Paul Wesley: 10 Things You Didn’t Know

Paul Wesley was born, Pawel Tomasz Wasilewski on July 23, 1982. He was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey to Tomasz and Agnieszka Wasilewski, but grew up in Marlboro Township, New Jersey. Wesley is an actor, director, and producer who not only speaks English, but is fluent in Polish too.  Wesley has starred in a number of films over the years and is best known for his role on the acclaimed, Vampire Diaries. He has worked with some big names in Hollywood, including Susan Sarandon, Nick Nolte and Billy Bob Thornton. Wesley is definitely an up and coming name in television and Hollywood and if you have been following this young actor’s career and wanting to learn more about who he is, keep reading to learn ten things you didn’t know about Paul Wesley.

1. Spent time in Poland

Every year Wesley traveled to Poland to spend 4 months at a time there until he was 16 years of age. Wesley’s parents immigrated from Poland and he has many family members that still live there, including his great-grandparents who live in Warsaw, Poland. It was just part of his childhood to go Poland and spend large chunks of time with his great-grandparents and other family members. By doing this, Wesley became fluent in the language and now Polish is his second language.

2. First directing debut

Wesley has branched out from acting and can now add Director to his repertoire. His directing debut happened on his show, The Vampire Diaries, where he played Stefan Salvatore. His first directing experience with the show was during season 5, and apparently he did such a good job that he wound up directing a total of 5 of the episodes before he left the hit series.

3. Resides in three cities

Paul Wesley has three homes that he bounces between. He resides not only in Los Angeles, California, but also bounces between New York, New York, and Atlanta, Georgia. Atlanta is where The Vampire Diaries are filmed, which is his main gig these days, so he is often in the city. He shared a small, old Craftsman Bungalow with his now, ex-wife Torrey DeVitto on the outskirts of the city, and according to sources, was paying a reasonable, $2500 a month for the adorable pad that boasts of 4 fireplaces.

4. His career began on a Soap

Wesley got his big acting break when in high school, he was offered the part of Max Nickerson on the acclaimed, The Guiding Light, from 199-2001. Wesley was attending college at Rutgers University when he was offered the part and decided to drop out of college when he realized he could make a living acting instead of finishing up his degree. Wesley had only attended one semester at Rutgers when the role offer came in, and he didn’t look back.

5. Involved in charities

Wesley has been involved in 2 fund-raising campaigns, both on Represent.com. He has raised money for two charities, including The Humane Society of the United States. He released a cat t-shirt design that wound up selling a total of 3,000 units. His second campaign was a limited edition shirt which he created with his co-star from The Vampire Diaries, Ian Somerhalder. The design of the shirt was created by a fan, and bore the words, “The Blood Brothers Since 1864.” This campaign sold nearly 10,000 units.

6. His dream job before acting

Before Paul Wesley became an actor, he had a different dream job that wasn’t anything close to acting. He’s said that before the opportunity to act came along, his dream job was to be an investigative journalist. When he took his first acting job on the soap opera, he completely changed routes and pursued this career, and so far it has worked out very well for him. The news and investigating interesting stories had all always intrigued him and he probably would have a good IJ, but fans of the hearth throb are probably glad he didn’t go that route.

7. Friends with Ian Somerhalder

Ian Somerhalder is another one of Hollywood’s heartthrobs and was Paul Wesley’s co-star on The Vampire Diaries. Wesley describes their relationship as friends on-and-off the set. Wesley has been quoted by Parade, saying that “knows everything single about him on every possible level.” Because Wesley had never done a television series for that long until The Vampire Diaries, he said that he feels like everyone gets to know everything about each other, the good, bad, and the ugly.

8. Believes in ghosts

Not only does Wesley work playing in roles that have to do with the paranormal, but he says that he really does believe in ghosts. As a matter-of-fact, he says he has seen one. He has told Girlfriend magazine about his experience with the ghost, saying it happened when he was a kid and staying at a rental with his family in Rhode Island in Cape Cod. He woke up to see a woman standing with her arms crossed and staring out of a window. When he realized she wasn’t with his group of people, he called to the lady who turned around and looked at him, then faded away. It didn’t strike him at the time that it was a ghost, but later when he realized it was, he was already scared. Wesley says that although he believes in ghosts, he does not believe in vampires.

9. Married and divorced

Wesley met his wife, Torrey Devitto, after meeting her on the set of Killer Movie and married in April 2011 but wound up splitting just two years later. They signed a pre-nup agreement that allowed Wesley to recoup all the money he put into their home, $730,593, while deVitto only contributed $10,000. He also got the chopper and Audi Q5, while she retained the Audi A4. He started dating Phoebe Tonkin, whom he met on the set of  The Vampire Diaries, and the relationship lasted nearly 4 years.

10. Changed his name in 2005

Wesley’s birth name, Pawel Tomasz Wasilewski,  was a bit tricky for Hollywood and credits. He wanted his name easier to remember and a bit more of mainstream. In 2005, as he got more involved with acting, Wesley dropped his birth name and began being recognized as Paul Wesley, and it has stuck ever since.

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