Dylan O'Brien was born in New York City, to
Lisa Rhodes, a former actress who
also ran an acting school, and
Patrick B. O'Brien, a camera
operator. His father is of Irish descent and his mother is of English, Spanish, and Italian ancestry. Dylan grew up in Springfield Township,
Union County, New Jersey, before moving with his family to Hermosa
Beach, California when he was 12 years old. Before getting bit by the
acting bug, Dylan planned to attend film school and become a
cinematographer, just like his father. But once he landed the role of
Scott's (Tyler Posey) goofy sidekick Stiles
on Teen Wolf (2011), he decided to
put off school (he was initially under consideration for the role of
Scott, but he was more interested in playing Stiles).Dylan has developed an extensive YouTube following for a series of
comic online shorts which he directed, produced and starred in. He made
his film debut as one of the stars of the entirely improvised
independent feature film
High Road (2011), directed by Upright
Citizens Brigade. O'Brien's first lead role in a film was playing Dave
in the comedy
The First Time (2012),
opposite Britt Robertson and directed by
Jonathan Kasdan. He subsequently had a supporting
role, playing tech expert Stuart, in the
Vince Vaughn/Owen Wilson
comedy The Internship (2013), and
headlined the fantasy adventure film
The Maze Runner (2014), also
starring Will Poulter and
Kaya Scodelario, as well as its sequel, Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials (2015) and the final movie, The Death Cure (2018). He landed the role of Stu in the first episode of Weird City (2019) and also got the role of Sam Taylor in the first episode of Amazing stories (2020). He made five other movies in the meantime, Love and Monsters, Flashback, Maximum Truth, Not Okay and The outfit. He also did one short film: All too well, produced by Taylor Swift and stared in the third episode of the third season in The Other Two.