Taylor Lautner

Taylor Daniel Lautner is an American actor, martial artist, and producer born on February 11, 1992, in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Raised in Hudsonville, Michigan, and later Santa Clarita, California, he began studying karate at age six. He earned a black belt at a young age, won several junior world championships, and trained extensively in martial arts. He also participated in football, baseball, and dance while pursuing early performance opportunities.

Lautner began his professional acting career in the early 2000s with minor roles in television series such as The Bernie Mac Show, My Wife and Kids, and Summerland, alongside voice-over work for animated shows like What's New, Scooby-Doo? and Danny Phantom. He earned his breakout feature film role as Sharkboy in The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3-D (2005), for which he also choreographed his own fight scenes. That same year, he appeared in Cheaper by the Dozen 2.

Lautner achieved widespread international recognition playing the shapeshifting werewolf Jacob Black in The Twilight Saga film series (2008–2012). After debuting in Twilight, he undertook extensive physical training to retain the role for the sequels, including The Twilight Saga: New Moon, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, and the two-part The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn. The franchise achieved major commercial success, establishing him as a prominent teen idol.

Following his breakthrough in the Twilight series, Lautner starred in the 2011 action film Abduction, performing almost all of his own stunts. He went on to appear in the ensemble romantic comedy Valentine's Day (2010), the comedy Grown Ups 2 (2013), the action film Tracers (2015), and the comedy feature The Ridiculous 6 (2015). On television, he joined the BBC Three comedy series Cuckoo from 2014 to 2018 and co-starred as Dr. Cassidy Cascade in the second season of Scream Queens in 2016.

Over the course of his career, Lautner has received a Scream Award, multiple Teen Choice Awards, two People's Choice Awards, and an MTV Movie Award nomination. In 2009, he became one of the youngest celebrity hosts in the history of Saturday Night Live, and by 2010 he was recognized as the highest-paid teenage actor in Hollywood. In July 2023, he co-starred in the music video for Taylor Swift's song "I Can See You" and made an appearance during her Eras Tour.