Clayton was born in Long Beach Memorial Hospital of Long Beach,
California. He is half German half Italian from his father Steve Snyder
and mother Glenda Snyder, respectively, and the youngest of two
half-brothers, Doug and Devin. Acting began when he received leading
roles in his elementary school plays, playing Mark Twain in Tom Sawyer
and The Tin Man in The Wizard of Oz. He also swam for Seal Beach Swim
Club until he joined the Seal Beach Water Polo Club at age 8. He also
picked up the alto saxophone for three years, would later pick up
guitar, played other sports including soccer, baseball, and basketball,
and took lessons for voice, tap and jazz dancing, and cotillion.
Entering McAuliff Middle School, he began auditioning for professional
roles in Hollywood. In his second year, he landed the recurring role of
Ethan Craft in the Disney series Lizzie McGuire. The series ran for two
years, while he continued to attend public school in Orange County and
play club water polo. During the second season, Clayton was a member of
the 2001 Speedo Cup championship water polo team with SOCAL Water Polo
Club, being awarded the Jody Campbell Award for skill, sportsmanship,
and teamwork. He would miss his freshman water polo season at Los
Alamitos High School to film The Lizzie McGuire Movie in Rome, Italy
and Vancouver, Canada. It was then he decided to put acting on hold and
pursue his academic and athletic careers. His high school team played
in the CIF Southern Section Division 2 Final the next three years,
winning his junior year. He was named All-County in Orange County, MPSF
player of the year, and CIF co-player of the year.
Various universities recruited Clayton for water polo including
Pepperdine, UCLA, UC Santa Barbara, and UC Berkeley. Clayton chose to
attend Pepperdine University with a water polo scholarship and started
all four years and as captain his junior and senior year. The team
finished 2nd in the nation his junior year in 2004, and was named
All-American Honorable Mention. He performed as a member of the
prestige Hosts in Pepperdine's mini-musical competition, Songfest, and
also performed in the student-run dance showcase Dance In Flight for
three years. He graduated with honors with a BA in Film Studies.
Upon graduating in 2010, he pursued making the USA National Water Polo
Team, training with them during the summer and went on to play
professionally in Europe. Clayton played for a season in Italy, a
second in Hungary, and a third in Montenegro that was cut short due to
injury. In 2011 he competed in the World University Games in Shenzhen,
China placing 4th. Clayton continues to play for recreation in Masters
tournaments for International Water Polo Club of Los Alamitos, CA.
Clayton now continues his acting career working on various projects
under the representation of Strong Management.
