PASADENA, Calif. -- Nina Dobrev's attractive Canadian innocence may have contributed to her being cast in The Vampire Diaries.

"I think Elena has a lot of myself in her," Dobrev said yesterday, referring to her character in the show.

"We really wanted someone with a vulnerability and looks for the good in everyone. The fact I'm Canadian, maybe that had something to do with it."

Dobrev, who is from Toronto and honed her acting craft playing Mia on CTV's Degrassi: The Next Generation, is one of the "it girls" at the Television Critics Association tour this year.

The 20-year-old said she came to Los Angeles for the first time last January and The Vampire Diaries -- which originates on the CW network and also will air on CTV, starting Sept. 10 -- was the first show for which she auditioned.

"But I was sick, and I had to go back to Toronto to shoot a movie, so I put myself on tape and I got cast off the tape," said Dobrev, who now is living in Atlanta, where The Vampire Diaries is shot.

Dobrev, who admitted she was "genuinely star-struck" when she met the cast of True Blood recently, was asked why vampire tales are so hot these days.

"It's timeless," she said. "There's something about a man who lurks in the dark."