Max Thieriot was born in 1988 in Los Altos Hills, California, and has
two siblings. He was raised in Occidental, CA, and graduated from Sonoma Country Day School in 2002 and El Molino High School in 2006. He started acting when he took
an improvisation class and modeled for GAP. He was also in two short
films before making his big-screen debut in
Catch That Kid (2004), opposite
Kristen Stewart and
Corbin Bleu.
Max had a big role as one of the children protected by
Vin Diesel's character in the hit comedy
The Pacifier (2005), and played the son of the title character in
The Astronaut Farmer (2006). In the summer of 2007, he co-starred opposite
Emma Roberts in
Nancy Drew (2007), as Nancy's friend Ned Nickerson, and in 2008 played the younger version of
Hayden Christensen's lead in
Jumper (2008), as well as a 1930s hobo, Will Shepherd, in
Kit Kittredge: An American Girl (2008).
Max's early 2010s roles included Michael Stewart, the son of
Julianne Moore's character, in the dramatic thriller
Chloe (2009), and the lead role in
Wes Craven's horror thriller
My Soul to Take (2010). He also co-starred as the male lead, opposite
Jennifer Lawrence, in another horror film,
House at the End of the Street (2012).
Max made his television series debut playing Norman Bates (
Freddie Highmore)'s brother, Dylan Massett, on the A&E show
Bates Motel (2013), which began its run in 2013. Max also plays Jack Hays in the History Channel mini-series
Texas Rising (2015).
In 2013, Max married Lexi Murphy, his long-time girlfriend.
Max is the great-great grandson of Michael Henry de Young, who
co-founded the San Francisco Chronicle in 1865. His father is from
California and his mother is from Minnesota. Max is of German, English,
Norwegian, Danish, Irish, Dutch Jewish, French Jewish, Scottish, and
Northern Irish ancestry.