Ned Vaughn

Ned Vaughn
Born	(1964-11-20) November 20, 1964 Huntsville, Alabama
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1984–present
Spouse	Adelaide (m. 1997)
Children	5

Ned Vaughn (born November 20, 1964) is an American film and television actor who served as vice president of the Screen Actors Guild prior to becoming the founding executive vice president of SAG-AFTRA. He resigned that position on 21 August 2013, when he announced he would run as a Republican candidate for California's 66th State Assembly district, representing Los Angeles County's South Bay region. However, he later withdrew from the race.

Early life and education

Ned Vaughn was raised in Huntsville, Alabama with his sister Anna by their parents, Helen and Ed Vaughn. Vaughn's father was a news anchor and reporter for Huntsville's CBS Television affiliate (WHNT-TV) before starting his career as a civilian public affairs officer for the U.S. Army's Space and Missile Defense Command, which included work on Ronald Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative, popularly known as Star Wars. Ned's mother, Helen, is an active professional artist whose early works were described as "celebrations of the many aspects of womanhood" and focusing on "the psychological truth of being female in today's society."

At age 10, Vaughn performed his first acting role in a community theater production of the musical Oliver!, staged in the Von Braun Center's 2000-seat concert hall. Vaughn continued acting as he attended Lee High School and performed in several productions while attending Birmingham-Southern College. It was there that Vaughn decided to pursue acting as a career. He drove to New York with just $600 and initially stayed with a family acquaintance, making the commute to New York City from Peekskill.

While taking classes at HB Studio in Greenwich Village, Vaughn made ends meet by working as a doorman at New York's Wellington Hotel, which he described as a crash course in human nature.

Acting career

In January 1986, Vaughn booked his first professional job from his first audition: a Miami Vice-themed Pepsi commercial directed by Ridley Scott, which premiered during the 1986 Grammy Awards telecast. However, Vaughn's role did not appear in the final cut. Over the remainder of 1986, Vaughn was cast in more commercials and performed in the HB Playwrights Foundation production of K on K by Franz Kafka.

In February 1987, Vaughn was cast in his first starring film role in The Rescue, which also starred Kevin Dillon and featured James Cromwell. After filming was completed in New Zealand and Hong Kong, Vaughn moved to Los Angeles.

Vaughn's acting career quickly took off and in 1989, he was cast as Seaman Beaumont of the USS Dallas in the blockbuster film The Hunt for Red October. The same year, Vaughn joined the ABC television series China Beach, playing the role of Corporal Jeff Hyers. Throughout his career, Vaughn has gravitated toward characters who serve in the military (24, The Tuskegee Airmen, JAG, NCIS), law enforcement (Heroes, Frost/Nixon), and politics (The Unit).

In 1995, Vaughn appeared in Apollo 13. In 1998, Vaughn performed in Hellcab at the Tivoli Theatre in Dublin, Ireland during the Dublin Theatre Festival.

In addition to his film work, Vaughn has appeared in a wide variety of television programs, with nearly one hundred episodes to his credit. In 2011, Vaughn provided the face and voice of LAPD Captain Gordon Leary in video game L.A. Noire, which was the first video game to be shown at the Tribeca Film Festival.

Screen Actors Guild / SAG-AFTRA leadership

In 2008, Vaughn campaigned to merge the Screen Actors Guild with the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA). Vaughn was elected to the SAG board in 2008 and became SAG 1st Vice President in 2010. During his tenure, Vaughn focused on uniting SAG and AFTRA. In January 2012, it was announced that a merger referendum would be presented to members of both unions. Merger opponents and SAG board members Martin Sheen and Ed Harris, along with former SAG president Ed Asner, filed a federal lawsuit to block the referendum, but the vote went ahead. When their case was dropped, Vaughn commented, "Dropping this frivolous lawsuit is the first good decision the plaintiffs have made." On 30 March 2012, the merger passed overwhelmingly, with 86% of AFTRA members and 82% of SAG members voting to create SAG-AFTRA, the largest union representing performers in the entertainment and media industries. Vaughn was the organization's founding executive vice president, serving as the second-ranking and only Republican national officer of the 160,000-member organization.

Politics

On 21 August 2013, Vaughn announced he would run as a Republican candidate for California's 66th State Assembly district, representing Los Angeles County's South Bay region. On the same day, he resigned his position as SAG-AFTRA executive vice president in order to focus on his Assembly campaign. On 16 October 2013 Vaughn announced that he was withdrawing his candidacy.

Personal life

Vaughn married his wife, Adelaide, in 1997. They have five children and live in Augusta, Georgia.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1984	What Waits Below	American Soldier #1
1988	The Rescue	Shawn Howard
1988-1991	China Beach	Cpl. Jeff Hyers / Dewey	14 episodes
1990	Big Bad John	Billy Mahoney
1990	The Hunt for Red October	Seaman Beaumont (the Sonar trainee) - USS Dallas
1992	Wind	competitive sailor Charley Moore
1992	Life Goes On	Eric	3 episodes
1994	Star Trek: The Next Generation	Ensign Cortin "Corey" Zweller	Episode: "Tapestry"
1995	Apollo 13	CAPCOM 2
1995	The Tuskegee Airmen	Capt. Butler - B-17	TV movie
1995	The Tie That Binds	Officer David Carrey
1995-1996	Murder One	Dean Crowley	12 episodes
1996-2001	JAG	Lieutenant Carl Barrett / Captain Rogers / Lieutenant (jg) Arnoldi	4 episodes
1996	Courage Under Fire	Chelli
1999	Life	Young Sheriff Warren Pike
2000	The Beach Boys: An American Family	Al Jardine	2 episodes
2002	The Climb	Michael Harris
2005	24	terrorist Mitch Anderson	4 episodes
2005	The Inner Circle	Jimmy
2006	Shark	Sam Bemis	Episode: "Déjà Vu All Over Again"
2006	Criminal Minds	Donald Curtis	Episode: "What Fresh Hell?"
2007	Cane	Michael Bronson	8 episodes
2008	Frost/Nixon	Secret Service Agent
2009	Mad Men	Ed Lawrence	Episode: "Souvenir"
2011	The Event	Dr. Reed	3 episodes
2011	L.A. Noire	Capt. Gordon Leary	Video game
2013	Bukowski	Second Doctor
2014	Parts Per Billion	CDC Spokesman
2014	Atlas Shrugged Part III: Who Is John Galt?	Gerald Starnes
2019	The Best of Enemies	Wilbur Hobby
2021	Queen of the South	Agent Paul Panetta	Episode: "La Situación"
2024	MaXXXine	News Anchor

External links

• Ned Vaughn at IMDb
• Ned Vaughn for California Assembly