Christian Finlayson is an American actor whose career began not with a big break, but with a camcorder. At seven years old, he was already writing, filming, and posting his own skits online, building an audience of exactly three subscribers on a YouTube channel nobody but him seemed to care about. That instinct to make things, regardless of who was watching, turned out to be the thread running through everything that came after.
By his early teens, Christian had signed with Atlanta Models and Talent after meeting an agent at an acting workshop, and the bookings followed quickly. His first feature film role came in the British-produced independent film Steel Country, where he shared a scene with Sherlock actor Andrew Scott. From there, his filmography grew to include a recurring role as the young version of Reed Strucker on Marvel’s The Gifted, a turn as a teenage Joe Weider in the biographical drama Bigger, a role in Netflix’s Ozark, and Jason Walton in the revived Waltons franchise. Most recently, he’s appeared as Peyton in the 2025 series Grosse Pointe Garden Society.
What sets Christian Finlayson apart isn’t a single viral moment but a decade-plus of steady, varied work across independent film, network drama, and streaming television. This guide covers his path into acting, his most notable roles, the influences that shaped his craft, and everything currently known and unknown about the person behind the credits.
He Started Making Movies With a Camcorder at Age Seven
Christian Finlayson is an American actor best known for playing young Reed Strucker on Marvel’s The Gifted, Jason Walton in The Waltons’ Homecoming and A Waltons Thanksgiving, and Peyton in the 2025 series Grosse Pointe Garden Society. Long before any of that, he was a kid in the Atlanta area filming skits on a small Canon camcorder and uploading them to a YouTube channel that had exactly three subscribers.
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That early, unglamorous start is part of what makes Christian Finlayson’s career interesting to trace. He didn’t come up through a child-star pipeline built around him. He came up because he liked making things, kept doing it even when almost nobody was watching, and eventually turned it into a working career in film and television. This guide pulls together everything that’s verifiably known about him, from his first booked role to his most recent credits.
Quick Facts About Christian Finlayson
| Field | Details |
|---|---|
| Full Name | Christian Finlayson |
| Profession | Actor |
| Known For | The Gifted, Bigger, Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween, Ozark, The Waltons’ Homecoming, A Waltons Thanksgiving, Grosse Pointe Garden Society |
| Career Start | Began creating short films as a child; booked his first professional roles as a preteen after signing with Atlanta Models and Talent |
| Based In | United States (early career centered in the Atlanta, Georgia area) |
| Active Since | 2010s–present |
| @christianfinlayson | |
| X (Twitter) | @chfinlayson |
How Christian Finlayson Got His Start in Acting
Christian Finlayson’s interest in performing began well before he ever auditioned for anything. In an interview with UNpopular Style Magazine, he explained that at seven years old he was already writing and filming his own skits, then posting them online purely because he enjoyed the process, not because anyone was watching.
His path toward a professional career opened up a few years later. When he was eleven, his mother began taking acting classes, performing in local plays, and booking roles in independent films around Atlanta. Watching her reignited his own interest, and he started attending acting workshops himself. At one of those workshops he met an agent from Atlanta Models and Talent, who invited him to the agency. He signed the following week and started booking commercial work almost immediately.
His First Feature Film Was a British Production
Christian’s first feature film booking came the year after he signed with his agency. The project was Steel Country, an independent film shot by a British production company, in which he shared a scene with actor Andrew Scott, known for his role in Sherlock. Because of how international festival distribution works, Christian has said he still hadn’t seen his own scene by the time it was making the rounds at UK festivals.
That first credit set the tone for a career built on steady, varied work rather than one single breakout moment. From there, the roles that would define his early career started coming into view.
Playing Reed Strucker on Marvel’s The Gifted
One of Christian Finlayson’s most visible early roles came on Fox’s Marvel series The Gifted, where he played the younger version of Reed Strucker, the character portrayed as an adult by Stephen Moyer. The recurring role put him on a network drama with real visibility, and it’s one of the credits most consistently cited across his filmography.
Being part of a Marvel property, even in a flashback or younger-timeline capacity, meant working alongside an established television production at a level of scale different from his earlier independent film work. It marked a turning point from local Atlanta bookings toward larger studio productions.
Bigger: Playing a Young Joe Weider
In Bigger, the 2018 biographical film about bodybuilding pioneers Joe and Ben Weider, Christian played Joe Weider as a teenager, around age thirteen in the story. He’s said he knew nothing about the Weider brothers before landing the audition, and that researching their rags-to-riches story left him genuinely inspired by their persistence.
