Vince Vaughn, who was born in Minnesota and raised in Illinois, started his acting career around the age of 17, following years spent wrestling, playing football, and playing baseball. He has had many highs (“Wedding Crashers”) and lows (“Gus Van Sant’s ill-advised “Psycho” remake”) in the decades since his “Rudy” debut and “Swingers” breakthrough — both alongside dear friend Jon Favreau — establishing himself as a tenacious Hollywood star, if nothing else.
Vaughn’s career isn’t quite as well-known as it once was in the late 1990s and early 2000s. He is once more more depressed than upbeat after a string of misguided roles (The Internship, everyone’s least favourite season of “True Detective”), straight-to-video nonentities (“Brawl in Cell Block 99,” “North Hollywood”), and box office duds (“Queenpins”).
But it would be foolish to write off someone like Vaughn, who has recently worked to broaden his career in Hollywood and outside and increase the visibility of his name in new markets.
Here’s what Vaughn has been up to lately, from his acting profession to his side projects and interests — and from his run-ins with the authorities to his occasionally contentious political stances.
He had a long string of bad movies
In his heyday, Vaughn was a bankable and well-liked leading man.
Vaughn initially struggled after establishing himself in both small-budget (Doug Liman’s “Swingers”) and big-budget (Steven Spielberg’s “The Lost World”) movies. Films like “Clay Pigeons,” “The Cell,” and “Domestic Disturbance” were flops known more for the drama behind the scenes than for their box office performance, and the Favreau reunion movie “Made” didn’t really seem to help either.
Vaughn made a wise turn at the turn of the century while the failure of his performance as Norman Bates in “Psycho” was still stinging him. In comedies like “Zoolander” and “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy,” he left some humorous crumbs. However, in the blockbuster comedies “Dodgeball,” “Old School,” and “Wedding Crashers,” he did more than just steal the show. His peak of fame appeared to come with the release of “The Break-Up” in 2006; the Vaughn/Aniston hit opened at number one and went on to generate over $100 million domestically. This was during the Brangelina era, when a real-life romance with Jennifer Aniston dominated headlines.
Around this time, Vaughn’s tendency to select poor screenplays started to catch up with him. Many of these movies, including “Be Cool,” “Couples Retreat,” “Fred Claus,” “The Dilemma,” “The Watch,” and “Delivery Man,” paired Vaughn with endearing co-stars like Jon Favreau, Ben Stiller, and Reese Witherspoon, but they also happened to be some of the worst movies they’ve been in over the past 20 years. Since then, Elizabeth Banks’ career has taken off, but she still finds it difficult to hide her dislike of “Fred Claus.”
Nearly everything Vaughn touched between 2006 and 2016 received negative reviews from both critics and viewers. The exceptions were usually minor projects, like his cameos in the “Anchorman” series or a supporting role in “Into the Wild.” To paraphrase his character in the movie “Swingers,” Vince Vaughn was the guy in the PG-13 film that everyone was “truly hoping” would succeed for nearly ten years. But something just wasn’t working.
He lost his bankability
It’s difficult to argue with the fact that in Hollywood, you can only be deemed successful if your movies are profitable. As a result, each of Vaughn’s big-budget star roles in financially unsuccessful movies like “The Dilemma,” “Fred Claus,” “Unfinished Business,” and “The Watch” decreased his chances of landing another.
Perhaps some of this was just terrible luck. The Watch,” possibly the funniest Vaughn movie from this era, suffered from bad timing by being released right after Trayvon Martin’s passing. The controversy surrounding the shooting death of George Zimmerman, a neighbourhood watchman, dominated news stories at the beginning of 2012, making movie advertising extra delicate. Fox and co-star/director Stiller were forced to change the title from “Neighborhood Watch,” remove the movie’s trailers and posters, and limp toward a lacklustre opening weekend a few months later. This was made worse by the mass shooting in a Colorado movie theatre the previous weekend, which made about 25% of potential moviegoers too afraid to visit their local theatres.
Particularly bad box office flops included “The Watch” and Vaughn’s 2015 workplace comedy “Unfinished Business,” with the former making less than half its budget domestically and the latter earning less than one-third. By 2016, Vaughn was producing and starring in the action thriller “Term Life” (directed by longtime friend, collaborator, and “A Christmas Story” legend Peter Billingsley); it marked the bottom of the barrel financially, bringing in less than $90,000 globally — a sum that was almost as embarrassing as his character’s poorly thought-out bangs.
Even though his name was still known, Vaughn’s star power had significantly decreased. His role as a leading man was essentially revoked in terms of popular, big-budget fare since studios could no longer rely on him as a draw to get crowds to the theatre. Since “Unfinished Business,” Vaughn has essentially been without a studio “vehicle.”
