On the night of the Los Angeles movie premiere of her new movie, “Let’s Be Cops,” Nina Dobrev was getting dolled up in a colorful Zuhair Murad minidress, Salvatore Ferragamo heels and Tiffany & Co. jewels, her mood decidedly giddy.
“I like to get my friends together and make it a day of getting ready for a big event, because I’m not here very often — ‘Vampire Diaries’ shoots in Atlanta,” she says. Dobrev’s date? Her best friend, “Dancing With the Stars” pro-turned- actress Julianne Hough, who was on her way over to get her hair and makeup done as well. “We’ll hang out, get ready, get in the car and go. We’ll make it a chill, relaxed, fun environment.”
The film, released last week, is Dobrev’s first foray into comedy. She plays Josie, a waitress who befriends two customers (Jake Johnson and Damon Wayans Jr.) who go to a party wearing police uniforms that are so convincing, they end up impersonating cops.
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“I’ve always loved the genre, but I’ve never done comedy,” the 25-year-old says. “It was good for me to start with this one, because I didn’t have the pressure of carrying all the comedy on my shoulders — the boys have the jokes, for the most part.”
After a recent breakup with her “Vampire” co-star Ian Somerhalder (the two dated for three years), plus rabid Internet gossip about her post-breakup hookups (tongues wagged that Dobrev was spotted kissing several guys at Comic-Con, including Orlando Bloom, Ben McKenzie, David Anders and Derek Theler), it makes sense the actress would choose a trusted girlfriend as her date for the big premiere— so the focus can be on the movie rather than who she may or may not have been getting close to at the after-party.
“I laugh stuff off all the time,” she says of online rumors. “If you read half the s–t people wrote about me, you’d be in hysterical laughter, too. It’s not always bad things — people are generally pretty positive, and I haven’t had any scandals, which is why I can laugh about it — but still, anytime you read anything that’s not true or well sensationalized, it’s like, ‘Well, there we go.’ So many people are speculating, and even some of my own friends are fooled by it, so what will the rest of the world think?”
When the Comic-Con rumors surfaced, Dobrev tweeted a photo to her 4.86 million followers, “Apparently I have SOOOO many boyfriends. Here’s four more. I’m so busy. #tabloidsillyness”
“Apparently I had a busy weekend,” she says with a chuckle. “So at this point, stay tuned for next year, when I have a kissing booth set up at Comic-Con. Why not, right?”
Asking herself “Why not?” has been a huge part of Dobrev’s life this year, particularly when it comes to traveling and chalking up personal adventures. While “Vampire” was on hiatus this spring (Season 6 returns Oct. 2), Dobrev jumped on a plane to Europe and traveled solo — as in completely alone — for a month and a half. While this sounds like something an insane celebrity would do, especially a highly recognizable one who has been on countless magazine covers, a hit TV show for six years, and in such movies as “Chloe” and “The Perks of Being a Wallflower,” Nina says it made perfect sense to her.
“I used to pride myself on being totally independent,” explains Dobrev, who was born in Bulgaria and raised in Toronto. “Everything I’ve done until now is because I worked my ass off. I never needed anyone — I just made it happen. Nowadays, I’m never by myself, whether I’m with 150 crew members on set, on a plane or at an event. I haven’t had any alone time for a while, and I wanted to get away and feel that way again.”
Dobrev’s MO? After landing in Europe, she would meet people in bars or coffee shops, strike up a conversation and, depending what their plans were, end up in another country. At one point, she met some Australians who live in Bali and spent the rest of the trip traveling with them.
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“I don’t like being a tourist in any city — I like being a local,” she says.
But did she get recognized?
“Not really. In fact, those [Australian] guys didn’t recognize me at all. It wasn’t until day two or three that people started coming up to me and they were like, ‘Wait, who are you? Why do people want to take pictures with you?’ By day six, they were like, ‘Wait, you’re actually crazy. Why did you come here by yourself in your situation?’ But look, if I’m at a bar in Bali and I don’t have an entourage with me, and I’m not trying to get attention, no one assumes it’s me. It’s all about the way you carry yourself.”
Dobrev’s overseas adventures included wake-boarding by day and snowboarding by night in Switzerland, surfing with “the No. 1 local Balinese surfer, a 15-year-old kid,” and witnessing “one of the most beautiful sunsets I’ve ever seen.”
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She also learned a few good drinking games. “Have you played Beat the Dealer?” she asks excitedly. “Oh my god — Google it. It’s fun. And dangerous.”
Her boldness carries over onto the red carpet. For the past three years Dobrev has worked with stylist Ilaria Urbinati (whose clients include Bradley Cooper, Emmy Rossum and Lizzy Caplan), cultivating what Dobrev calls a “chameleonlike style that’s fashion-forward and edgy but classic. Ilaria and I have the same vision, and now we’re very close.” She laughs again: “How could we not be when she sees me naked every couple of weeks?”
Dobrev gravitates toward Elie Saab and Naeem Khan for big events, but she experiments with both newer and established designers. This year, she even attended her first Paris fashion week.
“Versace was really exciting, and Chanel was the crème de la crème as an experience,” she says. “If someone had told me 10 years ago I would one day be going to the Chanel show and hanging out with Karl Lagerfeld, I would’ve been like, ‘You’re crazy.’”
Off-duty, Dobrev’s style is much more casual. In Atlanta, where she likes to go bike- riding or play volleyball if she’s not shooting, she can usually be found wearing jeans or a tee with yoga pants. In LA, she goes for boho-casual maxidresses. And in New York or Europe, it’s something “cooler, because there’s a different energy.”
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Regardless of locale, Dobrev keeps a bag packed with travel essentials: Noise-canceling Bose ear buds, an eye mask, a facial mask, super-comfortable clothes and a pillow. It’s all in the name of getting much- needed rest, other people’s opinions be damned: “Today I was sitting next to a random person [on a plane], and I’m wearing my white facial mask that makes me look like a mummy, my eye mask, my ear buds and my big pillow around my neck. The guy next to me must’ve thought I was bats–t crazy.”
But guess what? She couldn’t have cared less.
The allure of the Aristocrat
Tucked away on a quiet Upper East Side street sits “The Aristocratic Apartment,” where Alexa photographed Nina Dobrev.
The luxurious 1,800-square-foot space is owned by boutique location leasing agency CVB Spaces, named for its owner, artist Cynthia von Buhler.
Soaring ceilings, marble fireplaces and stunning paintings define the home, which is half of a townhouse. A spiral staircase off the living room opens into a luxe bedroom that boasts an Italian glass chandelier, while out back sits a private garden, lush with greenery and drenched in sunlight.
The house is peppered with unique details like a bejeweled taxidermy peacock, a former pet of von Buhler’s.
For information about rentals, visit cvbspaces.com.
Hair by Ryan Trygstad of StarworksArtists.com, makeup by Jake Bailey of The Wall Group and shot at the Aristocratic Apartment – CVB Spaces.