 Young attended Galston High and Australian Theatre For Young People as a teenager.Young was cast in his first role, as a young Jesuit priest in Bruce Beresford's acclaimed religious epic "Black Robe" (1991) on his 18th birthday.International acclaim followed and Young was dubbed "the next Marlon Brando" in France and "the next Mel Gibson" in Hollywood but returned to Australia to support the local industry and focus on projects that he was more drawn to.