He went to television
In 2014, when he started appearing on television shows produced by HBO and YouTube, it appeared as though Vaughn fans were about to experience a revival. The first season of HBO’s “True Detective” was a huge, watercooler-worthy success, earning Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson Emmy nominations, turning Alexandra Daddario into a star, and establishing Nic Pizzolatto and Cary Fukunaga as powerful behind-the-camera talents. It looked like a no-brainer, must-watch success was just waiting to happen when a buzz-worthy Season 2 with a dark new tale starring Vaughn (as a felon! ), Colin Farrell, and Rachel McAdams was announced.
It served as something of a homecoming for Vaughn, who began his career in supporting roles on programmes like “21 Jump Street” and “Doogie Howser, M.D.” Despite the fact that Vaughn had periodically made appearances on television for shows like “The Larry Sanders Show” or “Sex and the City,” the second season of “True Detective” seemed like the ideal time to start a new phase of his career while also coming full circle.
However, viewers were instead treated to missing genitalia, a man dressed as a crow, Farrell beating up a family, Rick Springfield playing a disturbing psychiatrist, bad CGI explosions, and Vaughn having hallucinations as he stumbles through the desert to his demise instead of another fierce, mind-bending season of ground-breaking police drama. At best, the season had the feel of a want tobe David Lynch; at worst, it gave many the impression that Pizzolatto had lost his creative mojo (and the loss of Fukunaga as the director was a step too far).
The season received a mediocre (at best) reception, which almost put an end to the show before the positively received Season 3 brought it back for the soon-to-start Season 4. Without a doubt, Vaughn’s transformation into a gangster didn’t lead to the Vaughn-naissance that some had hoped for, but it did bring him back to television, where he has since remained as a supporting character on “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” a voice on “F is for Family,” and will soon star in the upcoming Apple TV+ series “Bad Monkey.”
He went darker
Although he appeared in movies like “Psycho,” “The Cell,” and “Domestic Disturbance,” Vaughn has primarily been recognised as a humorous performer. In the late 2000s and early 2010s, as Vaughn’s comedies started to lose money, he once more replied by going black.
His first significant deviation was from “True Detective” when he played Frank Semyon, a gangster in Vinci, California (a made-up replacement for the notoriously corrupt city of Vernon). It gave some viewers tonal whiplash because it was so different from the type of character that Vaughn made his reputation playing, with some questioning “Why does Frank Semyon appear so exhausted in every single shot?” Many believed that Vaughn was out of his depth given the dramatic weight that the part demanded.
A few years later, in the WWII epic “Hacksaw Ridge,” directed by Mel Gibson, Vaughn dove back into the dramatic seas. Andrew Garfield would play a significant role in it after Spider-Man, but Vaughn would also receive praise for his “prickly, quietly intense performance,” as Time put it.
He got a boost from S. Craig Zahler
If you had to choose two of Vaughn’s most promising recent parts, you might go with two from the same director.
In 2017’s “Brawl in Cell Block 99,” written and directed by S. Craig Zahler (“Bone Tomahawk”), Vaughn was cast against type as a meth dealer forced into an assassination attempt. In 2018, Zahler cast Vaughn once more as a scandalised police officer opposite Gibson in “Dragged Across Concrete.” When viewed as a totality, the Zahler movies gave Vaughn characters that were meatier and more nuanced than he had previously encountered.
Both films lacked a strong commercial focus; “Concrete,” with a budget of around $15 million, barely made a million dollars at the box office.
But in the weeks preceding up to the shoot, Vaughn surprised everyone with substantial physical changes (in “Cell Block,” he sports a large cross tattoo on the back of his shaved head) and athletic skill.
Vaughn described his state of mind at the time as “kind of shifting.” “I began to consider that I wanted to pursue alternative endeavours.”
Zahler explained his motivation for taking a fresh look at the former comedic star: “Vince has a naturally commanding presence.” “He does a bunch of these comical things, but I’m told he’s only one thing. But that’s not who I would expect to see if I saw him on the street.”
He diversified his work as a producer
Vaughn made the correct decision to start working behind the camera as his Hollywood reputation increased. These movies, including “Made,” “The Break-Up,” and “Couples Retreat,” were collaborations between Vaughn and pals Favreau and Billingsley. However, as his studio leading man parts started to dwindle, he focused more on creating projects, many of which didn’t even have him in them.
Since the release of “The Internship” in 2013, Vaughn has produced a wide range of programming, including the discussion show “Fear(Less) with Tim Ferriss,” the reality series “Pursuit of the Truth,” and the sitcom “Sullivan & Son.” Vaughn, a well-known sports lover, has used his enthusiasm to produce the TV show “Undeniable with Joe Buck” and a “30 for 30” episode about his favourite ’85 Bears.
