Loved Chemical Hearts? Then You'll Dig These Fun Facts About Austin Abrams

Born in Sarasota, FL, Austin was raised by two doctors who never expected their son to become an actor. When asked about his upbringing by Coup De Main magazine in December 2019, Austin said, "The whole idea was a bit preposterous to them. They're doctors, so at the time, they had no idea about any of this stuff. I wanted to do TV and movies when I was fairly young, and they thought it was kind of ridiculous. But my mom was always mostly on my side, whereas my dad took a little more time." Of course, Austin's success has also helped his parents come around to the idea.

Unlike many young stars who got their start as teens, Austin had a pretty typical high school experience. "My experience was pretty similar to an average American teenager in a lot of ways," the actor told Hollywood Life in August 2020. "I went to a public high school. I didn't do any virtual stuff. I know some actors worked when they were younger, and they ended up doing a lot of virtual school and stuff like that, but I had a public school that was, for some reason, very willing to work with me. So I didn't end up having an extremely Hollywood school experience."

As a child, Austin was timid, and so his mom enrolled him in a theater camp to bring him out of his shell. That's where he first discovered his love of acting. As Austin explained to Teen Vogue back in February 2013, "There was a teacher at the summer camp I went to and when I was about eight or so, she got me an audition at the Golden Apple Theatre. I auditioned for Beauty and the Beast and I got cast as Chip. They put me in this box and stuck my head out of the box and put this broken foam teacup around my face. It continued from there."

Austin's younger sister, Ashley Abrams, is also an actor who appeared in 2016's short film Silent Kill as Laura Young. Coming up, you can expect to see Ashley appear as Sylvie in the drama thriller Fear of Rain alongside Katherine Heigl and Harry Connick Jr., among others.

When asked by Brief Take in August 2020 about the sorts of movies and TV shows he watches, Austin said he's a "movie guy" who enjoys classic films, such as those directed by Stanley Kubrick and Andrew Bergman — though he admitted that his tastes are always changing. He added, "I'm a big fan of Heath Ledger, Daniel Day-Lewis, Joaquin Phoenix, and Paul Thomas Anderson, and it also changes so rapidly, because you see something and then now, maybe your focus is on that director or perhaps on that actor. It can just change so rapidly, at least for me personally."

You won't find Austin on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook, because the actor doesn't have any social media accounts. As he confessed during his interview with Coup De Main, he doesn't really get the appeal of maintaining an internet presence. "In the beginning, I remember having Facebook when I was thirteen and thinking, 'What am I gonna say?' I didn't know what to talk about," he joked. "Nothing felt important enough to say and put out for a bunch of people to read, and I kept going on there and using my time and looking at all these pictures and I just didn't understand why I was doing it."

Another reason why Austin doesn't do social media: he doesn't want to base his self-worth off of likes. ". . . it seems to be this mental trap that I've seen a lot of people get in, trying to get your likes, and also people think it will get you more work," Austin explained. "I suppose it might help get you the work, but once you get the work, you still need to be good . . . or something."