Taylor Lautner facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Taylor Lautner
Lautner at the 2012 Comic-Con
Born	Taylor Daniel Lautner (1992-02-11) February 11, 1992 (age 33) Grand Rapids, Michigan, U.S.
Occupation	Actor, martial artist
Years active	2001–present
Spouse(s)	Taylor Dome ​ (m. 2022)​
Signature

Taylor Daniel Lautner (/ˈlaʊtnər/ LOWT-nər; born February 11, 1992) is an American actor and martial artist. He is best known for playing werewolf Jacob Black in The Twilight Saga film series (2008–2012) and Sharkboy in the film The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl (2005). His accolades include a Scream Award, seven Teen Choice Awards, two People's Choice Award, and an MTV Movie Award.

Born in Michigan, Lautner began practising Karate and Xtreme Martial Arts at the age of six. He became a black belt at the age of 10, and by the age of 14, he was a four-time world champion. He began his acting career playing bit parts in comedy series such as The Bernie Mac Show (2003) and My Wife and Kids (2004), before having voice roles in television series like What's New, Scooby-Doo? (2005) and Danny Phantom (2005). In 2005, he got his big break when he landed the role of Sharkboy in the film The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3-D. Also that year, he starred in Cheaper by the Dozen 2.

The late 2000s saw Lautner become a teen idol, after extensively changing his physique to keep the role of Jacob Black in further Twilight installments, and generating media attention for his looks. In 2010, Lautner was named the highest-paid teenage actor in Hollywood.

In 2011, Lautner starred in the action film Abduction, in which he did almost all of his stunts. In 2013, he appeared in the comedy film Grown Ups 2. From 2014 to 2018, Lautner starred in the BBC sitcom Cuckoo as the son of the titular character. In 2015, he starred in the action film Tracers and the comedy film The Ridiculous 6. The following year, he portrayed Dr. Cassidy Cascade in the second season of FOX black comedy series Scream Queens.

Early life

Lautner was born on February 11, 1992, in Grand Rapids, Michigan, the son of Deborah and Daniel Lautner. His mother works for a software development company, while his father was a Midwest Airlines pilot. He has one younger sister named Makena. Raised as a Roman Catholic, Lautner has Dutch, French, and German ancestry, and has stated that he has "distant" Native American ancestry (specifically Odawa and Potawatomi, both Anishinaabe peoples) through his mother. He grew up in Hudsonville, Michigan, a town near Grand Rapids. He has stated that he was bullied in school because he was an actor. He commented, "I just had to tell myself 'I can't let this get to me. This is what I love to do. And I'm going to continue doing it.'"

He took his first karate class at the age of six. A year later, he attended the national karate tournament in Louisville, Kentucky, where he met Michael Chaturantabut, the founder of Xtreme Martial Arts. Chaturantabut invited Lautner to a camp he held at University of California, Los Angeles. Lautner trained with Chaturantabut for several years, earning his black belt by the age of eight, and winning several junior world championships. He appeared in an ISKA karate event televised on ESPN in 2003 that was later lampooned on the sports-comedy show Cheap Seats that first aired in 2006.

In junior high, Lautner—who was involved in karate, baseball and hip-hop dance—won the award for "Best Smile" and played in the school's Turkey Bowl American Football game. He went to public school at Valencia High School in Santa Clarita, California until his sophomore year. Chaturantabut, who once portrayed the Blue Ranger in Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue, suggested to Lautner that he take up acting. For a few years, the Lautners flew from Michigan to Los Angeles for auditions when his talent agency called, and returned to Grand Rapids for school sometimes the same day. Lautner balanced karate and acting with being on the football and baseball teams at his school, and taking up jazz and hip-hop dance. After that became tiring, Lautner and his family decided to move to California for a month, to try it out, before moving to Santa Clarita, California, in 2002.

