A design for a new type of actuator, scissor-mechanism-based vacuum powered artificial muscles (SMVAMs), is presented in this paper. The actuator consists of a scissor structural mechanism as skeleton and a soft and flexible film wrapping the skeleton to form a gas-tight chamber as skin. When vacuum is applied, the skin (film chamber) will shrink and compress the scissor structural skeleton causing the contraction of the actuator and a tension will be generated in the skin at the same time. To estimate the contraction force of actuator, we have developed a static analytical model which can accurately predict the contraction force of actuator. Through experiments, the actuator can generate a maximum contraction force of 300N and a maximum contraction ratio of 80% when a pressure of -80 kPa is applied. Furthermore, the actuator can exhibit contraction and relaxation circle in a transverse manner with tip payload. Through mechanically programming parameters of the scissor structural unit, the actuator also can demonstrate both linear and curvilinear trajectory of motion which show the promise for further developments, such as soft robot arm, modular soft actuator, biomimetic robots.