Michael Vartan has been in the entertainment industry for almost two decades, but surprisingly, the 39-year-old actor claims he never dreamed of becoming an actor.
“I never wanted to act. To this day… it's the hardest thing I've ever done,” Vartan, who now stars on ABC's
Big Shots, told
Herald Sun. “It's very hard to be on screen with 30 people staring at you, a camera in your face, a boom up your rear end and another actor who half the time is fast asleep off camera and to pretend none of that's happening and cry and act like your mother's dying. That's a very hard thing to do.”
Despite this, Michael Vartan has continued to thrive in show business. Prior to landing his current television gig, he was most known for portraying Michael Vaughn on the hit spy series,
Alias, starring alongside
Jennifer Garner. He has also had lead and supporting roles in several films, including
Never Been Kissed, where he played Drew Barrymore's love interest, and
Monster-in-Law, where he played Jennifer Lopez's husband-to-be.
Having almost 20 years of acting experience under his belt hasn't done much to inflate Michael Vartan's ego, however. Although he knows he has improved greatly from when he first started out, he said that he is perfectly aware of his own limitations as an actor.
“One of my strengths is I understand my place in the business very well,” the
Big Shots star said. “I know what is realistic for me to achieve and what things are a bit of a stretch... I don't call my agent saying, ‘Hey, how come I'm not starring across Jessica Biel in the next . . .? Well, because no one knows who you are, buddy.' Well, not exactly, I've been around, but I don't put butts on seats in theaters.”
That being said, Vartan has enjoyed numerous benefits from his job, among which are traveling and receiving a relatively hefty paycheck. However, the
Big Shots star said that he also experiences difficulty in thoroughly enjoying the fruits of his labor, especially when he thinks about other people in more important professions who are not awarded the same luxuries.
“At the end of the day I can't take myself seriously when an EMS worker who's scraping two dead bodies off the sidewalk after a car accident is getting paid less than me,” Vartan told the
Herald Sun. “You have to take it with a grain of salt… I don't give [acting] too much credence, but I don't disrespect it either because it's a very lucky position to be in.”
-Lisa Claustro, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
Source: Herald Sun
(Image Courtesy of ABC)