Max Elliot Slade was born on July 4th, 1980 in Pasedena, California. One of his first acting roles was as the child version of Steve Martin's character Gil in the hit comedy Parenthood and, the following year, he went on to play Gil's nine-year-old son Kevin in the Parenthood television show where he rubbed shoulders with a young Leonardo DiCaprio and Thora Birch.

However, Max is best known for his role as Colt, the most boisterous of three brothers, in the children's martial arts' films 3 Ninjas, 3 Ninjas Kick Back and 3 Ninjas Knuckle Up. In preparation for the role, he studied karate in real life and earned his brown belt while filming the last of the trilogy. He was also the only original child actor to complete all three films after his co-stars Michael Treanor and Chad Power, who played his on-screen brothers, left after 'Kick Back'.

Although he did continue to act after the '3 Ninjas' films, notably the role of Tom Hank's screen son in Apollo 13 at the age of fourteen, he stepped out of the acting scene by his mid-teens to focus on school and his first love, music. He was seven years old when he was first introduced to the guitar by his grandfather and it was a gift he nurtured as he grew up. Max has since set up his own Los Angeles-based band 'Haden' where he plays lead guitar and vocal. He also attends the University of Southern California where he is studying anthropology.