Dylan O’Brien Bio: In His Own Words – Video Exclusive, News, Photos, Age

Dylan O’Brien was born August 26, 1991 (age: 31), in New York, New York to Patrick O’Brien, a camera operator, and Lisa O’Brien (née Rhodes), an acting coach. Until the age of twelve, O’Brien and his family lived in Springfield Township, N.J., before moving out to Hermosa Beach, California.

Dylan O’Brien Biography

After graduating high school, O’Brien was ready to go to Syracuse University to study sports broadcasting but decided to give acting a try. His route to success was a little different than most. O’Brien started a YouTube channel that became popular which led to a role on a web series where he met an actor who introduced him to a manager.

He began going to auditions regularly before coming upon the script for MTV’s reboot of the Teen Wolf franchise.

Dylan O’Brien in Teen Wolf

Though initially interested in the lead role of Scott McCall, after going over the script, O’Brien felt he was a better fit for Stiles, McCall’s best friend. After four lengthy auditions, he landed the role. Teen Wolf would go on to air in the summer of 2011 and was a sleeper hit with high rated and overall positive acclaim from most critics who compared Teen Wolf favorably to Joss Whedon’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

The show ran until 2017. The ratings averaged among the highest of a summer series, and along with Awkward, Teen Wolf was one of MTV’s most successful franchises. It was also one of the network’s few successes in scripted drama. O’Brien starred alongside Tyler Posey and Tyler Hoechlin, all of whom have remained friends.

Critics reacted positively to O’Brien’s portrayal of Stiles — the third actor to play the role. In 2017, the role won him the Teen Choice Award for Choice TV Actor: Fantasy/Sci-Fi. O’Brien maintained the character’s affability and comedic traits while also being shown as capable of handling more dramatic moments as well. Combined with the relaxed schedule of filming thirteen episodes a season as opposed to twenty-two, the free time allowed O’Brien to work on films during hiatus.

Dylan O’Brien Interview

Dylan O’Brien answered fan-submitted questions for us in a hysterically self-effacing interview. When asked if he could relate to his character in The Internship he responded with a laugh. “He’s you know, an MIT student. He has a really brilliant mind – I’ve never been of that caliber. He’s in a running for a job at Google, I could not do that, I don’t think,” he told uInterview.

Dylan O’Brien Filmwork

Given O’Brien’s familiarity with comedy as well as his popular status among the teenage girl, demographic thanks to Teen Wolf, his first forays into film were wisely chosen to play to his base. Through 2011 and 2012 he appeared in a supporting role in The Internship and The High Road where he shared the screen with Lizzy Caplan, Ed Helms, Rose Byrne, Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson.

Dylan O’Brien’s first film role as a lead was in 2012’s The First Time, a high school teen romantic comedy written and directed by Jon Kasdan. The film earned mixed reviews though O’Brien’s performance was highlighted as a positive. It was also on this film that O’Brien met Britt Robertson who he began dating shortly thereafter. They were also the romantic leads in the story.

In 2014, O’Brien played Thomas in the lead in the adaptation of James Dasher’s hit young adult book series The Maze Runner. The film was a hit and spawned two more movies: Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials in 2015, for which he won the Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actor: Action, and Maze Runner: The Death Cure in 2018.

O’Brien has since appeared in a number of films, such as Love and Monsters in 2020 and Not Okay in 2022, which earned him a nomination for the MTV Movie Best Comedic Performance Award. In 2021, he starred opposite Sadie Sink in Taylor Swift’s All Too Well: The Short Film, which won a Grammy Award for Best Music Video in 2023.

See Dylan O’Brien in Maze Runner: