| Michael Vartan first captured the attention of movie-going-audiences with his performance as Sam Coulson, the schoolteacher that Drew Barrymore's character fell in love with in Fox 2000's romantic comedy, Never Been Kissed.
He can be seen starring in one of television's hottest drama series as 'Agent Vaughn' opposite Golden Globe winner and Emmy-nominee Jennifer Garner in ABC's spy drama, Alias, now in its fourth season. Alias, which won a People's Choice Award for Best New Drama Series, airs Wednesdays.
Vartan starred opposite Robin Williams in the psychological thriller, One Hour Photo. He played Will Yorkin, a husband and father whose family becomes the obsession of William's character, an employee at the local One Hour Photo. The Fox searchlight film premiered at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival.
He also starred in the two-part TNT mini-series The Mists of Avalon, a retelling of the legendary story of Camelot, which was shot on location in Prague. Vartan portrayed Sir Lancelot, opposite Angelica Huston, Julianna Margulies and Joan Allen.
Born in Paris to a French father and an American mother, Vartan grew up in the tiny Normandy village of Fleury until the age of 18 when he moved to Los Angeles to live with his mother, who encouraged him to take acting classes.
After starring in two small French films, Vartan grabbed the attention of the film world with his breakthrough performance in the 1993 Italian epic, Fiorile, directed by Paolo and Vittorio Taviani. Vartan, who was nominated for a French Caesar Award for Best Up-and-Coming Actor, played two characters in this fable of a curse that haunts a family through centuries. Of his performance, New York Post movie critic Mike Medved heralded the actor, saying, "[Vartan] is so hugely effective and so impossibly handsome that it's hard to understand how he could have (so far) avoided discovery by Hollywood."
Soon after, Vartan signed with an agent and landed a role in To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar, playing the bigoted small-town thug who harasses three drag queens (Wesley Snipes, Patrick Swayze and John Leguizamo). He went on to star opposite David Schwimmer as one of his best friends in The Pallbearer, a comedy of escapades surrounding three old high school pals coping with bachelorhood, marriage and a case of mistaken identity. He also starred in Sony Pictures Classics' The Myth of Fingerprints with Julianne Moore, and The Curve with Keri Russell, both of which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 1997 and 1998 respectively.
In his limited free time, Vartan feeds his obsession with sports, especially ice hockey, golf and tennis.
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