The actor who is a martial arts master and we know as Jacob Black of the "Twilight" series: Who is Taylor Lautner?

Lautner was born on February 11, 1992 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He was born the son of his mother, Deborah, an employee of a software development company, and his father, Daniel Lautner, a pilot. Lautner has a sister named Makena. Raised as a Roman Catholic, Lautner has Dutch, French, German and "distant" Native American ancestry through his mother. Growing up in Hudsonville, Michigan, Lautner said she was bullied at school because she was an actress.

Lautner took his first karate lesson at the age of six, and joined the national karate tournament in Louisville a year later. Through the competition, he met Michael Chaturantabut, founder of Xtreme Martial Arts, and Chaturantabut invited Lautner to a camp he organized at the University of California. After training with Chaturantabut for several years, Lautner won a black belt at the age of eight and also won several junior world championships. In 2003, Lautner took part in an ISKA karate event broadcast on sports channel ESPN, and first appeared on the sports-comedy program "Cheap Seats" aired in 2006.

Lautner, who was involved in karate, baseball and hip-hop dancing while in middle school, won the "Best Smile" award and took part in the Turkey Bowl American Football match at his school. He was educated in public school at Valencia High School in Santa Clarita until his sophomore year. Chaturantabut, who had a hand in karate, offered Lautner the idea to start acting. For several years, the Lautners flew from Michigan to Los Angeles for auditions. Lautner managed to balance the football and baseball teams he was involved in, his jazz and hip-hop dances, and karate and acting auditions. As this balance became tiring after a while, Lautner and his family decided to move to Santa Clarita, California in 2002.

Lautner appeared in small television roles, film roles, commercials and campaigns in the early months of his career. In 2001, Lautner made his television debut with "Shadow Fury". Later, he voiced himself in the commercial for the adventure movie "Rugrats Go Wild". He then continued in small roles in the TV series "The Bernie Mac Show", the TV sitcom "My Wife and Kids" and the drama TV series "Summerland". In addition, the superhero TV series "Danny Phantom", the science fiction cartoon "Duck Dodgers" and the animated TV series "What's New, Scooby-Doo?" he also took voice-over roles.

He made his debut in the superhero adventure movie "The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3-D" (2005), directed by Robert Rodríguez. Lautner, who spent three months in Austin, Texas, to play the role, was able to receive negative reviews from critics and little international success. Despite this, Lautner earned a nomination for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Feature Film at the 2006 Young Artist Awards. In addition, Lautner choreographed all the fight scenes after learning extensive martial arts training for the role.

Months later, he portrayed Eliot Murtaugh in the family comedy movie "Cheaper by the Dozen 2," directed by Adam Shankman. The film was negatively criticized by critics and was named one of the "Worst Movies of the 2000s". Despite this, it was able to achieve a healthy success at the box office. Two years later, Lautner appeared in the lead role of Christian Slater's son, Jack Spivey, in the short-lived NBC drama TV series "My Own Worst Enemy."

In 2007, the producers sought an actor to play Jacob Black, the Indian friend of the lead character Bella Swan, in the romantic fantasy film "Twilight," the first film in the Twilight Saga film franchise. In January 2008, Lautner was encouraged by his manager to audition for the role, which received an open casting call in Portland, Oregon. At the audition, he acted out some scenes with Kristen Stewart, who will be cast as Bella, and was selected in the audition. Apart from Lautner, he also co-starred with Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson in the film. Released on November 21, 2008, the film was a massive commercial success and received mixed reviews from critics. At the 2009 MTV Movie Awards, Lautner received an award nomination for "Male's Breakthrough Performance", which was won by co-star Robert Pattinson.

Around this time, he appeared as Jack Spivey in the NBC drama TV series "My Own Worst Enemy" which was canceled after 9 episodes. Although the series was generally liked, it was not kept.

