Paul Wesley Biography

Paul Wesley (born Pawel Tomasz Wasilewski; July 23, 1982) is an American actor, director, and producer.

Early life

Wesley was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey, to Polish parents Tomasz and Agnieszka Wasilewski, and grew up in Marlboro Township, New Jersey. He has one older sister, Monika, and two younger sisters, Julia and Leah. In addition to English, he speaks Polish, having spent four months every year in Poland until the age of 16.

Wesley attended Christian Brothers Academy in Lincroft, New Jersey and Marlboro High School for a period during his high school years. He was actively involved in the New York City theater scene and transferred from Marlboro High School to Lakewood Prep School in Howell, New Jersey because the school was able to better accommodate his acting schedule. During his junior year in high school, he was cast in the soap opera Guiding Light as character Max Nickerson. He started college at Rutgers University in New Jersey but left after one semester when more roles were offered to him, and he realized he could make a career out of acting.

Career

He is currently starring as vampire Stefan Salvatore in The Vampire Diaries which premiered in September 2009 on The CW. In the series, he plays a younger brother to Damon Salvatore (played by Ian Somerhalder) as well as the love interest of a 17-year-old girl named Elena Gilbert (played by Nina Dobrev). Wesley began directing "The Vampire Diaries" in Season 5 and is currently directing as well as starring in the show.

In 2001, he was one of the main cast members of the short lived TV series Wolf Lake, playing the role of Lucas "Luke" Cates. The show's cast also featured Tim Matheson, Sharon Lawrence, Graham Greene & Bruce McGill.

In 2005, he began to credit himself as Paul Wesley.

In May 2011, he joined the cast of The Baytown Outlaws opposite Billy Bob Thornton and Andre Braugher.

Wesley had two films released in 2015. Before I Disappear , which he produced and costarred in, went on to win the SXSW Film Festival Audience Award and competed in the Venice Days section of the Venice Film Festival. He also co-starred in Amira and Sam from Drafthouse Films.

In 2014, he was cast opposite Susan Sarandon in the film Mother's Day, and it was announced he is set to star and produce Convergence alongside producer Adam Schroeder "The Truman Show, Chronicle".

In August 2015, he joined the cast of "Late Bloomer" opposite Brittany Snow and JK Simmons.

He has appeared in several films throughout the years including "Peaceful Warrior" and director Agnieszka Holland's "Shot in the Heart" opposite Giovanni Ribisi and Sam Shepard. He starred opposite Amber Tamblyn in CBS' The Russell Girl and had the lead role in the ABC Family miniseries Fallen opposite Bryan Cranston. He has had a number of roles in television shows such as 24, 8 Simple Rules, American Dreams, Army Wives, Cane, Everwood, Guiding Light, Smallville, The O.C..

Philanthropy

Wesley has hosted 2 fundraising campaigns on Represent.com to raise funds for charity. For his first campaign, Wesley released a cat shirt design to raise funds for The Humane Society of the United States. The campaign sold almost 3,000 units. For his second campaign, Wesley teamed up with The Vampire Diaries co-star Ian Somerhalder to release a limited edition shirt designed by a fan, with the words "Blood Brothers Since 1864." This campaign sold almost 10,000 shirts.

Personal life

Wesley met and began dating actress Torrey DeVitto in 2007 when they acted together in Killer Movie. They married in a private ceremony in New York City in April 2011. In July 2013, it was reported that they had filed for divorce. The divorce was finalized in December 2013.

Wesley lived in Atlanta, Georgia while filming The Vampire Diaries and the rest of the time with his then-wife Torrey DeVitto in Los Angeles, California. He sold his Los Angeles-residence after his divorce at the end of 2013.

Wesley met actress Phoebe Tonkin on the set of The Vampire Diaries in 2012; they have been a couple since September 2013.

