BY MARILYN BECK AND STACY JENEL SMITH

"Alias" hottie Michael Vartan didn't become an actor because he was fascinated by the craft, but because, he says, "I figured it was better than shoveling cow manure." Vartan, whose parents divorced when he was five, divided his childhood between a village in Normandy, France, where his father was a farmer -- and Los Angeles, where his mother resettled. "When I got out of high school in France," he says, "I figured I didn't want to make my living farming and phoned my mom and said, "Here I come." He still had no acting aspirations, but his mother enrolled him in drama school at the suggestion of a director/friend, and through another family friend he made his debut in a documentary called "The History of the Black Leather Jacket." He tells us, "I turned down the part, but then I learned they would pay me $600 a day -- and I was theirs. I had no lines; I played a kid who was weak and scrawny and saved up to get a black leather jacket to change his self-image. After that I did a couple movies in France -- I was horrible in them."
His first American film was "To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar," and since then has co-starred with David Schwimmer in "The Pallbearer," "The Curve" with Keri Russell and -- most recently -- with Drew Barrymore in "Never Been Kissed." Later this year he'll be seen opposite Robin William in the big-screen psychological thriller, "One Hour Photo."
So what does he have lined up as his next motion picture assignment, something to fill the months when "Alias" is on summer hiatus? "Not a thing at this time, and I don't care all that much," he says. He points out, "The series has already been picked up for a second season, and that will make summer less stress-free -- knowing you have a job to go home to inthe fall."

Marilyn Beck and Stacy Jenel Smith are featured on E!Online under the daily "Ask Marilyn" column and in monthly celebrity profiles and industry features.

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