Feb. 2012 Nylon featuring Nina Dobrev

She may very well star in the hit drama series “The Vampire Diaries,” but actress Nina Dobrev tells Nylon she’s got her sights set somewhere else.

Give this girl a chance, Hollywood! That’s all Nylon magazine’s February cover girl Nina Dobrev is asking. Since getting her start on “Degrassi” in 2006, the 23-year-old has gone on to star in the CW’s “Vampire Diaries”–alongside real-life beau Ian Somerhalder. Despite the series’ major success, Dobrev says she longs to sink her teeth into something different, and the answer might just lie in a film career.

“I want to become a different person, and that’s what working in film allows,” she says. “I want to be a punk or a sweetheart or a drug addict! There are so many things to explore.”

So what’s the problem? Surely no one would doubt Dobrev’s talent and exotic beauty. Still, she tells Nylon, “Sometimes they’ll be like, ‘She’s not plain enough.’ Or ‘She’s not edgy enough.’ That frustrates me. I feel like a blank canvas, and I wish people would be a little more open-minded.”

Sounds like Dobrev could stand a bit of that advice herself, as she admits she’s shocked her “Degrassi” costar Aubrey Graham (aka “Drake”) has gone on to become a major rap star. Says the actress, “He was so sweet. It’s almost weird to me that he’s a rapper and a sex symbol now.”

Fear not, Dobrev! Your shot at film stardom is looming nearer, especially with a role in the upcoming film “The Perks of Being a Wallflower,” costarring Emma Watson and Paul Rudd. Not too shabby. Whether or not the film will really stretch the actress in her craft remains to be seen.

As for stardom, the Bulgaria-born beauty says she hopes she’ll be able to keep some of her private life–well–private. Just don’t judge her for picking up the occasional celebrity magazine just like the rest of us from time to time. She confesses, “I can’t say I’m not interested in Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt and their family. But [a personal life is] something you fight really hard to preserve and keep private.”

“The Perks of Being a Wallflower” opens later this year.