His piercing blue eyes are one of the first things you notice about Ian Somerhalder, who was one of the first characters to be killed off of “Lost.” Now he is back from the dead — actually, he is undead — with his role as bad-boy vampire Damon Salvatore, who steams up the action on The CW’s “The Vampire Diaries.” ET chats with the Louisiana-born actor to get his take on sinking his teeth into his role.

ET: Are you a fan of the whole vampire craze?

Ian Somerhalder: I am from New Orleans, so I grew up with Anne Rice. From a very young age, I knew a lot about vampires and always wanted to play one.

ET: How did you prepare for playing a vampire?

Ian Somerhalder: I don’t like blood. Blood freaks me out a little bit. So when you think about being hungry, for example, think of a time when you are stuck on a plane, or wherever you were that you didn’t have food, or you see people starving in the world, think about how intense that is. Imagine being a vampire and having 160 years of life experience — knowledge of humanity, of life and death, of everything — then on top of that your senses are heightened by 1000 percent. All of the things you hear, you have to learn to block out, and your sense of needing to eat is constant and 1000 times more than we have. It is a very intense proposition, so trying to inhabit someone who has that much knowledge of the world … it is a feat. I hope I am doing it right.