Additionally, he has long professed a love for stand-up comedy, which was first evident in the 2016 theatrical release “Brad Paisley’s Comedy Rodeo,” a documentary about a comedian tour that included 30 dates, and in the 2020 Jimmy O. Yang story “The Opening Act,” both of which were produced by Vaughn.
Vaughn created his first documentary in 2012 with the Valeri Vaughn-directed Netflix original “Art of Conflict.” The movie, which examines murals in Northern Ireland and how they have historically represented the region’s conflict, is narrated by Vince. He has also shown a fondness for holiday movies through Wild West Picture Show Productions, a company he co-owns with his sister Victoria Vaughn and Billingsley. Along with “Four Christmases,” Wild West also created “Christmas with the Campbells,” a 2022 Hallmark parody, and “A Christmas Story Christmas,” which saw Billingsley make his long-awaited comeback as Ralphie Parker.
He became a screenwriter
Following his success as an actor, Vaughn started dabbling with scripting. It started out as a straightforward “story” credit for “The Break-Up,” but it quickly expanded to include a screenplay credit for “The Internship,” as well as writer credits for “Couples Retreat” and “Campbells.”
With “Couples Retreat,” Vaughn and Favreau co-wrote the screenplay, and Billingsley was the director. Despite receiving negative reviews from reviewers and audiences, the movie, which also included outstanding people like Jason Bateman, Kristen Bell, and Malin Akerman, was a commercial success. Following that, Vaughn collaborated on the screenplay for “The Internship,” a much-anticipated reunion for “Wedding Crashers” actors Vaughn and Owen Wilson. However, the film was a critical and commercial failure that many viewed as lacking the same edge as their previous collaboration. Vaughn concurred.
“An adult situation comedy is “Crashers.” I believe that movie did well because it accurately depicted how men speak—the purple language, the explicit tone, etc.—which is sometimes necessary in films. When your characters express ideas that people are thinking but are afraid to voice, it’s kind of a relief to them. Pulling away from that kind of material can seriously ruin a movie “In a 2015 interview, Vaughn stated that the re-teaming was initially intended to be another hard-R movie. “It was intended for “The Internship” to be an R-rated comedy. The studio informed us that they intended to go PG-13 just before we began filming. I said that I simply didn’t see that. I promised to consider both options before making a decision. But the ship had sailed and, contrary to what I had intended, I now found myself in a PG-13 film.”
He continued, “As an actor, you’re not in control of how those judgements get made. Therefore, you occasionally find yourself in situations where you’re producing a movie that’s different from what you had in mind.
His charity work
Any actor with several decades of consistent work should count themselves fortunate; as a result, Vaughn has used every chance to give back.
Over the years, Vaughn has contributed to a number of organisations, many of which are related to the military, including Army Emergency Relief (which offers financial aid to U.S. Army personnel), Declare Yourself (a nonpartisan group working to increase youth voter turnout), the Fulfillment Fund (which helps people with financial difficulties attend college), and Jumpstart, a Boston-based group dedicated to early education.
As a well-known person, Vaughn has supported various other charitable causes as a spokesperson, speaker, or honoree. The John Wayne Cancer Institute presented Vaughn with the “True Grit” Humanitarian Award in 2017 in recognition of his “generosity, commitment, and support of America’s servicemen and women.” The award is given to those who “Embody the American values that were characteristic of John Wayne.”
In 2010, Vaughn was one of several famous people that sang on the “We Are The World 25 Years For Haiti” charity single, along with Barbra Streisand, LL Cool J, and Justin Bieber. He has participated in charity events for Mending Kids International, Tony Bennett’s “Exploring the Arts” foundation, and the Motion Picture and Television Fund. He also played poker at the 2016 “Four Kings and an Ace” World Poker Tour event.
He became deeply involved in poker
Vaughn has been known to play poker recreationally when he isn’t doing it for charity, which is only fitting considering that Trent from “Swingers,” the Vegas-loving, eager-to-double-down character, was the role that launched his career.
The World Series of Poker is an annual event, and in 2021, Vaughn started participating professionally. He made the formal “shuffle up and deal” announcement to begin events, and he also took part in a Texas Hold ‘Em competition for a gold WSOP bracelet. The player who removed Vaughn from the competition would receive a $10,000 prize. That player turned out to be Indian professional Kunal Patni. The next year, Vaughn participated in the main event while acting as the World Series of Poker’s Master of Ceremonies (an ambassadorial position).
In 2022, Vaughn participated in three televised poker tournaments where he faced off against Phil Helmuth, Joe Cada, and Koray Aldemir in a heads-up showdown. All three of Vaughn’s opponents were world champions, thus it came as a surprise when he managed to defeat Aldemir, the 2021 World Series of Poker champion, in one of his three matches.
