Thurston was born in Oakland, California on December 7, 1987.

Nick Thurston received the best actor award for his performance in Primrose at the Hollyshorts film festival in 2015.

Thurston plays the role of Brian Leary, the primary protagonist in White Irish Drinkers. Here Thurston plays an artistic young man, who is misunderstood and underappreciated by his family and friends, who find themselves content with labor intensive work, and have no aptitude to go on to higher education. Brian, surrounded by a dreary reality, finds an escape in his art. This escape allows Brian to avoid the life of crime his brother has chosen, and to block out the problems that life has presented to him. "The Observer describes Brian as " a boy with a conscience who turns the basement room under the bagel shop in his parents’ building into a secret art studio, where he creates impressionistic charcoal drawings and watercolor sketches of the city around him, donning headphones to drown out the noise and shouting between his parents."