Actor Left Hollywood to ‘Focus on Family [and] Farming’
By Movieguide® Contributor
VAMPIRE DIARIES star Ian Somerhalder is opening up about his decision to step away from acting to focus on his family and commitment to conservation.
“August 19th makes five years since I was professionally on camera as an actor/producer,” he told PEOPLE. “I stepped away from that…to build these companies, launch films like KISS THE GROUND, COMMON GROUND and GROUND SWELL and raise my kids.”
Somerhalder’s documentaries bring attention to issues the agricultural industry faces, as well as sustainable farming practices. He has also worked to promote ecological conservation, establishing The Ian Somerhalder Foundation, which “works to empower, educate and collaborate with people and projects to positively impact the planet and its creatures,” per its website.
Somerhalder recalled telling his management team, “‘Hey, this is the only thing I’ve ever known that’s ever sustained my family, and I’m walking away from it,’ at this sort of peak, could have gone and done anything, but these partnerships mean way more to me.”
“I say this in all humility, in all respect, but I would much rather do this than go spend two months in some city, shooting a TV show away from my family or transporting my family back and forth,” the actor explained. “Once you reach a certain level, you’re like, ‘Okay, I want to focus on family and the future of farming and food and energy and the big things.’ I don’t need to chase awards and anything that would make me feel better about myself.”
Somerhalder has previously spoken about quitting acting, telling E! News, “I love what I did for a really long time. I love making films, I just did it for so long. We had an amazing run. But this is our 2.0 version — about to be 3.0 version.”
Movieguide® previously reported on Somerhalder’s life as a farmer:
VAMPIRE DIARIES star Ian Somerhalder says his life as a farmer is “far more gratifying” than his former Hollywood career.
“It’s just very cool,” Somerhalder said of his and wife Nikki Reed’s life in rural California. “It feels far, and I’m not trying to sound like sort of incendiary or anything, but to me, it’s far more gratifying and feels way more elevated than being all fancy, which is fun too, but at the end of the day, this is where the rubber meets the road and it’s connective.”
The actor did admit that farming comes with a certain amount of failures.
“You learn some of the things that you try and plant may not work, but other ones do,” he explained. “And then you get into this system of when the kids are involved and you and then your community’s involved, and then you find yourself living this really cool sharing, bartering system with your neighbors.”
Somerhalder also emphasized the importance of including his children in the farming process, as well as respecting nature.
“That’s what we teach our kids and our friends teach their kids, is to be respectful of the balance and really appreciate that balance and live that balance,” he said. “And with that balance comes boundless harmony and boundless food and energy and fun and all those things that we want, but you can’t just take and take and take. It doesn’t work.”
