Vaughn was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the son of Vernon Lindsay Vaughn, a salesman for a meat company, and Sharon Eileen (née DePalmo), a Canadian-born real estate agent and stockbroker once ranked as one of the United States' top money managers by Bloomberg Wealth Manager magazine. He has two older sisters, Valerie and Victoria. He was raised "both Protestant and Catholic" by his Catholic mother and Protestant father. He has English, Irish, German, Lebanese, and Italian ancestry. His parents divorced in 1991. He grew up in Buffalo Grove, Illinois and then Lake Forest, Illinois, where he graduated from Lake Forest High School in 1988, with writer Dave Eggers and bureaucrat David Gustafson. He developed an interest in theater at a young age. He decided to become an actor in 1987, after being involved in a car accident which derailed his chance at athletic success.