Ian Joseph Somerhalder (born December 8, 1978) is an American actor, male fashion model and producer, probably most notable for playing Boone Carlyle in the TV drama Lost and as Paul Denton in the film adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis' The Rules of Attraction.

Biography

Early life

Somerhalder was born in Covington, Louisiana. He has a brother, Bob, a former professional cyclist, and a sister, Robin, a broadcast journalist. His father, Robert Somerhalder, was a building contractor of French and English descent, and his mother, Edna, who is of Irish and Choctaw descent, grew up on a pig farm in Mississippi. The surname "Somerhalder" originates from his adoptive great-grandfather. His biological great-grandfather, a wealthy English landowner, got one of his mistresses pregnant and paid an immigrant worker of his to marry this woman and give the baby a name, which was Somerhalder. The biological great-grandfather's name was Hull.

Somerhalder's parents divorced when he was thirteen. He grew up with his mother, whom he has described as being "very spiritual"; she raised the young Ian on Eastern medicine and organic foods. Says Somerhalder, "She made my baby food and had me on blue-green alga probably since I was in third grade. I never had sugar. I never got to have white bread or any white-flour products." He led a life of soy and homemade root beer (save for German chocolate cake once a year on his birthday). He remembers being in Catholic school and trading his grilled vegetable sandwich on marble rye for a classmate's peanut butter and jelly on Wonder bread--and getting sick from it. He has kept to a healthful diet since then. "I can't eat fast food," he says. "I haven't eaten McDonald's in 10 years. I eat fish every day."