On Alias, Michael Vartan is romancing his ex, Jennifer Garner. In the movieMonster-in-Law, he's engaged to Jennifer Lopez.
		By Robert Hanshiro, USA TODAY

"They could have gotten me there," the humble, soft-spoken Vartan says with a sigh, referring to the production team behind his popular ABC spy drama. "It's one of the very few times I had really bad thoughts about (Alias)."

But Vartan, 36, knows he hardly has grounds to gripe about the TV series that has afforded him stardom and an expansive bachelor pad in the Hollywood Hills, where he's calling from this day. While eager to leap into his film career, he plans to return for what the Alias cast widely believes will be the show's fifth and final year. All the extra time he has been putting in on the set will pay off big time, he assures fans. Will his character, special agent Vaughn, finally propose marriage to Jennifer Garner's Sydney Bristow in the May 25 season finale (10 p.m. ET/PT)?

"There's a big cliffhanger — I think the best we've had," Vartan says. "Just when you think (Vaughn and Sydney) are going down easy street ... hello! It's something so monumental. When I first read it, I thought, 'No way!' "

Their characters' intensified romance presents an interesting challenge for Vartan and Garner, who dated last year before Garner found lasting love with her current fiancé, Ben Affleck. But Vartan says his romance with Garner ended without drama and quickly morphed into a brother/sister-like bond. He describes their split as "benign," adding, "We're much better off as friends."

They remain so close that Garner was the one who pulled Vartan aside to clue him in on her engagement before the rest of the world got wind. "On the surface, it could have been a recipe for disaster," he concedes of his and Garner's post-romance on-set relationship. "But Jennifer and I were best friends first, during (the romance) and after." And though he has yet to meet Affleck, Vartan says, he has "heard nothing but wonderful things about him. Their love is very genuine. I'm hoping Ben will put me in one of his next movies."

Vartan hardly needs Affleck's help. Starting in movie theaters today, Vartan romances the other Jennifer in Monster-in-Law, playing the fiancé of Jennifer Lopez, who, for anyone who missed it, is the real-life former fiancée of Affleck. (Related items: Lopez and Fonda deserve better than Monster | Watch the Monster-in-Law trailer)

Amazingly, the real-life soap opera never involved even whispers of a Lopez/Vartan pairing. Lopez says that's because "our situations were well-defined while we were working together. He had a girlfriend at the time." And she was with now-husband Marc Anthony. Even so, J. Lo calls Vartan "a perfect boyfriend person — so sweet, genuine and real."

Jane Fonda is Vartan's overbearing mother in the film and says his "deep sweetness" reminds her of her own son, actor Troy Garity. "Michael touches me so much," says Fonda, who says she senses in the French-born Vartan "a tremendous amount of pain" that "makes him vulnerable and interesting."

Vartan hasn't been linked steadily with anyone since Garner and jokes he's "enjoying not having to spend weekends shopping at flea markets." Instead, he can routinely be found chatting up lovelies at Sunset Strip's Skybar or private parties at the Playboy Mansion, both convenient drives to the home he shares with his 14-month-old Labrador, Millie.

"I do what normal kids do — go to different bars ... talk to girls," Vartan says. "And once in a while, you get a little too drunk and go home."