Taylor Lautner

Background

Taylor Daniel Lautner was born on February 11, 1992, in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He is the son of Deborah and Daniel Lautner. Deborah works at a software development company, while his father Daniel works at Midwest Airlines as a pilot. Lautner has a younger sister by the name of Makena. He was raised Roman Catholic and has Dutch, French, and German ancestry. He has stated he has distant Native American ancestry through his mother — particularly the Odawa and Potawatomi people.

Lautner spent most of his childhood in Hudsonville, Michigan, he started karate classes when he was six years old and attended the National Karate Tournament in Louisville, Kentucky where he met Michael Chaturantabut — the founder of “Xtreme Martial Arts.” Lautner was invited to be trained by Chaturantabut for several years, achieving his black belt at the age of eight and winning several junior world championships. His first television appearance was an “ISKA” karate event televised on E.S.P.N. in 2003. He later made an appearance on the sports-comedy show “Cheap Seats” in 2006.

In junior high, Lautner was part of a lot of extramural activities including karate, baseball, and hip-hop. He also won the award for ‘Best Smile’ in his local school. Lautner attended Valencia High School in Santa Clarita, California until his sophomore year when he took up acting. He began with a small talent agency where he would fly from Michigan to Los Angeles for auditions. Lautner was able to manage his acting, karate, and baseball careers while also taking up jazz and hip-hop. He eventually decided to move to Santa Clarita, California with his family in 2002.

Lautner’s first few months in Los Angeles were spent in small television and film roles, as well as a few advertising and commercials. He appeared in “The Bernie Mac Show” (2001), “My Wife and Kids,” “Summerland,” “Danny Phantom,” and “What’s New, Scooby-Doo?” (2002). He then got a voice-over job in a commercial for the film “Rugrats Go Wild,” (2003). Lautner’s acting career began in 2005 with the film “The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lava Girl 3-D,” directed by Robert Rodriguez, in which he played Sharkboy. In 2007 he was cast for the role of Native American shapeshifter and werewolf Jacob Black, next to Kristen Stewart who played Bella Swan in the popular “Twilight Saga” series. The first “Twilight” film was a large commercial success, earning roughly $70 million in its opening weekend, and grossing $392 million worldwide. Lautner was nominated for the ‘Male Breakthrough Performance’ for his role as Jacob Black at the 2009 M.T.V. Movie Awards with co-star Robert Pattinson.