Michael Evans Behling

Behling was born in Columbus, Ohio and adopted by Mike and Carol Behling, but grew up in Columbus, Indiana.^{[1][5][6][7][8]} He is biracial and was adopted by a white family.^{[1][9][10][11]} In a March 2020 YouTube video, he stated that his father is of Nigerian descent and his mother is of German descent and that his last name is German.^[12] He has three siblings, Matt, Adam, and Andrea.^[7] Behling's family owned ten acres of land, several dogs and cats and a chicken coop.^[1][9] Sports were a big part of his life growing up, and Behling played baseball, soccer, and volleyball.^[13][14]

He first thought about being an actor when he was a freshman in high school and was inspired by Heath Ledger's performance in The Dark Knight.^{[15][6][9][16]} Behling attended Columbus North High School, where he played football for two years and ran track.^[1][17][15] He was on the honor roll and graduated in 2015.^[7] Behling continued to run track in college, competing in the 400-meter hurdles.^[15] He stopped competing in track after breaking his foot twice, which required two surgeries.^[15][11] He attended Indiana State University for two years as a pre-med student before dropping out to pursue modeling and acting.^{[1][7][13][18][11][9]} Prior to beginning his acting career, he worked as an assistant director at the Donner Aquatic Center in Columbus, Indiana.^[7]

While in college, Behling began modeling, and eventually his team convinced him to audition for acting roles.^[16] He did several advertising campaigns with Adidas and White Castle.^[11] Behling began his career in television in 2017 with a role as "Handsome Dude" on Empire.^[1][7][19] In March 2018, he was cast as Jordan Baker on All American,^[20] and filming for the pilot began two weeks later.^[7][21] Behling moved to Los Angeles in January 2018 when filming began, and after his finances ran low he began sleeping on a friend's floor.^[1][7] He has said that he identifies with his character because they are both biracial and looking for the place where they fit in.^[22] His role as Jordan Baker is his breakout role.^[19] He is currently represented by HRI Talent and Management 101.^[21]

Behling has a clothing line, DesignedAt5AM, which he started with three friends from high school (Nicholas Stevens, Drew Thompson, and Floyd Athaide).^[9][16][23] The clothing line was inspired by his desire to start his day early to accomplish his goals and by his high school friends' early morning swim practices.^[15]

Behling lives in Los Angeles.^[6][7] He actively advocates for animal rights and mental health awareness.^[8] Behling married his longtime girlfriend, Madison Stanton in April 2021 but the couple divorced in September 2021 after 5 months of marriage.^[24][25]