Vince Vaughan receives star on Hollywood Walk of Fame

Wave Wire Services

HOLLYWOOD — A star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Vince Vaughn was unveiled Aug. 12, honoring a film career that includes starring in such comedies as “Old School,” “Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story” and “Wedding Crashers.”

The ceremony came two days before the premiere of Vaughn’s latest project, the 10-episode Apple TV+ black comedy-crime drama “Bad Monkey,” in which he stars as a former police detective who has been reduced to conducting restaurant inspections.

“I remember being a kid and both my parents — I’m lucky to have them both here — and the gift of storytelling and watching movies and laughing and talking about them afterward, both my dad and my mom,” Vaughn told the crowd. “And being the youngest — my sisters are here, both my sisters — being the youngest being not even double-digits but then wanting to see ‘Saturday Night Fever’ or ‘Animal House,’ so my age was not a barrier to your want to see that movie. The laughs that I experienced in the theater, I felt like I really wanted to be a part of that, that I could do that and maybe make people laugh and give families a good night to discuss stuff and have joy. So for me, really, that was what this journey had always been about.”

Joining Vaughn in speaking at the ceremony in front of the Eastown apartments at 6201 Hollywood Blvd., near Argyle Avenue, were Bill Lawrence, “Bad Monkey’s” showrunner, and longtime associate Peter Billingsley, who directed Vaughn in the 2009 comedy “Couples Retreat,” and was among the producers of several of Vaughn’s films including “The Break-Up,” “Four Christmases” and “Made.”

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Billingsley, best known for his starring role in the 1983 film, “A Christmas Story,” first worked with Vaughn in the 1990 “CBS Schoolbreak Special,” “The Fourth Man.”

Born March 28, 1970, in Minneapolis and raised in the Chicago suburbs of Buffalo Grove and Lake Forest, Vaughn said in a 2010 interview with ESPN that, “I started kind of young because both of my parents worked, and so I would get put into different activities, which I loved. I think that partially what made me want to get into acting or even consider doing something outside of the lines was that most of my friends’ moms didn’t work, and I always respected my mom a lot, especially back then, for working and doing that kind of stuff. She was someone that if she wanted something she’d outwork everyone and create an opportunity for herself.

“It was an activity that I was put in that I thought was fun and because of my experience with my mom, to a large degree, I thought that anything was possible. I saw her overcome stuff, and I thought if you worked hard at something you’d give yourself a chance.”

Vaughn made his professional debut in a 1989 episode of the ABC Vietnam War drama “China Beach.” His first credited film role came in the 1993 football drama “Rudy,” where Jon Favreau was also making his first credited film appearance.

Favreau was writing a script detailing his life as an out-of-work actor and wrote Vaughn into “Swingers.” His performance as the best friend of Favreau’s character in the 1996 buddy comedy proved to be Vaughn’s breakout role.

Vaughn’s other film credits include “The Lost World: Jurassic Park,” “Into The Wild,” “The Internship” and “Hacksaw Ridge.”

Vaughn’s other television roles include mattress company owner Freddy Funkhouser in the final three seasons of the HBO comedy “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and career criminal Francis “Frank” Semyon on the second season of the HBO crime drama “True Detective.”

       
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