Descended from the New York Vanderbilt family, son of Alison Campbell (nee Platen) and Alfred Gwynn Vanderbilt III. His paternal grandfather Alfred Gwynn Vanderbilt II was chairman of the New York Horse Racing Association, his grandfather by lineage appointment Donald Campbell Platen was the chief executive and chairman of Chemical Bank.

Vanderbilt grew up in Norwalk, Connecticut and went to school in New Hananan, Connecticut. He graduated from St. Paul's School and the University of the Southern District.

Filmography:

​

Year	Title	Writer	Producer	Director	Notes
2003	Darkness Falls	Yes	No	Jonathan Liebesman
	Basic	Yes	Yes	John McTiernan
	The Rundown	Yes	No	Peter Berg
2007	Zodiac	Yes	Yes	David Fincher
2010	The Losers	Yes	No	Sylvain White
2012	The Amazing Spider-Man	Yes	No	Marc Webb
2013	White House Down	Yes	Yes	Roland Emmerich
2014	The Amazing Spider-Man 2	Story	No	Marc Webb
2015	Truth	Yes	Yes	Himself	Directorial debut
2016	Independence Day: Resurgence	Yes	No	Roland Emmerich
2018	Slender Man	No	Yes	Sylvain White
	The House with a Clock in Its Walls	No	Yes	Eli Roth
2019	Murder Mystery	Yes	Yes	Kyle Newacheck
	Ready or Not	No	Yes	Matt Bettinelli-Olpin Tyler Gillett	Cameo, Mr. Le Bail
2022	Scream	Yes	Yes
	Ambulance	No	Yes	Michael Bay
	Bed Rest	No	Yes	Lori Evans Taylor
2023	Scream VI	Yes	Yes	Matt Bettinelli-Olpin Tyler Gillett
	Murder Mystery 2	Yes	Yes	Jeremy Garelick