Paul Wesley’s fight for animal rights

CEBU, Philippines - Paul Wesley’s character Stefan Salvatore on “The Vampire Diaries” may have lived on an all-animal diet for some time, but in real life, the actor is a huge supporter of animal rights.

The CW star has partnered with The Humane Society of the United States (The HSUS) to urge pork producers to stop using inhumane gestation crates. And for his work in animal protection, The HSUS honored Wesley with the Humane Generation Award at their 60th Anniversary Benefit Gala last March 29. Still, there’s more work to be done and Wesley is auctioning a personalized outgoing voicemail message for a charitable fan, with all proceeds going to the organization.

“As an actor, you kind of do all these self-indulgent promotional things and I started noticing that I had developed quite a following on Twitter and all over the world, and I kind of fell naturally into it,” Wesley explained to E! News of how he got involved with The HSUS. “I wanted to do something charitable just to feel better about myself when I wake up in the morning. I wanted it to be something that I was inspired by, and one of the things that really enrages me is factory farming.”

Wesley first became aware of factory farming after watching documentaries, including “Food Inc.” and was horrified when the films hit close to home. “I started to do a little bit of research and I realized that a lot of the things I had been purchasing were essentially supporting factory farming, which really upset me,” he said.

“That’s one of the things I think we do in this country that is completely ignored, and we do it every day, and the fact that it still happens and these intelligent animals are confined to these torturous circumstances in this day and age is crazy to me,” Wesley continued. “So I thought, this is something that really bothers me a lot and I want to do my best to influence the younger generation and teach them about the ramifications of something like this.”

Using that influence means offering to record a voicemail message for fans, in order to raise awareness and money. “If you’re not into a Paul Wesley voicemail, which I don’t think is for everyone, there’s some other things that are really great. There’s a backstage meet-up with the iconic Rod Stewart with two tickets to an upcoming show.”

Another topic Wesley speaks passionately about is his directorial debut, as he stepped behind the camera for the first time for “The Vampire Diaries” 18th episode of the fifth season.

“It was really amazing. The cast was so supportive. I was nervous at first. I remember my first scene—I was terrified,” Wesley recalled. “Then it got easier and easier, and it became more natural, and now it just feels like I want to do it again and I want to do it even better.”

He goes on to say “how fantastically supportive the cast was. That was what surprised me. Not that I doubt the cast, but I kind of thought these guys were gonna totally give me sh-t, in a friendly way, but everyone was really prepared and wanted to do well, which was not surprising, but I was definitely taken aback to a degree.”

The only actor that Wesley had a problem directing? Himself. “That was hard for me because I had a playback monitor, but at the same time, I almost didn’t want to even look at it, because I hate watching myself,” he admitted. “We would shoot the scene and I would literally look at it for maybe two seconds just to make sure it was lined up right and then move on.” (FREEMAN)