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.