Michael S. Vartan is a French-American film and television actor. He is probably best known for the role of Michael Vaughn on the American television action drama Alias. He most recently starred in the TNT medical drama Hawthorne.
MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss (2000), Saturn Award for Best Actor on Television, Teen Choice Award for Choice TV Chemistry/Choice TV Actor - Drama/Action Adventure/Choice TV: Breakout Star Male (2003, 2005)
Movies
Un Homme et Deux Femmes (1991), Never Been Kissed (1999), Stringer (1992), The Pallbearer (1996), The Curve (1998), High School (2010), Colombiana (2011)
TV Shows
Alias (2001-2006), Hawthorne (2009-2011), Friends (1997), Big Shots (2007), Bates Motel (2014), Ring of Fire (2012), Satisfaction (2014)
Star Sign
Sagittarius
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Quote
1
Every actor will tell you it's so much more fun to play the bad guy because usually those characters are more complex and more broad and more interesting, and have more sides to them.
2
You just have to keep plugging away and if you get lucky enough to get a job, you get one.
3
You never know why or when the next job is coming. I actually like that. It's kind of exciting. I don't punch in. I don't have a 9 to 5 job. When you do work you're lucky enough to go to interesting places and meet mostly interesting and talented people, so it's really a great job if you can work.
4
I think the hardest thing about being an actor is between jobs when you don't know and wondering if you'll ever work again. It's kind of a crazy business.
5
I've always loved sports and hockey is a sport I play as much as I can. I love it. In a weird way it's like church and therapy and exercise all rolled up into one. I mean when I play hockey I don't think about anything.
6
I wish I were a character actor. Of course, if I played hockey without a mask, I could become one.
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I hate gold. I'm sort of a sterling-silver guy.
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I would rather do movies because I'm very lazy and the hours are much easier.
9
I'm not a bling-bling guy; I can't pull it off. I just look like an idiot.
10
The funny thing is I'm actually a Polish Jew who happens to be born in France. My mom is Polish and my dad is Bulgarian. I don't have an ounce of French blood. But I work it.
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Fact
1
Michael Vartan is a student of DW Brown and a graduate of The Joanne Baron DW Brown Studio.
2
Will be in Melbourne in January attending the Aussie Millions Poker Championship at Crown Casino [December 2008]
3
Currently in Australia filming a new movie called Rogue (2007). [December 2005]
Is a huge fan of Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977). He said in an interview that as a child he once watched it every day for a summer and ended up memorizing the lines from the movie.
Appeared in a television ad for the 2004 NHL Stanley Cup playoffs. He stated that he hadn't been nervous while acting in 3 years, yet he was very nervous about appearing with the Stanley Cup.
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Although born in France, he is not of French descent. Michael's father, Eddie Vartan, was born in Bulgaria. Michael's paternal grandfather, Georges Vartan, was of half Armenian and half Bulgarian ancestry (the family surname was originally "Vartanian"). Michael's paternal grandmother, Ilona (Mayer), was of Hungarian Jewish background; her father, Rudolf, was a prominent architect. Michael's mother, Doris Vartan (née Pucher), is of Polish Jewish background; she was born in Poland and later became an American citizen.
Plays hockey as often as he can. This attribute has also been given to his Alias (2001) character Michael Vaughn, who plays pickup hockey occasionally with his co-worker characters.
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Avid sports fan.
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Wanted to be a professional pool player before deciding to act instead. He played pool 12 hours a day, for 5 years.
$8 Million