Filmography

as Actor

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2004	The Last Run	Seth
2005	Roll Bounce	Troy
2006	Cloud 9	Jackson Fargo
2006	Peaceful Warrior	Trevor
2006	Lenexa, 1 Mile	Rick Lausier
2008	Killer Movie	Jake Tanner
2009	Elsewhere	Billy
2010	Beneath the Blue	Craig Morrison
2013	The Baytown Outlaws	Anthony Reesey
2014	Before I Disappear	Gideon
2014	Amira and Sam	Charlie
2016	Mothers Day	Kevin	Filming
2016	The Late Bloomer	Charlie	Post-production

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1999	Another World	Sean McKinnon
1999-2001	Guiding Light	Max Nickerson #2
2000, 2005	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Danny Burrell/Luke Breslin	Episodes: "Wrong is Right" and "Ripped"
2001	Shot in the Heart	Gary (Age 15-22)	Television film
2001-2002	Wolf Lake	Luke Cates	9 episodes
2002	Young Arthur	Lancelot	Television film
2002	Law & Order: Criminal Intent	Luke Miller	Episode: "Malignant"
2002-2005	American Dreams	Tommy DeFelice	10 episodes
2003	The Edge	Himself	Television film
2003	Smallville	Lucas Luthor	Episode: "Prodigal"
2003	The O.C.	Donnie	Episode: "The Outsider"
2003-2004	8 Simple Rules	Damian	Episodes: "Premiere" and "Opposites Attract: Part 3: Night of the Locust"
2003-2004	Everwood	Tommy Callahan	9 episodes
2004	CSI: Miami	Jack Warner Bradford	Episode: "Legal"
2005	CSI: NY	Steve Samprass	Episode: "Grand Murder at Central Station"
2006	Crossing Jordan	Quentin Baker	Episode: "Thin Ice"
2006	Fallen	Aaron Corbett	Television film
2007	Fallen	Aaron Corbett	3 episodes
2007	Cane	Nick	3 episodes
2007	Shark	Justin Bishop	Episode: "Shaun of the Dead"
2008	The Russell Girl	Evan Carroll	Television film
2008	Cold Case	Petey Murphy '08	Episode: "Bad Reputation"
2008-2009	Army Wives	Logan Atwater	6 episodes
2009-2010	24	Stephen	4 episodes
2009-present	The Vampire Diaries	Stefan Salvatore Silas Tom Avery	Main cast
2016	The Originals	Stefan Salvatore	Special guest cast

As Director

Television

Year	Title	Notes
2014	The Vampire Diaries	Episode: "Resident Evil"
2015	The Vampire Diaries	Episode: "Woke Up With a Monster"
2016	The Vampire Diaries	Episode: "Things We Lost In The Fire"
2016	The Vampire Diaries	Episode: "Requiem for a Dream"

as Producer

Film

Year	Title
2010	Norman
2014	Before I Disappear

Awards

Year	Award	Category	Work	Result
2010	Young Hollywood Awards	Cast To Watch (with Ian Somerhalder and Nina Dobrev)	The Vampire Diaries
2010	Teen Choice Awards	Breakout Star Male	The Vampire Diaries
2010	Teen Choice Awards	Actor Fantasy/Sci-Fi	The Vampire Diaries
2011	Teen Choice Awards	Actor Fantasy/Sci-Fi	The Vampire Diaries
2011	Teen Choice Awards	Vampire	The Vampire Diaries
2012	Teen Choice Awards	Actor Fantasy/Sci-Fi	The Vampire Diaries
2013	Teen Choice Awards	Actor Fantasy/Sci-Fi	The Vampire Diaries
2013	People's Choice Awards	Favorite Dramatic TV Actor	The Vampire Diaries
2014	Teen Choice Awards	Actor Fantasy/Sci-Fi	The Vampire Diaries
2014	Teen Choice Awards	TV Villain	The Vampire Diaries
2014	Young Hollywood Awards	Best Threesome (with Ian Somerhalder and Nina Dobrev)	The Vampire Diaries
2014	Northeast Film Festival	Best Supporting Actor in a Feature	Before I Disappear
2015	People's Choice Awards	Actor Fantasy/Sci-Fi	The Vampire Diaries
2015	Teen Choice Awards	Actor Fantasy/Sci-Fi	The Vampire Diaries
2015	Teen Choice Awards	Choice TV: Liplock (with Candice Accola)	The Vampire Diaries