The production filmed its 1930s Montreal-set scenes in Birmingham, which meant period-accurate wardrobe and dialect coaching to capture Joe Weider’s Jewish-Canadian accent. Tyler Hoechlin played the adult Joe Weider, and while the two didn’t share scenes together, Christian has spoken about meeting him on set and at the film’s red carpet premiere.
Cooper in Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween
Christian played Cooper, one of the film’s bullies, in Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween (2018). He grew up reading the Goosebumps books in elementary school, so booking the film carried some personal weight beyond just landing a role in a franchise picture.
He’s described becoming close with the other young actors on the film during the shoot, spending downtime playing video games and going to dinner together, and staying in touch afterward through a group chat even though the cast is spread across different cities.
A Season in Ozark’s World
Christian Finlayson also appeared in Ozark, the Netflix crime drama, in a small role connected to the Pierce family storyline. It’s a brief but notable credit given the show’s prestige-television profile and the scale of its audience during its run, and it’s frequently listed among his known-for credits on casting databases.
Stepping Into The Waltons Franchise
Christian took on the role of Jason Walton in the revived Waltons franchise, appearing in the 2021 television movie The Waltons’ Homecoming and returning for the 2022 follow-up A Waltons Thanksgiving. Stepping into a legacy character from a decades-old franchise is a different kind of challenge than originating a role, and it added a period-drama credit to a filmography that already included horror, biographical drama, and superhero television.
Grosse Pointe Garden Society and Recent Work
More recently, Christian played Peyton in Grosse Pointe Garden Society, a 2025 series produced by Jenna Bans, appearing across three episodes. His other credits include Brightburn, Unbreakable: Live to Tell, Blue Ridge: The Series, Southern Gospel, and A Unicorn for Christmas, rounding out a filmography that spans horror, faith-based drama, and ensemble television. He was also announced as the lead in Summer Gold, a coming-of-age film centered on four friends at an off-the-grid summer camp, marking what he described as his first leading film role.
Who Influences His Acting
Christian has named Al Pacino and Leonardo DiCaprio as the actors who shaped how he approaches his craft. He’s pointed to Catch Me If You Can and The Basketball Diaries as DiCaprio performances he’s learned from, and has called Pacino’s Tony Montana in Scarface the performance that convinced him most completely as a viewer, naming Scarface his favorite film overall.
On the horror side, he’s cited Jordan Peele’s Get Out as a personal favorite, praising Peele’s ability to move from a comedy background into a fully realized horror film, and singling out Daniel Kaluuya’s performance as a highlight of the genre for him.
Christian Finlayson’s Personal Style
Outside of acting, Christian has described a genuine interest in streetwear and sneaker culture, leaning toward an LA skate-inspired look. He’s mentioned collecting limited-release sneakers and clothing, following upcoming drops from brands like Supreme, Vans, Urban Outfitters, and Anti Social Social Club, while being deliberately careful about how much Supreme he wears so as not to come across as chasing hype for its own sake. He picked up skateboarding at one point, and said the interest in that style followed naturally from it.
Personal Information of Christian Finlayson
Much of Christian Finlayson’s private life is not part of the public record, which is typical for a working actor who hasn’t given lifestyle-focused interviews. Where solid information isn’t publicly available, that’s stated directly below rather than guessed at.
Full Name
Christian Finlayson’s full legal name has not been publicly confirmed beyond the name he performs under.
Date of Birth
Christian Finlayson’s date of birth has not been publicly disclosed.
Age
Because his birth date isn’t public, Christian Finlayson’s current age cannot be stated reliably.
Birthplace
Christian Finlayson’s exact birthplace has not been publicly confirmed, though his early career and training were based in the Atlanta, Georgia area.
Nationality
Christian Finlayson is American, based on his U.S.-based career and productions.
Ethnicity
Christian Finlayson’s ethnicity has not been publicly disclosed.
Religion
Christian Finlayson’s religious beliefs, if any, have not been publicly disclosed.
Education
Details of Christian Finlayson’s formal education beyond his acting training have not been publicly disclosed.
Hobbies
Christian Finlayson has spoken publicly about his interest in sneaker collecting, streetwear, and skateboarding.
Marital Status
Christian Finlayson’s marital status has not been publicly disclosed.
Spouse or Partner
Christian Finlayson has not publicly disclosed information about a spouse or partner.
Children
Christian Finlayson has not publicly disclosed information about children.
Parents
Christian Finlayson has spoken about his mother pursuing acting classes and local film roles in Atlanta, which he’s credited with reigniting his own interest in the craft. Her name and further family details have not been made public. Information about his father has not been publicly disclosed.
