Synyster Gates. Synyster Gates was born on July 7, 1981 in Huntington Beach, California, USA as Brian Elwin Haner Jr. He is an actor, known for Big Momma's House 2 (2006), Avenged Sevenfold: All Excess (2007) and Avenged Sevenfold: Live in the L.B.C. & Diamonds in the Rough (2008).