Mead was born in Mission Viejo, California, the son of Denise and Robert Mead and brother of twin sisters Lauren and Candice Mead. In the 1994 film Dragonworld he played the part of young Johnny McGowan, a young boy who finds a dragon egg on his grandfather's property after moving to Scotland. Additionally, he portrayed the fictional character Danny Torrance in Stephen King's The Shining television mini-series, and appeared as Uh-huh in the 1994 feature-film adaptation of The Little Rascals. The following year he co-starred with Jonathan Taylor Thomas and Brad Renfro in Disney's Tom and Huck. He also played Howard in Corrina, Corrina with Whoopi Goldberg, and Kirk Cameron's youngest brother in the short-lived WB sitcom Kirk. Mead also provided the voices of Gus Griswold in the Disney anima