Born in Buffalo, New York, Chad found a ready audience early on. When he was four or five years old, the young ham performed skits and sang made-up songs for his large family which includes three brothers, a half-brother and a sister. At age fifteen, a high school football injury landed him in a hospital where a nurse encouraged him to pursue a modeling career.

Two years later, Chad won a scholarship from a modeling agency in Buffalo to attend a modeling convention in Orlando. There he met his destiny when an agent from Los Angeles spotted him and persuaded the seventeen-year-old to pursue his dream of acting after graduation from high school.

In 1999, the aspiring actor headed for Hollywood where he supported himself modeling for such clients as Sketchers, Tommy Hilfiger, and Gucci while looking for a break. Soon after he arrived, Chad appeared in several guest-starring television roles including an episode of "Diagnosis Murder." Then he got the call he'd been hoping for. The WB's "Gilmore Girls" was casting for the role of Tristan DuGrey. They were looking for someone who was likable and charismatic but with an edgy side, and someone who had that certain "IT" quality. Chad was all that plus he had the perfect physical characteristics that the show's writers had in mind. The teenager won the role and has since made the character his own.

He admires the talents of actors Ed Norton, Leonardo DiCaprio, Al Pacinoand Robert DiNiro and uses their influences in his work. Always a firm believer in clean living, Chad is a natural athlete. He played his favorite sport, football, in high school and keeps fit by working out at the gym, inline skating, playing soccer, volleyball and basketball as well as football pick-up games. He is an anti-drug role model for kids and is active in charities for children and teens during his spare time. Still very single, Chad has set up house with a pug named Gus and a unique boisterous cat named Jack, who keep him from missing his large family too much.