Cast of CBS Series 'MacGyver'

Tristin Mays | Biography

Famous for appearing in the CW show 'The Vampire Diaries'

• By Reena Chikanbanjar
• Update : January 02, 2022

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Tristin Mays is a well-known American actress best known for playing Riley Davis in the CBS action-adventure television series MacGyver (2016-2021).

Who is Tristin Mays?

Tristin Mays is a famous actress and singer. She launched her career in the entertainment industry as a child model. As a child, Mays signed with the New York City-based modeling agency Ford Modeling Agency (now Ford Models) and quickly became one of the top child models in the country. 

She later appeared in national commercials for several popular brands like Kraft Cheese, ROSS, McDonald’s, Hershey’s, and Sunkist.

Mays began her acting career, appearing in the role of Angel in the 1996 television movie Harambee! In 1997, she joined the cast of Nick Jr.’s musical children’s show, Gullah, Gullah Island, and appeared in 16 episodes as Shaina. The same year, Mays portrayed the role of Young Nala in the Broadway adaptation of the Academy Award-winning 1994 Disney movie, The Lion King.

After that, she returned to her television career and appeared as Robin Dixon in three episodes of the ABC sitcom Alias between 2001 and 2004. She then made guest appearances in the Nickelodeon series Ned’s Declassified School Survival Guide in 2006 and The CW series Everybody Hates Chris in 2008. Subsequently, she appeared in a string of Nickelodeon sitcoms such as True Jackson, VP, Big Time Rush, and Victorious in 2010 and 2011.

In 2012, Mays made her film debut, portraying the role of Isabel in the family comedy film Thunderstruck. Her other film credits include She Is Not My Sister (2012), The Wedding Ringer (2015), and Happy Birthday (2016).

In 2015, Mays scored recurring roles in The CW series Supergirl and The Vampire Diaries. She then secured a significant role in the CBS series MacGyver reboot the following year.

Early Bio and Age

Tristin Mays was born Tristin Michelle Mays in New Orleans, Louisiana, on 10 June 1990. She was born to her parents, Michael and Viveca Mays. 

She grew up in Brooklyn and Staten Island, New York City. Mays' age is 31 years as of 2021.

‘The Vampire Diaries’

Mays joined the cast of The CW supernatural teen drama television series The Vampire Diaries in the sixth season. She portrayed the role of Sarah Salvatore, the niece of Stefan Salvatore (played by Paul Wesley) and Damon Salvatore (played by Ian Somerhalder), for seven episodes in 2015 and 2016. 

One of the most memorable vampire-themed series, The Vampire Diaries, premiered on 10 September 2009 and ran for eight seasons until 2017. The series chronicled the lives, loves, hazards, and disasters in the fictional town of Mystic Falls, Virginia, where a teenage girl gets torn between two vampire brothers.

‘MacGyver’

Mays notably starred in the action-adventure drama series MacGyver, based on the television series of the same name created by Lee David Zlotoff. She played the role of Riley Davis, an independent-minded but slightly stubborn hacker who works as a covert operative for the Phoenix Foundation. 

The series follows Young Angus “Mac” MacGyver (played by Lucas Till), who works for a clandestine organization within the United States government; he uses his extraordinary problem-solving skills to save lives. 

Lucas Till and Tristin Mays co-starred in 94 episodes of the series. The series premiered on 23 September 2016 on CBS and ran for five seasons until April 2021. Mays took to Instagram on 24 March 2021 to share that the Season 5 of MacGyver had wrapped. “One too many camera angles for our taste! My rendition of ‘Seasons of Love’ from Rent. Nice going, @lucastill. That’s a wrap on season 5! #MacGyver,” she captioned the clip. 

Boyfriend

Mays was in a relationship with actor Jessie T. Usher in the late 2010s. 

In June 2019, she went to a theater together with him to watch the film Shaft, in which he starred as JJ Shaft. She posted their picture from the theater on Instagram on 28 June 2019, captioning, “Celebrating you on my birthday made it more special than you know….”

In addition to Shaft, Usher also notably appeared in films like Dangerous Lies (2020), Independence Day: Resurgence (2016), and the television series The Boys (2019-2022).

In an interview with The Real daytime talk show in April 2020, Usher said that he was with Mays before the COVID-19 quarantine began, and they were quarantined separately at the time. He also stated they played games and watched shows online together from different places.

However, whether Usher is still her boyfriend is unknown as she has posted no picture with him on Instagram for a couple of years.