Matthew Vaughn is an English film producer and director, recognized for his work on various films such as Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Snatch, Layer Cake, Stardust, Kick-Ass, and X-Men: First Class.
Vaughn's educational background includes attending Stowe School in Buckingham, England, where he took a gap year to travel the world on a Hard Rock Cafe tour before landing in Los Angeles, where he began working as an assistant to a director.
After returning to London and studying anthropology and ancient history at University College London, Vaughn dropped out of university to pursue a career in film. He produced his first film, The Innocent Sleep, in 1995, and later produced Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, which earned him and director Guy Ritchie £9 million each.
Vaughn went on to produce Ritchie's Snatch in 2000 and the critically-mauled Swept Away in 2002. He made his directorial debut with Layer Cake in 2004, followed by Stardust in 2007 and Kick-Ass in 2010.
Vaughn has collaborated with screenwriter Jane Goldman on several films, including Stardust, Kick-Ass, and X-Men: First Class. He has also worked with a range of actors, including Jason Statham, Vinnie Jones, Jason Flemyng, Adam Fogerty, Sienna Miller, Brad Pitt, Mark Strong, Robbie Gee, Alan Ford, Tamer Hassan, and Dexter Fletcher.
Vaughn is married to German supermodel Claudia Schiffer, with whom he has three children: Caspar Matthew, Clementine de Vere Drummond, and Cosima Violet. The couple resides in Suffolk and Notting Hill, and Vaughn has hired ex-Gurkha soldiers for security due to reports of stalkers intruding their home.
Vaughn was initially set to direct X-Men: The Last Stand in 2006 but dropped out two weeks before filming began, and he later criticized Brett Ratner's direction of the film. He was subsequently tapped to direct X-Men: First Class in 2011, which was released on June 3, 2011.
