Tom Vaughan (director)

Tom Vaughan (born 5 September 1969) is a Scottish television and film director. His work includes Cold Feet (1999) and He Knew He Was Right (2004) for television, and What Happens in Vegas (2008) and Extraordinary Measures (2010) for cinema.

Vaughan was born in Glasgow, Scotland to Peter and Susan Vaughan, and lived in nearby Helensburgh for his first 17 years. He and a friend acquired a video camera from the friend's father, which they used make short films. Vaughan also attended weekend acting classes at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, which led to a supporting role in the STV children's television series Stookie. With the £1,000 he made from the series, Vaughan invested in a video camera. He and his friends used it to make more shorts around Helensburgh, such as zombie films, war films and comedies, in locations such as the woods behind his family home, the surrounding hills, and the nearby Clyde Naval Base. For one of the last childhood films he made, he and his friends used their cars for car chases, but were stopped by local police.

Vaughan later moved to England to study drama at the University of Bristol. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Drama in 1990.

After graduating, Vaughan moved to London where he produced his first short film, Super Grass (1994). After theatrical distribution alongside Dazed and Confused, Super Grass was broadcast on Channel 4. Numerous other short films and commercials followed before he began directing mainstream television.

His other works include two episodes of the ITV comedy drama Cold Feet in 1999, one of which featured the first location filming for the show outside England; due to last minute script changes, Vaughan led a small production team and two actors on half a days filming in Paris, France. In 2003, he directed Deborah Moggach's two-part drama Final Demand for BBC One. The next year, he directed the BBC adaptation of He Knew He Was Right. Vaughan credits his work on the BBC dramas with sharpening his skills as a director, as the tight schedules meant he had to plan ahead.

In 2006, he directed the Playtone/BBC Films feature film Starter for 10, and in 2008 the Regency Enterprises feature film What Happens in Vegas. Starter for 10 got him the job directing the CBS Films feature Extraordinary Measures, starring Brendan Fraser and Harrison Ford. It was released in the United States in January 2010. Vaughan was pleased to be able to work with Ford, as Star Wars had inspired him to make his first amateur films.

In 2011, Vaughan directed the Miley Cyrus feature So Undercover and is scheduled to direct the romantic comedy Boomsday. A screenplay version of Karen Bishko's musical Single is being developed with Vaughan attached to direct.