Person Details

Birthday:

Aliases: Sylvie Georges Vartanian

Gender: Female

Place of birth: Iskretz, Bulgaria

Homepage: https://www.sylvie-vartan.com/

Movie Involvements: 15

TV Involvements: 21


Most Famous Work

Biography

Sylvie Vartan (born Sylvie Georges Vartanian on 15 August 1944) is a Bulgarian-Armenian-French singer and actress. She is known as one of the most productive and tough-sounding yé-yé artists. Her performances often featured elaborate show-dance choreography,[and she made many appearances on French and Italian TV. Yearly shows with then-husband Johnny Hallyday attracted full houses at the Olympia and the Palais des congrès de Paris throughout the 1960s and mid-1970s. In 2004, after a break in performances, she began recording and giving concerts of jazz ballads in francophone countries. Sylvie Vartan was born in Iskrets, Sofia Province, in the then Kingdom of Bulgaria. Her father, Georges Vartanian (1912–1970), was born in France to a Bulgarian mother named Slavka and an Armenian father. He worked as an attaché at the French embassy in Sofia. The family shortened the name Vartanian to Vartan. Her mother, Ilona (née Mayer 1914–2007), daughter of prominent architect Rudolf Mayer, was of Hungarian-Jewish descent. When the Soviet Army invaded Bulgaria in September 1944, the Vartanian family house was nationalised and they moved to Sofia. In 1952, a friend of Sylvie's father, film director Dako Dakovski, offered her the role of a schoolgirl in the movie Pod igoto, a film about Bulgarian rebels against the Ottoman occupation. Participating in the film made her dream of becoming an entertainer come true. The hardships of postwar Bulgaria made the family emigrate to Paris in December 1952. At first they stayed in the Lion d'Argent hotel near Les Halles, where Georges found a job, then for the next four years they stayed in a single room at the Angleterre Hotel. Young Sylvie had to work hard to keep up at school and blend in with her schoolmates. She spent two years learning French. In 1960, her family moved to an apartment in Michel Bizot Avenue. Thanks to the influence of her music producer brother Eddie, music became teenage Sylvie's main interest. Her most influential genres were jazz and, out of spite toward her strict high school, rock 'n' roll. Her favourite artists included Brenda Lee, Bill Haley, and Elvis Presley. In 1961, Eddie offered Sylvie the chance to record the song "Panne d'essence" with French rocker Frankie Jordan. The Decca Records EP was a surprise hit. Although she was not credited on the sleeve, "Panne d'essence" provided Vartan her first appearance on French television. The journalists gave her the nickname la collégienne du twist. After the "twisting schoolgirl" had finished the Victor Hugo High School, she was free to sign a contract with Decca Records to start recording her own EP; carrying the title song "Quand le film est triste", a cover of Sue Thompson's "Sad Movies (Make Me Cry)", the EP was on sale by the beginning of December 1961. ... Source: Article "Sylvie Vartan" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA.

Most Famous Work

Le Grand Échiquier
Average
8

Le Grand Échiquier

(1972) Self
Système 2
Average
0

Système 2

(1975) Self
30 millions d'amis
Average
6

30 millions d'amis

(1976) Self
À bout portant
Average
8

À bout portant

(1968) Self
Victoires de la musique
Average
2
La Boîte à secrets
Average
0

La Boîte à secrets

(2019) Self
Dim Dam Dom
Average
6

Dim Dam Dom

(1965) Self
Midi Première
Average
10

Midi Première

(1975) Self

Acting

Year Character Movie/Tv
2023 Self (archive footage)
2022 Self (archive footage)
Self (archive footage)
Self (archive footage)
2021 N/A
N/A
Self (archive footage)
2019 Self
2018 Self
2014 Self
2013 Une people à Cannes soirée Melko
2011 N/A
2009 Self
Self
2008 Self
Self
2001 Agnès Taride
Self
1998 Self
1994 Stéphane Feuvrier
1993 Self
1990 self
1987 Self
1985 Self
1984 Self
N/A
1982 N/A
Self
1980 Self
1979 N/A
1978 Self
1977 Self
1976 Self
1975 Self
Self - Host
Self (archive footage)
Self
Self
Self
1973 Self
1972 Une femme à la soirée mondaine
N/A
Self
Self
1971 Self
Self
Self
Bets
1968 Self
1967 Sylvie Vartan
Self
1965 Self
1964 Alexa Rollo
Sylvie Vartan
1963 Gigi
Self
1962 La chanteuse yéyé
1959 Self
Self
Year Character Movie/Tv

Join the discussion

Please Log in to comment