As the third of six children, he was raised in a coastal areas Newport and later Narrabeen in Sydney, where he relocated at an early age with his family as his mother, Christine, worked for ProKayaks, a canoe and kayak store in Narrabeen[1] His older sister is actor, director and producer Millie Rose Heywood.
He attended St Ives High School and following graduation in 2006, Heywood worked as a waiter and later a manager at cafe H2O in Dee Why,[1] before he pursued as career in acting and enrolled at the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA).
In his debut, he was offered the four-month recurring role of Lachie Cladwell in the Seven Network soap opera Home and Away in 2008.
For the first few months after arriving in Summer Bay, Brody and his family concealed the fact that they had been living in witness protection for the past seven years and that his true name is Bartholomew Lee, following the shooting deaths of his parents who were part of a drugs syndicate.
The pair began dating in November 2013 and they kept a low profile, eventually making their relationship public in May 2014 while they attended a Tiffany & Co. event at Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles.