Vaccaro was born in Omaha, Nebraska.[3] When he was 12, his family moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan, where Vaccaro became involved in the local theater. Vaccaro credits his time spent at the Grand Rapids Actors' Theatre with making him into an artist and a writer.[1]
Vaccaro began his career in Hollywood writing scripts for Oscar-winning filmmaker Michael Cimino in the late 1990s, though none of their collaborations amounted to anything.[4] For Cimino, he penned The Dreaming Place, which was to be financed through Trimark Pictures, but its budget was considered too high to see production.[5] His scripts from this period are now considered lost.[citation needed]
