Max Thieriot Biography

Maximillion Drake "Max" Thieriot (born October 14, 1988) is an American actor. He made his acting debut in the 2004 adventure comedy film Catch That Kid. Thieriot has since appeared in the action comedy The Pacifier (2005), the mystery comedy Nancy Drew (2007), the sci-fi Jumper (2008), the supernatural horror My Soul to Take (2010), the erotic thriller Chloe (2010), the drama Disconnect (2012), the psychological horror-thriller House at the End of the Street (2012), and the action-thriller Point Break (2015).

From 2013 to 2017, Thieriot starred as Dylan Massett in A&E's drama-thriller series Bates Motel. He appeared as John Coffee "Jack" Hays in History Channel's miniseries Texas Rising (2015). In 2017, Thieriot began playing Navy SEAL Clay Spenser in the CBS drama series SEAL Team.

Early life

Thieriot was born in Los Altos Hills, California, the son of Bridgit (ne Snyder) and George Cameron Thieriot. He has one sister, Frankie, and one brother, Aidan. He was raised in the small town of Occidental in Sonoma County, California. Thieriot was educated at the Sonoma Country Day School in Santa Rosa, California for middle school, and went on to attend El Molino High School in Forestville, California, from which he graduated in 2006. Thieriot's ancestors once owned the San Francisco Chronicle. His great-great-grandfather, M. H. de Young, who was of Dutch Jewish descent, co-founded the paper with his brother Charles de Young, and his relatives, Charles and Richard Thieriot, were the editors and publishers of the paper. Thieriot's paternal grandparents, Frances Harrison (ne Dade) and Ferdinand Melly Thieriot, died in the sinking of the SS Andrea Doria in 1956.

Career

Thieriot was signed to talent manager Don Gibble after taking his improvisation class. He modeled for Gap and appeared in two short films, before being cast in his first feature film role, 2004's adventure film Catch That Kid, alongside Kristen Stewart and Corbin Bleu. He was subsequently cast in 2005's action comedy film The Pacifier, portraying one of the family members protected by a Navy SEAL (Vin Diesel). He was nominated for the Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a Feature Film - Supporting Young Actor for his role. Thieriot then appeared in the drama The Astronaut Farmer (2007) and the film adaptation of Nancy Drew (2007).

In 2008, he played a younger version of Hayden Christensen's character in Jumper (co-starring for the second time with Kristen Stewart). That same year, he appeared in Kit Kittredge: An American Girl, for which he won the Young Artist Award Best Performance in a Feature Film - Young Ensemble Cast with his co-stars. In 2009, Thieriot co-starred in the erotic thriller Chloe. Chloe enjoyed commercial success and became director Atom Egoyan's biggest ever box office earner. The following year, he played the lead role in Wes Craven's horror film My Soul to Take, replacing Dennis Hopper's son Henry Lee Hopper in the cast.

In 2011, he starred in the independent comedy The Family Tree, alongside Dermot Mulroney and Britt Robertson, and played the lead role in the drama film Foreverland, opposite Juliette Lewis. Thieriot then co-starred with Jennifer Lawrence in the Mark Tonderai-directed psychological horror-thriller House at the End of the Street (2012). That same year, he starred in the drama film Disconnect. Also in 2012, Thieriot was cast in a leading role in Roland Emmerich's drama pilot for ABC, Dark Horse, but the project was not picked up to series. From 2013 until its ending in 2017, he portrayed Dylan Massett, the half-brother of Norman Bates, in the critically acclaimed drama series Bates Motel, alongside Vera Farmiga and Freddie Highmore. He made his directorial debut on the series with the fifth season episode "Hidden".

In 2015, he starred in the History Channel event miniseries Texas Rising as John "Jack" Hays, a captain of the Texas Rangers, and appeared in the remake of the action-thriller film Point Break. In 2017, Thieriot began starring as Navy SEAL Clay Spenser in the CBS drama series SEAL Team, opposite David Boreanaz and Jessica Par.

Personal life

In 2012, Thieriot became engaged to Lexi Murphy, his girlfriend of seven years. He proposed during a trip to the Caribbean, where the pair met as teenagers. On June 1, 2013, they were married in Lake Tahoe, California. The couple announced they had welcomed their first child, a boy named Beaux Thieriot, in late December 2015. Through his sister Frankie's marriage, Thieriot is the brother-in-law of former Philadelphia Phillies baseball pitcher Michael Stutes.

As well as being an actor, Thieriot is also a vintner. He, along with childhood friends Christopher Strieter and Myles Lawrence-Briggs, owns vineyards in his hometown of Occidental and distributes wine through their label Senses. In the third season of Bates Motel, the main characters can be seen drinking Senses during a family-dinner scene.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2004	Catch That Kid	Gus
2005	The Pacifier	Seth Plummer
2007	The Astronaut Farmer	Shepard Farmer
	Nancy Drew	Ned Nickerson
2008	Jumper	Young David Rice
	Kit Kittredge: An American Girl	Will Shepherd
2010	My Soul to Take	Adam "Bug" Hellerman
	Stay Cool	Shasta's Boyfriend
	Chloe	Michael Stewart
2011	The Family Tree	Eric Burnett
	Foreverland	William "Will" Rankin
2012	Yellow	Young Nowell
	Disconnect	Kyle
	House at the End of the Street	Ryan Jacobson
2015	Point Break	Jeff

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2012	Dark Horse	Carter Henderson	Unsold ABC pilot
2013-2017	Bates Motel	Dylan Massett	48 episodes; directed one episode
2015	Texas Rising	John "Jack" Hays	5 episodes
2017-present	SEAL Team	Clay Spenser	Main role

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Nominated work	Result
2005	The Stinkers Bad Movie Award for Worst Performance by a Child	The Pacifier
2006	Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a Feature Film - Supporting Young Actor
2009	Young Artist Award Best Performance in a Feature Film - Young Ensemble Cast	Kit Kittredge: An American Girl