Starting tonight, there’s fresh blood on The Vampire Diaries (CW, 8 pm EST). Sean Faris joins the already drool-worthy Ian Somerhalder, Paul Wesley and Zach Roerig as Mystic Grill’s buff bartender with a secret. You may recognize the former model, who once pretended to be Tom Cruise’s son, from the mixed martial arts movie Never Back Down with Djimon Hounsou. His killer moves helped him and Twilight’s Cam Gigandet win a 2008 MTV Movie Award for Best Fight. But before that the Houston, Texas-born 27-year-old also starred as the privileged, bad boy Craig on Reunion and Dino, the all-American jock, on Life As We Know It. Sean talks to BettyConfidential about the CW’s hottest new show, his famous abs, and what Hollywood starlet he’d be sure to dump.

Tell us about your character Ben on The Vampire Diaries.
Ben is a former star football player at the town’s high school and he didn’t really do much with his life, so while his other friends moved on he got stuck in Mystic Falls. He discovers the beautiful Bonnie (Katerina Graham) and they start to hang out for a little bit. I can’t really tell you anything beyond that or I’d get in trouble.

Ben knows Matt (Zach Roerig), right?
Yeah, they’ve known each other because they both played football, so he gets a job at Mystic Grill and that’s how I get introduced to the show.

Read The Betty Interview: The Vampire Diaries’ Zach Roerig

Most people in Mystic Falls are either vampires or they become a vampire meal. Which are you?
I can’t say, but I can tell you my role was really fun to play.

Well, I’m guessing a vampire’s more fun to play than a bartender. So what’s your favorite vampire chronicle: True Blood, Twilight or the Anne Rice novels?
I love the Anne Rice novels. I read Interview with a Vampire, The Vampire Lestat and Queen of the Damned. I really got a kick out of those. I haven’t really had a chance to check out the others, but I know they’re huge right now.

What do you think it is about vampires that’s so damn sexy?
I think it’s the fantasy of it all. Living at night, being immortal — it’s very intriguing and seductive too. Wouldn’t you say?