Dylan O'Brien was born in New York City and grew up in Springfield Township, Union County, New Jersey, before moving with his family to Hermosa Beach, California when he was 12 years old. His father is a camera operator and his mother is a former actress. He is of Irish, English, Italian, and Spanish descent. In 2006, O'Brien began acting, directing and producing his own independent videos, becoming a YouTube star.

In 2011, he auditioned for MTV's "Teen Wolf," a series loosely based on the 1985 film of the same name. Simultaneously, O'Brien planned to pursue college, making an agreement with his parents to set his sights on film school provided he was not selected for the role, seeing that the chances were slim. However, after 4 auditions, O'Brien scored a major role on the show. According to an interview, he was sent a script for the lead character and main protagonist, Scott McCall. Dylan reported that he had no previous knowledge of the 1985 "Teen Wolf" film, and that after reading the script, he was immediately drawn to the character of Stiles Stilinski, who is the best friend of main character Scott within the series. After reading the script, O'Brien spoke to his manager on auditioning for the role of Stiles, which he would go on to achieve and receive praise by Producer Jeff Davis, Director Russell Mulcahy, and get network approval. Aside from his TV role, O'Brien plays the drums in the band "Slow Kids At Play."

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