Max Thieriot was born in 1988 in Los Altos Hills, California, to a family of three siblings. Growing up in Occidental, California, he attended Sonoma Country Day School, graduating in 2002, and later El Molino High School, graduating in 2006.
Max's interest in acting began when he took an improvisation class and started modeling for GAP. Before making his big-screen debut, he appeared in two short films. His breakthrough role came in 2004 with the film Catch That Kid, where he starred alongside Kristen Stewart and Corbin Bleu.
The following year, Max had a significant role in the comedy The Pacifier, playing one of the children protected by Vin Diesel's character. In 2006, he played the son of the title character in The Astronaut Farmer. He then co-starred with Emma Roberts in Nancy Drew (2007) and played the younger version of Hayden Christensen's lead in Jumper (2008).
In 2008, Max also appeared as a 1930s hobo, Will Shepherd, in Kit Kittredge: An American Girl. His 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).
Max's horror film credits continued with House at the End of the Street (2012),where he co-starred with Jennifer Lawrence. In 2013, he made his television series debut playing Norman Bates' brother, Dylan Massett, on the A&E show Bates Motel. He also appeared in the History Channel mini-series Texas Rising (2015) as Jack Hays.
In his personal life, Max married his long-time girlfriend, Lexi Murphy, in 2013. He is the great-great grandson of Michael Henry de Young, who co-founded the San Francisco Chronicle in 1865. Max's father has California roots, while his mother is from Minnesota. He is of German, English, Norwegian, Danish, Irish, Dutch Jewish, French Jewish, Scottish, and Northern Irish ancestry.