He started his own podcast network
In recent years, Vaughn has made a deliberate effort to get involved in the blossoming podcast industry. He has made appearances on shows like “WTF with Marc Maron,” and he even founded his own podcast network and production business called Audiorama with former NFL players Ryan Kalil and Greg Olsen.
While Vaughn lacks the professional sports background of his co-founders (who played together on the Carolina Panthers), he does have a reputation as one of Hollywood’s most sports-obsessed celebrities, and several Audiorama projects have benefited from that.
“Youth Inc.,” presented by Olsen and concentrating on youth sports, was the first podcast produced by Audiorama. The second was “Block Forever,” a podcast with a football-related theme that Kalil hosts. In addition to occasionally joining the primary hosts on the podcasts, Vaughn is actively involved behind the scenes. In addition, Billingsley’s podcast “A Cinematic Journey,” which debuted in December 2022 with a series centred on, you guessed it, Christmas movies, has Vaughn as a producer and guest on occasion.
He was arrested twice
Vaughn was detained in Manhattan Beach, California in June 2018, replete with mugshot. He was pulled over at a sobriety checkpoint and first resisted getting out of his car. He was subsequently charged with careless driving, driving under the influence, and refusing to cooperate with police after failing both a sobriety test and a blood alcohol test. The three accusations are all considered misdemeanours.
Vaughn’s court appearance for the three accusations took place in May 2019. He entered a plea of not guilty and was given a three-year term of unsupervised probation. He also had to do a three-month alcohol education course. Given that Vaughn has kept a job throughout his probation, it appears that the arrest and sentence had no effect on his employment.
Vaughn has been detained previously. In 2001, Vaughn got into a physical altercation with two locals outside a club in Wilmington, North Carolina. He was then mace-sprayed and taken into custody. While in town filming “Domestic Disturbance,” Vaughn got into a brawl with Steve Buscemi, who also happens to be his co-star. Vaughn and the other males were detained while Buscemi was taken to the hospital after being stabbed many times.
His politics have landed him in hot water
Due to his alleged political views, Vince Vaughn has encountered substantial public criticism a few times. Vaughn publicly identifies as a libertarian, despite the fact that some (such as Fox News) have assumed he is a conservative Republican.
In 2017, a story headlined “Vince Vaughn, Hollywood’s Biggest Libertarian, Wants More Guns in Schools” appeared in the Daily Beast. In it, they quote Vaughn from an interview with GQ UK where he said: “I am in favour of gun ownership in general, not just at home. Burglars are not the reason we have the right to keep and bear arms; rather, we have this right in order to oppose an oppressive and corrupt government that wields absolute authority over us. It has nothing to do with duck hunting; rather, it concerns a person’s aptitude. We have speech freedom for the same reason. It is common knowledge that the sound of a gun hammer being pushed back is the best deterrent against an invader. Only one or possibly two of the numerous shootings involving guns that have occurred in America since 1950 have done so in places that are not gun-free. Imagine a mass shooting. They have only occurred in locations where weapons are prohibited. These individuals are mentally ill and intend to murder innocent people. Killing helpless people is what they seek. They wish to avoid conflict.”
He said, when asked if it was appropriate to allow firearms in schools: “No doubt. You genuinely believe there aren’t guns in the schools where the officials governing my nation and yours send their children? It’s true.”
Another incident that turned Vaughn into a political flashpoint was when he was caught on camera joking about and shaking hands with Donald Trump at a 2020 football game. Later on in the year, Vaughn justified the incident in an interview with the LA Times.
I’ve met a lot of politicians throughout my career, and I’ve always been friendly with them. I even got along with Nancy Pelosi when I met her, he added. “I’ve only ever met [Trump] once, and that was then. We said hi. He had a great personality. I avoided discussing policies.”
He only only openly backed one politician, 2012’s presidential candidate Ron Paul, for whom he actively ran a campaign.
By creating the aforementioned “Pursuit of the Truth,” a type of “Project Greenlight,” for Glenn Beck’s conservative media outlet Blaze Media, Vaughn has also drawn criticism. In 2015, The Root objected to the actor’s remarks against affirmative action, branding him a “jerk.”
In response to questions about his political views, Vaughn stated in 2020, “I don’t have a party that I support and endorse. “In fact, I find it somewhat challenging to find a candidate that strikes me as philosophically coherent and who isn’t merely following the money behind their specific party. That’s all I’ll say about it for the time being.”
It’s difficult to argue with the fact that in Hollywood, you can only be deemed successful if your movies are profitable. As a result, each of Vaughn’s big-budget star roles in financially unsuccessful movies like “The Dilemma,” “Fred Claus,” “Unfinished Business,” and “The Watch” decreased his chances of landing another.