Siblings
Christian Finlayson’s sibling information, if any, has not been publicly disclosed.
Physical Appearance
Height
Christian Finlayson’s height has not been publicly confirmed.
Weight
Christian Finlayson’s weight has not been publicly confirmed.
Eye Color
Christian Finlayson’s eye color has not been publicly confirmed in written sources.
Hair Color
Christian Finlayson’s hair color has not been publicly confirmed in written sources.
Body Type
Christian Finlayson’s body type has not been publicly documented.
Distinctive Features
No distinctive physical features have been publicly documented for Christian Finlayson.
Balancing Independent Film and Network Television
One of the more distinctive threads running through Christian Finlayson’s career is how comfortably he’s moved between independent film and major network or streaming productions, rather than settling into one lane early on. His first professional credit, Steel Country, was a small British-produced independent film, the kind of project that relies on festival circuits rather than opening weekend numbers. That’s a very different environment from the one he stepped into shortly after, when he landed a recurring role on Fox’s The Gifted, a Marvel property with the resources and visibility of a full network drama.
That pattern has continued throughout his filmography. Bigger was a mid-budget biographical drama built around real historical figures, requiring dialect coaching and period-accurate wardrobe, while Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween was a studio horror-comedy aimed at a much younger, broader audience. His appearance in Ozark placed him inside one of Netflix’s most acclaimed prestige dramas, and his role as Jason Walton in The Waltons’ Homecoming and A Waltons Thanksgiving meant stepping into a decades-old legacy franchise with an established fanbase and expectations. Most recently, Grosse Pointe Garden Society put him in a contemporary network ensemble series alongside a full cast of recurring characters.
Working across such different formats and budgets requires a kind of adaptability that isn’t always visible from the outside. An independent festival film, a Marvel drama, a horror franchise sequel, and a legacy TV movie each come with their own pacing, production culture, and audience expectations. Christian’s willingness to take on all of them, rather than specializing narrowly, is part of what has kept his filmography varied over more than a decade of consistent work, even without a single defining blockbuster role anchoring his name.
Social Media Profiles
Christian Finlayson is active on Instagram and X (formerly Twitter), which he has used to share career updates and behind-the-scenes content from his projects.
@christianfinlayson
X (Twitter)
@chfinlayson
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Christian Finlayson known for?
Christian Finlayson is known for playing young Reed Strucker on The Gifted, Cooper in Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween, young Joe Weider in Bigger, Jason Walton in The Waltons’ Homecoming and A Waltons Thanksgiving, and Peyton in Grosse Pointe Garden Society.
Was Christian Finlayson in Ozark?
Yes. Christian Finlayson appeared in Ozark, the Netflix crime drama, in a role tied to the Pierce family storyline.
How did Christian Finlayson start acting?
He began making short films at age seven and later trained through acting workshops, where he met an agent from Atlanta Models and Talent and signed with the agency as a preteen.
What was Christian Finlayson’s first movie?
His first feature film role was in Steel Country, a British-produced independent film in which he appeared alongside actor Andrew Scott.
Did Christian Finlayson play a young version of an adult character?
Yes. In The Gifted, he played the younger version of Reed Strucker, the role portrayed as an adult by Stephen Moyer.
What role did Christian Finlayson play in Bigger?
He played Joe Weider as a teenager in the 2018 biographical film about bodybuilding pioneers Joe and Ben Weider.
What is Christian Finlayson’s role in Grosse Pointe Garden Society?
He plays Peyton in the 2025 series, appearing across three episodes.
Who are Christian Finlayson’s acting influences?
He has named Al Pacino and Leonardo DiCaprio as major influences on his approach to acting.
Does Christian Finlayson have a favorite movie?
He has named Scarface as his favorite film overall and Get Out as his favorite horror film.
Is Christian Finlayson’s age publicly known?
No. His exact birth date and age have not been publicly disclosed.
What is Christian Finlayson’s Instagram handle?
His Instagram handle is @christianfinlayson.
Is Christian Finlayson married?
His relationship and marital status have not been publicly disclosed.
Conclusion
Christian Finlayson’s career reflects steady, deliberate growth rather than a single viral breakout. From a self-made YouTube channel with three subscribers to recurring roles on The Gifted, The Waltons franchise, and Grosse Pointe Garden Society, his filmography shows an actor who has moved between independent film, network television, and streaming drama over the course of more than a decade.
Much of his personal life remains outside the public record, which is consistent with an actor whose public presence has centered on his work rather than his private life. For the most current details on new projects, his own social media accounts remain the most direct source.
