Biography
French-American actor Michael Vartan made his handsome presence felt in several European and independent films before getting his Hollywood studio break in the romantic comedy
Never Been Kissed (1999).
Born in Paris and raised in the small Normandy town of Fleury, Vartan moved to Los Angeles at age 18 to be with his American mother. Though he began taking acting classes in Los Angeles, Vartan nabbed his first film roles in the French productions
Un Homme et Deux Femmes (1991) and
Promenades d'Ete (1992). Still working in Europe, Vartan gained international attention as the doomed lover of the fabled title character in
Paolo Taviani and
Vittorio Taviani's
Fiorile (1993).
Returning to the Hollywood fold, Vartan appeared in To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar (1995) and
The Pallbearer (1996). He played more substantial roles, however, in the indie AIDS drama
Touch Me (1997) and college crime thriller
The Curve (1998), as well as playing
Julianne Moore's brother in Sundance entrant
The Myth of Fingerprints (1997). Vartan finally earned his first starring role in a Hollywood studio production when star/executive producer
Drew Barrymore insisted that he be cast opposite her in
Never Been Kissed. As undercover reporter Barrymore's "high school" teacher, Vartan was an adult-teen dream come true; the movie went on to become Vartan's first Hollywood hit. Vartan was not so lucky, however, with his next Hollywood film, the critically lambasted
Madonna vehicle
The Next Best Thing (2000).
After he was impeccably cast as Lancelot in the lavish TV miniseries adaptation of
The Mists of Avalon (2001), Vartan stayed with TV to play CIA agent Michael Vaughn, ally of
Jennifer Garner's double agent Sydney Bristow, on the stylish, critically praised ABC action series
Alias (2001). ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide