Dylan O'Brien is an American actor. He is known for his lead role as Thomas in the Maze Runner dystopian science fiction trilogy and for his role as Stiles Stilinski in the MTV television series Teen Wolf. O'Brien's other work includes starring roles in films such as The First Time and American Assassin and supporting roles in The Internship and Deepwater Horizon.
Early life
O'Brien was born in New York City, the son of Lisa, a former actress who also ran an acting school, and Patrick O'Brien, a camera operator. He grew up in Springfield Township, New Jersey, until the age of twelve, when he and his family moved to Hermosa Beach, California. His father is of Irish descent, and his mother is of Italian, English and Spanish ancestry. After graduating from Mira Costa High School in 2009, he considered pursuing sports broadcasting and possibly working for the New York Mets. At 14, O'Brien began posting original videos onto his YouTube channel. With the videos developing, a local producer and director approached him about doing work for a web series while in his senior year of high school. While working on the webseries, O'Brien met an actor who connected him with a manager. He had planned to attend Syracuse University as a sports broadcasting major, but decided to pursue an acting career instead.
Career
Before beginning his career in acting, O'Brien produced, directed and starred in a number of comedic short films which he released through his personal YouTube channel. He was also the drummer for the independent rock band Slow Kids at Play. He went through several auditions before getting one of the main roles in MTV's Teen Wolf, a series loosely based on the 1985 film of the same name. He had been intended to play Scott, but after reading the script, O'Brien wanted to audition for the part of Stiles instead. After four auditions, he was cast. In 2010, he began playing Stiles in the series. In 2011, O'Brien was introduced to audiences in the entirely improvised independent comedy filmHigh Road. The following year, he starred opposite Britt Robertson in the romantic comedy The First Time. In 2013, O'Brien co-starred in the comedy film The Internship. That same year, O'Brien filmed The Maze Runner which began filming in summer 2013, while he was on hiatus from Teen Wolf. He played Thomas, the lead role. Yahoo! Movies named O'Brien as one of the 15 Breakout Stars to Watch for in 2014. He reprised the role of Thomas in ', released in September 18, 2015. In March 2016, O'Brien was seriously injured on set while filming a stunt for '. O'Brien was in a harness on top of a moving vehicle when he was pulled off the vehicle unexpectedly and hit by another vehicle. His injuries included facial fractures, a concussion, and brain trauma. O'Brien later stated that the accident "'broke most of the right side'" of his face; he underwent reconstructive facial surgery. After months of recovery, O'Brien eventually began filming other projects, and his March 2017 return to The Death Cure set marked his complete return to health. The film premiered on January 26, 2018. In 2016, he appeared in the disaster thriller-drama Deepwater Horizon, based on the 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion. He starred in 2017's American Assassin, an action-thriller in which he played the titular characterMitch Rapp, and voiced the CGI title character in the Transformers spin-off film Bumblebee in 2018. In 2019, O'Brien guest-starred in the comedic sci-fi anthology series Weird City. Upcoming releases include the titular role in the mystery thriller The Education of Fredrick Fitzell, filmed in 2018, and the post-apocalyptic road trip film Monster Problems, in which he will star alongside Michael Rooker and Ariana Greenblatt.
