Max Beesley was born as Maxton Gig Beesley, Jr. in Burnage, England in 1971. He is the son of British jazz drummer Maxton Beesley and jazz singer Chris Marlowe. His parents separated when he was only 18 months old, but his father lived close by. Max is very close to his stepbrother, Jason Milligan. His mother died some years ago because of a tragic accident in the hospital.
At the , his father gave him his first pair of drum sticks. At the age of 11 he was offered several scholarships for music schools; at the age of 17 he went to Guildhall School of Music and Drama to study piano and percussion. Only after a few months he was offered a job by The Style Council on their tour as a session musician. At the age of 23 he decided to become an actor. He had just played at the MTV awards for George Michael when he watched Robert De Niro in Raging Bull. He was so impressed that he decided to become an actor.
He went to New York, signed up with a method acting coach and within a year he landed the starring role in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling. After this he was offered jobs on feature films like The Match, Five Seconds to Spare and Kill Me Later.
In 2001 he landed a starring role alongside Mariah Carey in Glitter and he had several other film projects. In 2003 he went on tour with his friend Robbie Williams -an international pop-star- as percussionist and keyboard player. n 2004 he starred in the success tv-drama Bodies on BBC. Since 2006 he plays the role of Charlie Edwards in the BBC hit series Hotel Babylon.