Why Natalie From Vampire Academy Looks So Familiar

"Vampire Academy," the 2014 horror comedy based on the popular young adult fantasy series of the same name by author Richelle Mead, recently became available to stream on Netflix and is getting some renewed interest thanks to the news that "The Vampire Diaries" creator Julie Plec is writing and executive-producing a new streaming series adaptation of "Vampire Academy" for Peacock, per Variety.

"Vampire Academy," which has been described as a "Twilight" knockoff that flopped at the box office, tells the story of a 17-year-old half-human, half-vampire Dhampir named Rose Hathaway (Zoey Deutch) and her best friend, vampire princess Lissa Dragomir (Lucy Fry), who are students at the titular school. The interpersonal politics at St. Vladimir's Academy are overwhelming and cutthroat (literally — these are vampires we're talking about), and when Lissa is targeted by an anonymous campaign that's attempting to destroy her family's reputation and her life, Rose has to put herself in danger to help her.

The movie has an impressive cast that includes Gabriel Byrne, Claire Foy, and Dominic Sherwood, as well as a notable TV star in the supporting role of Natalie Dashkov, the nefarious daughter of the film's villain, Victor Dashkov (Byrne). Natalie is played by an actress who was a constant presence on TV for a decade and will be again if her pilot "Epic" gets picked up. She's Sarah Hyland, who you primarily know from one thing but has been in many things.

Sarah Hyland is best known for playing Haley Dunphy on all 11 seasons of ABC's megahit, Emmy-dominating sitcom "Modern Family." She was the oldest daughter of Claire (Julie Bowen) and Phil Dunphy (Ty Burrell), a somewhat frivolous and self-involved teenager at the start of the show who grew into a (relatively) well-adjusted young woman with a husband, Dylan Marshall (Reid Ewing), and twin children, Poppy and George. She had a complicated love life before she settled down with Dylan, but she ended the show in a good place for her.

Hyland, however, wasn't happy with how things ended up for Haley. She told Cosmopolitan that she was "disappointed" with Haley's lack of screen time in the final season and said that she wished viewers had gotten to see Haley balance being a working woman and a mother. "There are so many amazing mothers who are also hard workers and excel in their jobs and kill it every day in both aspects," Hyland said. "That would have been a really cool thing to see — especially from Haley."

That being said, she has a lot of love for the cast and crew of the show she worked on for over a decade. "Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened," she wrote in her farewell Instagram post. "To put it in Bachelor terms, I've had an incredible journey with this show. Our cast and crew were always phenomenal and we very quickly grew to be a real life #modernfamily I will miss these people tremendously but am so grateful I was lucky enough to work with them."

Sarah Hyland's profile rose after "Modern Family" premiered in 2009, which led to a starring role in a 2011 Disney Channel Original Movie, "Geek Charming." She played a popular, snobby high school junior named Dylan Schoenfield who agrees to be the subject of her nerdy classmate Josh Rosen's (Matt Prokop) documentary about popularity. And wouldn't you know it, they fall in love along the way.

According to Hyland herself, Dylan is a pretty similar character to Haley Dunphy. "They are kind of similar in a way," Hyland told Channel Guide Magazine in 2011. "Haley is very... She's popular and she's into fashion and makeup. She doesn't really have the money that Dylan Shoenfield has, but she definitely puts all of her allowance to anything vain and trendy. Dylan has crazy amounts of money, so much that she doesn't even know what a bus is. But Dylan is actually secretly really smart, whereas Haley isn't the brightest bulb. There are a lot more layers to Dylan than Haley. Haley's pretty [straightforward]. She is who she is, and she has a good heart underneath, but that's about it. There's not a lot going up there, I think."

The movie was based on a novel by Robin Palmer. It's one of the worst DCOMs, according to a ranking of every Disney Channel film by Vulture, landing at #103 out of 105.

Sarah Hyland's first starring role in a drama film came in 2016's Netflix Original "XOXO," a coming-of-age ensemble movie about life-changing events among intersecting characters at an EDM (electronic dance music) festival. Hyland played Krystal, a sheltered young woman who attends her first festival and goes on an unexpected journey of self-discovery. The film also stars Graham Phillips, Brett DelBuono, Hayley Kiyoko, Colin Woodell, Ryan Hansen, Ione Skye, Brianne Howey, and Chris D'Elia.

"[Krystal] represents everything pure," Hyland told Refinery29 about her character. "She's the naiveté. She goes in with very high expectations to this music festival to meet this guy she's been talking to online. She thinks he's The One. Things don't really go as planned, and she kind of has to look within herself and put her phone down. She starts to really appreciate life for what it is instead of putting her happiness in others' [hands]."

Sarah Hyland is a singer, but she doesn't get to show off her vocal ability in film and television very often. That's what makes her performance in ABC's 2017 TV movie musical remake of "Dirty Dancing" so special. She sang a cover of Bob Dylan's classic song "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right" with her co-star J. Quinton Johnson. Not only that, but she also learned to play ukulele for the part, according to Entertainment Weekly.

In the movie, she played Lisa Houseman, the older sister of Baby (Abigail Breslin). Lisa falls in and out of love with womanizing resort waiter Robbie Gould (Shane Harper), which leads to her singing Bob Dylan's famous kiss-off song.

"This is completely different than either [the original film or the stage musical version]," Hyland told Digital Spy. "It still follows the same story, but I think it's so much more heartfelt because you really get to see these characters for who they are and why they are like that. I am so privileged and honoured to be part of something like this, even [if] it is the smallest way possible."