After leaving the
RADA Vaughan-Lawlor starred in many plays including
The Quare Fellow directed by
Kathy Burke,
This Lime Tree Bower, for the
Young Vic, and as Christy Mahon in
The Playboy of the Western World for the
Abbey Theatre which toured North America. Also at the Abbey he played Len in
Edward Bond's
Saved, Solyony in
David Leveaux's production of
Three Sisters and as Arturo Ui in
Bertolt Brecht's
The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui. In 2008 he played Lyngsrand in
The Lady from the Sea by
Henrik Ibsen directed by Lucy Bailey. At the National Theatre London he played Yolland in Sean Holmes' production of
Brian Friel's
Translations in 2005. In 2008, Vaughan-Lawlor played the Dauphin in
Henry V at the
Royal Exchange Manchester for which he received an
Ian Charleson Award commendation. For his performance in
The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui he won the 2009
Irish Times Best Actor Theatre Award. He won the award again in 2014 for
Howie the Rookie. He also had small roles in ''
The Tiger's Tail, which starred fellow Irish actor Brendan Gleeson and Becoming Jane'' which starred
Anne Hathaway and
James McAvoy. On playing the role of Nidge he said "One of the joys of playing the part is he's a different man in all four series, he's always changing and he's incredibly difficult to pinpoint, people are drawn to him because of his humour, the moments he has with his children and the moments he has with his own conscience." During
Love/Hate he continued working on stage in production such as the 2010
West End production of
All My Sons directed by
Howard Davies. The next year he played Jerry Devine in Davies's production of
Juno and the Paycock. In 2013 Vaughan-Lawlor played both the Howie Lee and the Rookie Lee in
Mark O'Rowe's
Howie the Rookie. Originally written for two actors, O'Rowe re-imagined the play for one actor to play both parts, and directed the production himself for
Landmark Productions. The production opened in Dublin, then toured to Cork, Galway, and the Edinburgh Festival. In 2014 the production was invited to the
Barbican Centre London where it played in The Pit for 2 weeks, and then toured to
BAM in New York. In 2013, he appeared in the role of Byrne in fifth episode of the
BBC2 crime drama
Peaky Blinders. In October 2013, he began filming in Dublin on a three-part political drama
Charlie which is based on the life of the late Taoiseach
Charles Haughey. He played political
spin doctor P. J. Mara in the drama. Vaughan-Lawlor played McCabe in
Jim Sheridan's movie
The Secret Scripture with
Rooney Mara and
Jack Reynor which filmed in early 2015, and appeared in the 2016 film
The Infiltrator with
Bryan Cranston and
Diane Kruger, directed by
Brad Furman. He appeared in the three-part drama
Trial of the Century, where he played Patrick Pearse. In July 2016 Vaughan-Lawlor played Michaelis in the BBC's
3-part television adaptation of
Joseph Conrad's 1907 novel
The Secret Agent. In 2023, Vaughan-Lawlor appeared in the
National Theatre revival of
Brian Friel's
memory play Dancing at Lughnasa, playing Michael, the narrator around whose memories the plot rotates. He plays Plummer in the HBO series
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms (2026). ==Personal life==