Tiya Sircar made an appearance in The Vampire Diaries for three episodes in Season 2 as Aimee Bradley. Aimee was a student at Mystic Falls High School and was interested in Matt and Tyler. Her friendship with Sarah in TVD was a big part of her arc. Aimee partied with Matt, Tyler and Sarah, but her flirtatious nature got her in trouble with Caroline.
Aimee was eventually killed by Katherine just for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. But despite that, Sircar later gained popularity for her roles in 17 Again, The Internship and Star Wars Rebels. Her most important role, however, is that of the demon Vicky in the highly acclaimed The Good Place.
Also appearing in Season 2 of The Vampire Diaries, Courtney Ford played the part of Vanessa Monroe on the show. Vanessa was a sharp young student at Duke University who helped Alaric, Damon and Elena look for answers about the moonstone and the sun and moon curse that it was supposed to break. Ford might have been there for a single episode, but her character had a lasting impact.
Outside of TVD, Courtney Ford is known for her roles in True Blood, where she was Portia Bellefleur, and Legends of Tomorrow, where she played Nora Darhk.
Fans would have loved to see the talented actress in every season of The Vampire Diariesrather than just a single episode.
Before Jaz Sinclair became a certified streaming darling, she was cast in The Vampire Diaries for a small but important role. Sinclair appeared as Beatrice Bennett, one of Bonnie Bennett's 18th-century ancestors and a very powerful supernatural being.
In just two episodes in Season 8, Beatrice proved her importance, as she worked with Ethan Maxwell to create the Maxwell Bell and saved Mystic Falls with her coven when hellfire was summoned to kill them.
Beatrice then appeared in the series finale of The Vampire Diaries, where she aided Bonnie in controlling hellfire once more, saving Mystic Falls for the second time. Sinclair got the role of Roz in Chilling Adventures of Sabrina shortly after this stint and has since become a leading actor in The Boys spinoff, Gen V.
Audiences were pleasantly surprised to see Gina Torres play Bree, a strong-willed witch who managed a bar in The Vampire Diaries. Bree was a unique witch who was mixed up with vampires, so much so that she had a torrid romantic past with Damon Salvatore. Damon had approached Bree to help him reopen the tomb that Katherine was seemingly inside in Season 1 of The Vampire Diaries.
Bree pretended to help him, but secretly sent out word to get him killed because Damon had killed Lexi, who was close to Bree. Gina Torres has a famed career, which includes roles in Suits, Firefly and 9-1-1: Lone Star.
Over a 40-year career, James Remar has had starring roles in Dexter, The Rookie, Django Unchained and most recently, the highly acclaimed Oppenheimer.
Remar guest starred in The Vampire Diaries in a paternal role (which seems to be a specialty) as Giuseppe Salvatore, the cruel, abusive and pedantic father of Stefan and Damon.
Giuseppe hated vampires with a passion, which was why he chose to hunt them down. In fact, when he learned that his sons were trying to save Katherine, he shot them down, too. Giuseppe had always been abusive to his sons and wife, Lily, and he had a fitting end at the hands of his youngest, favorite son, Stefan.
The premiere of Season 5 of The Vampire Diaries saw Hayley Kiyoko as Megan King, Elena and Caroline's unlikable roommate at Whitmore College. Megan stayed out of Elena and Caroline's hair, but the plot thickened when her grocery supply turned out to be spiked with vervain.
Fans expected Megan to become a vital character on the show, but that was not to be.
Megan was killed off by the end of the episode by a vampire, but Kiyoko continued her orbit to stardom, which she had already embarked on since she was a child. Today, Kiyoko is best known for her music and is an MTV VMA Award and Billboard Award winner.
Initially known for portraying the younger versions of characters in many movies and TV shows, McKenna Grace played young Caroline in The Vampire Diaries Season 7. The sequence she appeared in was an emotional one that took place before the death of Liz Forbes, a flashback of Caroline learning to ride a bike with her mother and having a heartfelt conversation about life and death.
Grace was cast as Caroline when she was nine and has since delivered stunning performances in I, Tonya, The Bad Seed, The Haunting of Hill House and Annabelle Comes Home.
Not only is she a certified scream queen at her young age, but she's also a budding musical star.
With a history of morally grey characters in her repertoire, Torrey DeVitto portrayed a similarly conflicted character in The Vampire Diaries. Dr. Meredith Fell was a part of the Founding Families of Mystic Falls, and she chose to use her knowledge of vampires for the greater good.
She would slip in vampire blood to her patients unknowingly if they were truly struggling to stay afloat, which was quite a dubious thing to do.
Meredith also dated Alaric for a while until she decided to leave Mystic Falls. Torrey DeVitto has previously played iconic parts in One Tree Hill and Pretty Little Liars.
Gavin Casalegno took on the challenge of playing a young Damon Salvatore in flashback episodes of The Vampire Diaries, and he aced it. Casalegno shared the uncannily beautiful grey eyes with the older Salvatore and gave a nuanced portrayal of a young boy who was stuck in an abusive home. Damon was on the cusp of goodness and evil, but his vulnerability shined through in this flashback.
Coincidentally, Casalegno is currently one-third of another love triangle in Amazon's The Summer I Turned Pretty, where he plays casual but loving heartthrob Jeremiah Fisher.
He continues to grow as a performer after his stellar work in TVD.
Before his groundbreaking success as Oliver Queen on the superhero series Arrow, Stephen Amell played a small part in TVD. Amell was Brady, a mean werewolf who worked with Jules to avenge Mason's death, as well as torment Elena, Caroline, the Salvatore brothers and eventually, Tyler.
His torture and scheming didn't last long, as Damon ripped his heart out when he messed with the Mystic Falls gang a bit too much.
He appeared in only one episode of Season 2 of TVD and a flashback in the third season. Two years later, Amell was cast in the Arrowverse and went on to appear in the recently canceled Heels.
