Actor
Zachary Abel grew up in the small town of Middletown, Indiana. He studied finance and international business at Washington University in St. Louis but, like so many hopefuls, he took a chance and moved to L.A. to pursue his dream of acting. It didn't take long to come true. After snagging an appearance on "CSI" in 2007 and then landing the role of Jonah on the web series "My Alibi," Zach is seeing roles rolling in. He's playing Adrian's stepbrother Max on "The Secret Life of the American Teenager," and later this year will make his big-screen debut in the horror movie "Forget Me Not." ABC Family trivia note: Micah Alberti, who played Matt on ABC Family's "Wildfire," is also in that movie.

Character
Max is Adrian's brother. Well, he's actually her estranged dad's stepson, which technically makes him her step-brother. But that doesn't stop Max from liking Adrian ... a lot. Which is cool, because he's a really nice guy. And so hot! And Adrian's really into him, too. So everything's cool right? Uh, no. Their dad, Ruben, is NOT into this hookup. (Yeah, it's kind of lame, but can you blame him? Eww.) So now that Adrian's finally found a really nice guy, a guy who treats her well -- so well she barely knows how to deal with him -- it turns out their romance is literally forbidden. Will that stop them?