1996

Michael Vartan: Tomorrow's Star

Scene stealers are an underrated lot but frequently it's what makes a star and only by the most legitimate mans. Brad Pitt was virtually unknown until he sizzled in Thelma & Louise while a young actress named Julia Roberts stole the show in Mystic Pizza and the rest in cinematic history. Now, in the Pallbearer which boasts a cast of David Schwimmer, Gwyneth Paltrow and Barbara Hershey, a yound actor named Michael Vartan makes his mark and one suspects that he will soon rise to the top of the Hollywood pack.

Sitting in a New York Upper West Side boite drinking a cup of coffee, Vartan comes off as an intelligent, irreverent and uncharacteristically modest for an actor. "About five years ago, I made a conscious decision to take acting seriously," he observes. "It's not an easy job. That's why I decided to stick to projects I really love because if the job's going to be hard, at least I'm going to do something I love. If you hate what you're doing and, on top of that, it's hard, that's not good," he says flat out.

The French born actor spent his childhood there before moving to Los Angeles when he was eighteen. He made his international debut in the well regarded Fiorile an previously also starred in Un Homme et Deux Femmes, Promenade D'Ete in France. Most recently, he appeared in To Wong Foo: Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar. He is currently filming the Myth of Fingerprints in Maine for Sony Classics with Julianne Moore, Noah Wyle, Blyth Danner and James Le Gros.

In addition to acting, he is also a painter, musician and relentless hockey player and seems to be dealing with the escalating heat surrounding his career with unassuming humor. "Hockey is my therapy," he explains. "I would basically trade everything to be a professional athlete of any kind- golf, hockey, soccer, baseball, football... but maybe not bowling," he deadpans. "I'd rather be an actor than a bowler."

Thanks to vartanetc.!

© Scene 1996

Back To Exclusively Michael 1996