Vince Vaughn

Vincent Anthony Vaughn is an American actor best known for starring as a leading man in numerous comedy and drama films since the late 1990s. Born on March 28, 1970, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, he was raised in both the Catholic and Protestant faiths by his mother, Sharon Eileen, a real estate agent and stockbroker, and his father, Vernon Lindsay Vaughn, a toy company salesman. After living in Buffalo Grove, Illinois, until age eight, he moved to Lake Forest, graduating from Lake Forest High School in 1988. Having been introduced to musical theater at a young age, Vaughn decided to become an actor in 1987.

Vaughn began his professional career in 1988 after being cast in a Chevrolet commercial and moving to Hollywood. He subsequently appeared in television projects such as China Beach and CBS Schoolbreak Specials before making his film debut as Notre Dame football tailback Jamie O'Hara in the 1993 sports drama Rudy. He achieved his career breakthrough with the 1996 comedy Swingers alongside Jon Favreau. Following this success, Steven Spielberg cast him as Nick Van Owen in the 1997 blockbuster The Lost World: Jurassic Park. Vaughn followed this with roles in various drama and thriller films, including Return to Paradise, Clay Pigeons, The Cell, and Domestic Disturbance.

His popularity grew significantly following his starring role in the 2003 comedy Old School alongside Will Ferrell and Luke Wilson. Throughout the 2000s, Vaughn established himself as a prominent comedic lead and was dubbed part of Hollywood's "Frat Pack" alongside fellow comedic actors. He starred in a series of successful feature films, including Starsky & Hutch, Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, Wedding Crashers, The Break-Up, Fred Claus, and Four Christmases. He also produced projects through his production company, Wild West Picture Show Productions, including the 2011 comedy The Dilemma, and co-wrote the 2013 comedy film The Internship.

In addition to comedic roles, Vaughn continued to pursue dramatic and television work. He appeared in Sean Penn's 2007 drama Into the Wild, the 2016 war film Hacksaw Ridge, and S. Craig Zahler's thrillers Brawl in Cell Block 99 and Dragged Across Concrete, as well as the 2020 horror-comedy Freaky. On television, he starred as career criminal Frank Semyon in the second season of HBO's True Detective in 2015 and played a detective turned restaurant inspector in Apple TV+'s Bad Monkey in 2024. He also took recurring roles in the animated sitcom F Is for Family and the comedy series Curb Your Enthusiasm.

Beyond acting, Vaughn co-launched the podcast network and production company Audiorama in 2022 and became the majority shareholder of the Coachella Valley Scorpions pickleball team in 2023. Over his career, Vaughn has won a Critics' Choice Award and earned nominations for an Actors Award and an Emmy Award. He received the Meritorious Public Service Medal from the U.S. Army in 2019 and received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in August 2024. Married to Kyla Weber since January 2010, he has two children.