Career

2001–2007: Career beginnings

In his first months after moving to Los Angeles, Lautner appeared in small television roles, small film roles, and ads and commercials. In 2001, Lautner first appeared in the made-for-television film, Shadow Fury. He then got a voice-over job in a commercial for Rugrats Go Wild. He then appeared in small television roles on The Bernie Mac Show, My Wife and Kids, and Summerland. Lautner then earned voice-over roles in animated series such as Danny Phantom, Duck Dodgers, and What's New, Scooby-Doo?. The same year, he earned his first breakout role, starring in the film, The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3-D. Lautner spent three months on location in Austin, Texas, to film the movie, which was received with negative reviews from critics, and was a minor international success. However, Lautner was nominated at the 2006 Young Artist Awards for Best Performance in a Feature Film by a Leading Actor. For the film, Lautner choreographed all of his fight scenes after director Robert Rodríguez learned of his extensive martial arts training. Months later, he played Eliot Murtaugh in Cheaper by the Dozen 2, which was panned by critics, being named one of the "Worst Films of the 2000s" by Rotten Tomatoes. After returning from Canada filming the latter movie, Lautner said he realized his newfound fame, from Sharkboy and Lavagirl. In 2006 he appeared in the show Love Inc. and the TV special He's a Bully, Charlie Brown. Two years later, Lautner appeared in a lead role in the short-lived NBC drama My Own Worst Enemy, portraying Christian Slater's son, Jack Spivey. Rolling Stone coined his early roles as either "the popular kid, jock, or bully."

2008–2009: Breakthrough and The Twilight Series

In 2007, filmmakers began a search for actors to portray Jacob Black, a Native American friend of lead character Bella Swan in Twilight, the first film in The Twilight Saga film series. In January 2008, an open casting call was held in Portland, Oregon. Lautner had not heard of the Twilight series before, but was urged by his agent to audition. At his audition, he read lines with Kristen Stewart, who had already been cast as Bella, and they acted out scenes from The Twilight Saga: New Moon and The Twilight Saga: Eclipse. The film was a commercial success, earning $69 million its opening weekend, and has grossed $392 million worldwide. It received mixed reviews from critics, having a "Rotten" rating with a weighted average of 5.5/10. In describing the critical consensus, it stated: "Having lost much of its bite transitioning to the big screen, Twilight will please its devoted fans, but do little for the uninitiated." On Metacritic, which assigns a weighted mean rating out of 100 reviews from film critics, it has an average score of 56 from the 37 reviews. At the 2009 MTV Movie Awards, Lautner was nominated for Male Breakthrough Performance, which was won by co-star Robert Pattinson.

Lautner with Twilight costars Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson at the 2009 MTV Movie Awards

Initially, director Chris Weitz wanted to recast the role of Jacob Black for Twilight's sequel, The Twilight Saga: New Moon, due to the major physical changes that occur in Black between the two novels, and have an actor that would accurately portray "the new, larger Jacob Black." Black's role in the novel also increases significantly, with him falling in love with Bella and becoming a shapeshifter, putting the actor in a starring role. Representatives for Weitz had stated that they would make a full effort to recast the "high-profile gig", and MTV News confirmed that Weitz was looking at Michael Copon to take on the role; however, Summit Entertainment said a decision had not been made. In an attempt to keep the role, Lautner weight-trained extensively and gained approximately 30 pounds of muscle. In January 2009, Weitz and Summit Entertainment announced that Lautner would continue to play the role of Jacob in the sequel. In an interview, fellow cast member Kristen Stewart talked about Lautner's transformation saying, "He's an entirely different person physically." Stewart later said, "He gets a lot of attention because he's buff, but I think as soon as the movie comes out, people are going to realize that's not why he got the job." Co-star Robert Pattinson said after seeing Lautner's body, "I saw him and thought 'Jesus, I'm going to get fired.'" In an interview with The Wrap, Weitz said Lautner deserved a lot of credit for the movie's box office, stating, "If you look at the movie, it should have been the weakest in the franchise, because Robert Pattinson doesn't play as big a role." Weitz said Lautner had to "pick up that slack, and if his character hadn't been emotionally, not just physically, appealing, the movie wouldn't have been as big a hit." The commercial performance of the film outpaced the first film, setting several box office records including the biggest midnight opening in the United States and Canada and the biggest single-day opening. The opening weekend of New Moon is the third highest opening weekend in domestic history with $142,839,137. The Twilight Saga: New Moon also has the sixth highest worldwide opening weekend with $274.9 million total. Critical reception was less favorable, with the movie getting a 4.6/10 average from Rotten Tomatoes, and a 44 on Metacritic. Lautner won Favorite Breakout Movie Actor at the 35th People's Choice Awards.

Although it began after the release of the first film, upon release of New Moon, Lautner and his co-stars Stewart and Pattinson transitioned to teen idol status, with Lautner particularly admired by teens for his new physical characteristics. The trio appeared on many covers and televised appearances together. In between the second and third films in the Twilight series, Lautner was a part of the ensemble cast in the movie Valentine's Day as Willy Harrington, acting alongside his rumored girlfriend at the time, American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. The duo was nominated at the 2010 MTV Movie Awards for Best Kiss. Although it received generally negative reviews, the film grossed $213 million and had the second biggest opening in the United States for a romantic comedy film. Lautner presented at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards and the 82nd Academy Awards. Lautner hosted Saturday Night Live on December 12, 2009, making him one of the youngest celebrity hosts in the show's history.

