Vartan was born in Boulogne-Billancourt, Hauts-de-Seine, France, the son of Doris (née Pucher), a painter and artist, and Eddie Vartan, a musician. His paternal aunt is singer Sylvie Vartan and his stepfather is writer Ian La Frenais; Vartan's father was Armenian Bulgarian and Vartan's mother is an American Jew originally from Poland. Vartan has said about his French background that “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.” He has stated that he tends to be considered a Frenchman in the United States and an American in France. His parents divorced when he was five and he moved to America with his mother. He moved back to France to be with his father until his high school years, and grew up a "farm kid" in a "simple environment" in Fleury, a small town in Normandy. At the age of eighteen, Vartan moved back in with his mother in Los Angeles, t