Ian Somerhalder Reveals Why He Stepped Away from Acting After “Lost” and “The Vampire Diaries ”Success (Exclusive)

Ian Somerhalder reflects on the milestone anniversaries of 'Lost' and 'The Vampire Diaries' with PEOPLE

Ian Somerhalder is feeling very reflective these days.

In September, the actor celebrated not only the 15th anniversary of his hit series The Vampire Diaries but also the 20th anniversary of Lost.

Speaking with PEOPLE exclusively about his latest partnership with Nutro for the company’s first-of-its-kind farmers market for dogs, the actor, 45, looks back on the hit ABC series that marked one of his first breakout roles. (Warning: Spoilers ahead.)

Somerhalder recalls that the job was a “very humbling experience” especially as his character Boone experienced the first major character death in season 1. Though his Boone comes back several times for guest appearances throughout the series, the actor says his initial exit was really hard on him at the time.

“Losing that, I was the first one cast and the first one killed, that was a sort of tough pill to swallow,” he explains. However, there was a bright side as his brief time filming in Hawaii further inspired his passion for environmental conservation.

“I got to work on a lot of reef conservation,” he explains. “I got to work on a lot of soil and water conservation even there. This is 2004, I was already doing this, my voice just wasn't as big. Cut to 2005, [I] left Lost, which was humbling. And then very beginning of 2009 came Vampire Diaries. And that was a rocket ship. Initially, it was a very, very, very young audience, but that audience matured and it got bigger and bigger.”

Related: Which Lost Character You Are, Based on Your Zodiac Sign

He adds that “streaming changed the game” for both Lost and The Vampire Diaries, introducing a whole new audience of people to his work, both on and off screen.

“[The Vampire Diaries] now has been seen by almost like 1.2 billion people globally,” he notes. “So if you just run those numbers, you sort of step back for a second and think about that, there's 8 billion people on the planet, so it's roughly about one-eighth of the people walking the face of the planet have somehow interfaced with this IP, the story. They've been affected by it, maybe they've seen it, heard about it. That's an unparalleled platform. So if you can chain link some knowledge and passion together for me, animals and soil health regeneration at a very large scale, that's going to be quite substantial.”

Somerhalder adds that he feels “enormous gratitude” for shows like Lost and The Vampire Diaries as they gave him a platform to speak about projects close to his heart. “That path has gotten me to where I feel most authentic anyway, which is in a pair of cowboy boots, feeding the cows and running horses.”

Related: The Cast of Lost: Where Are They Now?

While Somerhalder is super grateful for his past roles, he notes his main priority nowadays is off screen. “August 19th makes five years since I was professionally on camera as an actor/producer,” he explains. “I stepped away from that after V Wars to build these companies, launch films like Kiss the Ground, Common Ground and Ground Swell and raise my kids. I remember sitting with my management talking about this, saying, ‘Hey, this is the only thing I've ever known that's ever sustained my family, and I'm walking away from it,’ at this sort of peak, could have gone and done anything, but these partnerships mean way more to me.”

“I say this in all humility, in all respect, but I would much rather do this than go spend two months in some city, shooting a TV show away from my family or transporting my family back and forth,” he continues.

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“Once you reach a certain level, you’re like, ‘Okay, I want to focus on family and the future of farming and food and energy and the big things.' I don't need to chase awards and anything that would make me feel better about myself," he says.

"The fact now is I get to partner with people that are launching things like the Greater Ground initiative where they're literally holding the hands and investing in these groups of people, these farmers that are actually creating this food that our pets and us eat. That's huge," he adds. "So you go and you do all these fancy things and you realize at the end of it, it's the grounding stuff that matters.”

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