2010–present: Continuing Twilight and later projects

Lautner returned for the third Twilight film, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, in 2010. Despite receiving mixed reviews from critics, the film surpassed its predecessor to become the highest-grossing film of the franchise and the highest-grossing romantic fantasy, shapeshifter and vampire movie of all time at the American and Canadian box office. It ranked as the 36th highest-grossing film of all-time in the U.S. and Canada. The popularity of Lautner and his cast members continued to summit, especially via the "Team Edward vs. Team Jacob" campaign that promoted the film. Lautner's fanbase also began to expand to older audiences. Lautner won Best Fantasy Actor at the 2010 Scream Awards, and he is nominated for Favorite Movie Actor for his role in Eclipse at the 37th People's Choice Awards. In November 2010 The Hollywood Reporter named Lautner as one of the young male actors who are "pushing – or being pushed" into taking over Hollywood as the new "A-List".

Lautner was initially supposed to be in two films, Northern Lights and a movie based on Max Steel, but pulled out of both films due to scheduling conflicts and better offers. Other planned projects were the lead in a movie about Stretch Armstrong and a hostage thriller, Cancun. Lautner filmed a Bourne Identity-esque spy film with Lily Collins, entitled Abduction. It was released in September 2011 to universally negative reviews from critics and Lautner's performance was mostly criticised. For Abduction, Lautner won a Teen Choice Award for Choice Action Actor in 2012. He appeared in the remaining parts of the Twilight series, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn films, which were released over a two-year period from 2011–2012. Lautner then filmed Grown Ups 2 alongside Adam Sandler and Chris Rock. It was released in September 2013.

In 2010, Lautner was considered to be the highest-paid teen actor in Hollywood. In February 2014, it was confirmed that Lautner would be joining the BBC Three comedy series Cuckoo, replacing Andy Samberg. Lautner has continued in this role, co-starring in the BBC comedy for three series. From September to December 2016, Lautner co-starred on the Ryan Murphy comedy horror series Scream Queens. On July 7, 2023, Lautner appeared onstage after singer Taylor Swift premiered a new music video for the song "I Can See You" at the Eras Tour in Kansas City. The video stars Lautner, Joey King, and Presley Cash. Lautner inspired her Speak Now album's single "Back to December".

Personal life

Lautner has an intricate workout plan, which was covered by Men's Health, and has a specific diet after developing his body for The Twilight Saga: New Moon. In addition, he still practices and trains in martial arts regularly.

Lautner is a fan of the Detroit Lions.

While filming Valentine's Day in October 2009, Lautner began a romantic relationship with co-star Taylor Swift; they broke up later that year. After filming Abduction with Lily Collins, he began dating her in November 2010. They split in September 2011. From 2013 to 2015 he was in a relationship with Canadian actress and Tracers co-star Marie Avgeropoulos. Lautner began dating actress and Scream Queens co-star Billie Lourd in December 2016; the two split in July 2017.

In 2018, Lautner announced that he was dating Taylor "Tay" Dome, a nurse from California. The pair married on November 11, 2022, in California. Lautner previously stated Dome would take his last name upon marriage, making her name "Taylor Lautner".

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2001	Shadow Fury	Young Kismet
2005	Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3-D, TheThe Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3-D	Sharkboy
	Cheaper by the Dozen 2	Elliot Murtaugh
2008	Twilight	Jacob Black
2009	Twilight Saga: New Moon, TheThe Twilight Saga: New Moon	Jacob Black
2010	Valentine's Day	Willy Harrinton
	The Twilight Saga: Eclipse	Jacob Black
2011	Field of Dreams 2: Lockout	Iowa Farmer	Short film
	Abduction	Nathan Harper
	The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1	Jacob Black
2012	The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2	Jacob Black
2013	Grown Ups 2	Frat Boy Andy
2015	Tracers	Cam
	The Ridiculous 6	Lil' Pete
2016	Run the Tide	Reymond Hightower
2022	Home Team	Troy Lambert
TBA	The Token Groomsman	Scott	Filming

Key

Denotes films that have not yet been released

Television

Music videos

Awards and nominations

See also

In Spanish: Taylor Lautner para niños