Before he was famous

Taylor was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan on February 11, 1992. His mother Deborah works for a software development company while his father, Daniel Lautner, is a commercial airline pilot. Largely, he is made of Dutch, French and German lineage but has some Native American in him from his mother’s side (Ottawa and Potawatomi to be more exact). Taylor has a younger sister named Makena.

From the ages of six to thirteen, he studid karate. He began studying karate at the age of six, training at Fabiano’s Karate School, and by the following year, he was already winning tournaments. He was soon invited to train with seven-time world karate champion Mike Chat and, when he was eight, he was asked to represent his country in the twelve years and under division in the World Karate Association. At age eleven, he ranked number one in the world for NASKA’s Black Belt Open Forms, Muscial Weapons, Traditional Weapons and Traditional Forms. Shortly after at the age of twelve, he won the Junior World Championships.

Taylor was bitten by the acting bug when he was seven years old, after his martial arts instructor persuaded him to audition for a part in a Burger King advert in Los Angeles. Although he was unsuccessful, he enjoyed the experience so much that he told his parents he wanted to pursue a career in acting. Soon, he and his family were traveling back-and-forth from their home in Michigan to California so Taylor could audition for acting roles on a regular basis. When he was ten, with the frequent traveling and air fares starting to drain them out, his family made the hard decision to relocate to Los Angeles where Taylor would have the advantage of being able to audition on a full-time basis. Although it was a wrench to leave behind friends and family, the move gave him the added bonus of being able to compete on a more intense level in football and baseball.

And so his career begind

In 2001, he began acting. Appearing in a made for television film Shadow Futy which was followed by small roles on Summerland, The Bernie Mac SHow and My Wife and Kids. He’s been in a number of other tv movies as well; The Nick and Jessica Variety hour is just one of them. He was on America’s Most Talented Kids, where he was himself and showed off his martial arts moves.

Taylor’s also been very good with voice-over work. He has a reocurring role as Youngblood on the cartoon Danny Phantom and has also done work on What’s New Scooby Doo, He’s a Bully and Charlie Brown. He is also booked as a series regular on the pilot of Which Way Is Up? as well as the character Silas in the animated sitcom, Silas and Brittany.

In 2005, at the age of thirteen, he finally got his break. Taylor won the role of Shark Boy in the Robert Rodriguez film The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lava Girl, a movie that allowed him to show off his martial arts skills. After Sharkboy, he auditioned to play Elliot, the son of the Baker’s rivals in Cheaper by the Dozen 2. In 2008, he played Christian Slater’s son in the tv series My Own Worst Enemy until the show was cancelled nine episodes in.

Then, things only went up for Taylor. He nailed the part of Jacob Black in Twilight, the adaptation of Stephanie Meyer’s book. His role for the second film was up in the air however, since Jacob did a major transformation on looks between the first movie and the second. Taylor, in a effort to keep his role, trained and gained 30 pounds of muscle to keep his role. All that hard work paid off and he was set to reprise his role in the upcoming films of the Twilight Saga.

Recently Taylor Lautner has been cast in the film Valentine’s Day as Tyler Harrinton, which is set for release in February 2010.

Personal Life

In his spare time, Taylor loves playing football and baseball, both sports which he is very strong in. In football, he running back on offense and middle line backer on defense and, in baseball, he takes part in the Hart Baseball Program where he is positioned at center field and second base. He also participates in the LA Hip Kids, a hip-hop dance group. Taylor also enjoys making home movies with his friends, including ‘Sharkboy and Lava Girl’ co-star Taylor Dooley, who coincidentally lives near his Los Angeles home.

Although, he wants to continue acting into adulthood, he wouldn’t mind becoming a film scriptwriter and director. Certainly, this is one young boy who is bound to do well in whatever he sets his mind to!

There’s only one way for Taylor Lautner to keep going and that’s up.

Notes: This biography was written for Taylor-Lautner.org using information from both wikipedia and imdb.