Additionally, she acted in various Lifetime original movies and appeared in the 2008 MTV musical film The American Mall. In 2007, she featured in the music video for "You Got That Light," directed by Wade Allain-Marcus and David Baum.

Her major breakthrough came when she was cast in the lead roles of Elena Gilbert and Katherine Pierce on The CW's supernatural drama The Vampire Diaries. The show, which premiered in 2009, found immense success and became a defining moment in her career. She played dual characters: Elena, a recently turned vampire, and her 19th-century doppelgänger Katherine, entangled in a love triangle with vampire brothers Damon and Stefan Salvatore.