Hynes was born in Toronto, Ontario,[1] but later grew up on a 24-hectare (59-acre) ranch outside Ottawa.
[3] Hynes got his professional start at the age of eight during a 72-performance run of the musical stage production of A Christmas Carol as Tiny Tim, followed by a Canadian tour of The Who's rock opera Tommy, playing the role of 10-year-old Tommy.
[3] He followed this up with his first feature film, Little Men, starring Mariel Hemingway.
[4] He portrayed Atreyu in 13 episodes of the TV series Tales from the Neverending Story and The Chosen One in the 24-episode run of Peter Benchley's Amazon.
[3] Tyler was nominated "Fan Favourite" at Canada's Gemini Awards at age 15.