Vince Vaughn, who in real life has Italian ancestry from his mother's side, stars as Joe Scaravella in the new Netflix movie, "Nonnas," which premiered last week. The film chronicles the beautiful story of a man who hires real-life grandmothers to run a restaurant that he opens in honor of his own mother.
Vince Vaughn, whose new movie is actually based on the true story of a New York restaurateur who ends up hiring grandmothers, or nonnas, to run his restaurant, Enoteca Maria, has said in an interview that it was his Italian maternal grandmother who inspired him to do the movie.
More about Vince Vaughn's parents, as the actor stars as an Italian-American in his new movie
Vince Vaughn was born in 1970 to father Vernon Lindsay Vaughn, who worked as a sales agent for a toy company, and mother Sharon Eileen, who worked as a stockbroker and was the director of the Directors Performance Group. The exact date for his parents' marriage is not known, but the couple later divorced in 1991.
According to the New York Times, Sharon, who grew up in Brantford, Ontario, was once ranked 105th as a high-end personal money manager on the Bloomberg Wealth Manager list in the early 2000s, before her company became embroiled in alleged fraudulent money-transferring activities in 2006.
In an ESPN interview, the "Dodgeball" actor talked about how his mother is his biggest source of inspiration. He said:
"I saw her overcome stuff, and I thought if you worked hard at something you’d give yourself a chance.”
According to several articles, Vaughn's mother later went on to start a wellness program called SheaNatics, a company that believes in a holistic approach to health.
According to Metro UK, Vince Vaughn, who was raised in both Catholic and Protestant faiths, has Lebanese, Italian, German, Irish, and English ancestry. His Lebanese descent comes from his paternal grandmother, whereas his Italian roots can be traced to his maternal grandfather, Georgio "George" DePalmo.
In his interview with ScreenRant, Vaughn talked about how he grew up with his grandmother, and it was she who, in a way, inspired him to take up the role in the movie. He said:
“I was raised with my granny in the house with me, and so I really loved that this was a real place and a true story. I’d never heard of the restaurant, but Joe created a place where he brought Italian grandmothers to be the cooks to make the recipes that were their family, recipes that they used to feed their family and to celebrate life. I thought that was such an interesting idea and such a great send-up to these ladies and this culture.”
Vince Vaughn's father had a small cameo appearance in his 1996 movie, "Swingers," that also starred Jon Favreau. On the other hand, his mother has previously appeared in the 2008 movie "Four Christmases."
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