In 2009, he reprized the role of Jacob Black in the sequel "The Twilight Saga: New Moon" directed by Chris Weitz. For the role, he weight-trained heavily and gained nearly 30lbs of muscle. The film, which was released on November 20, surpassed the first film in commercial performance and broke many box office records, including the biggest midnight opening in the United States and Canada, and the biggest single-day opening. The film, which received more positive reviews than the first film, made a huge financial gain at the box office. For his performance, Lautner received the "Favorite Breakthrough Movie Actor" Award at the 35th People's Choice Awards.

Lautner, whose recognition that started with the first movie accelerated to the status of a young idol with the second movie, was especially liked by the young people due to his new physical features and became a sex symbol. The three lead actors of the movie have appeared on many covers and on television together. Meanwhile, Lautner was cast as Willy Harrington in the romantic comedy "Valentine's Day" directed by Garry Marshall. He appeared in this movie with his girlfriend, American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. The duo was nominated for an award for Best Kiss at the 2010 MTV Movie Awards. Despite receiving generally negative reviews, the film was a success at the box office. Lautner hosted the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards and the 82nd Academy Awards. Lautner hosted the talk show Saturday Night Live on December 12, 2009, becoming one of the youngest celebrity hosts in the show's history.

The following year, Lautner reprized the same role in the sequel, "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse." Released on June 30, 2010, the film received mixed reviews from critics. Despite this, it surpassed its predecessor to become the highest-grossing romantic fantasy, shapeshifter, and vampire film of all time at the US and Canadian box offices, as well as being the highest-grossing film in the series. Additionally, it was another success as the 36th highest-grossing film of all time in the US and Canada. The popularity of Lautner and his cast continued to peak after the film's release, and Lautner's fan base began to expand even more. For his performance, he was nominated for the Best Fantasy Actor Award at the 2010 Scream Awards and the Favorite Movie Actor Award at the 37th People's Choice Awards. In 2010, Lautner was declared the "highest-paid young actress" in Hollywood.

Later, Lautner appeared with Lily Collins in the action thriller "Abduction" directed by John Singleton. Released in September 2011, the film received negative reviews from critics and Lautner's performance was heavily criticized. Despite this, it enjoyed moderate success at the box office. He took part in the same role in the sequel film "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1", which was released between 2011 and 2012. The film, which was released in theaters on November 18, 2011, received a generally negative reception from critics and became the fourth highest-grossing film of 2011 with its revenue.

The following year, he reprized the role of Jacob Black in "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2", the final sequel to the previous one. The film, which was released on November 16, 2012, received mixed reviews. Despite this, it was the sixth highest-grossing film of 2012 and the highest-grossing film in the series.

The following year, Lautner appeared in the Dennis Dugan-directed comedy "Grown Ups 2" with Adam Sandler and Chris Rock. Released in September 2013, the film received overwhelmingly negative reviews and garnered nine nominations at the 2014 Golden Raspberry Awards. Despite this, it was able to find a healthy success at the box office. In February 2014, it was reported that Lautner would be joining the BBC Three comedy series "Cuckoo". Lautner continued in this role, taking on the lead role in three seasons of the series.

In 2015, he starred in the action movie "Tracers" directed by Daniel Benmayor. The film resulted in both mixed reviews and grossing nearly equal to the production budget. In the same year, he appeared as one of the leading roles in the western action comedy movie "The Ridiculous 6" directed by Frank Coraci. Lautner co-starred in Ryan Murphy's comedy horror TV series "Scream Queens" from September to December 2016.

In 2016, he co-starred with Constance Zimmer, Kenny Johnson and Johanna Braddy in the drama movie "Run the Tide" directed by Soham Mehta. After a hiatus, in 2022, he starred in "Home Team," the biographical sports comedy movie directed by Charles and Daniel Kinnane, alongside Kevin James, Rob Schneider, Jackie Sandler, and Tait Blum.

Personal life

In 2009, Lautner began a romantic relationship with singer Taylor Swift. The couple decided to separate the same year. In 2010, Lautner started dating Lily Collins. The couple separated in September 2011. From 2013 to 2015, he was in a relationship with actress Marie Avgeropoulos. In December 2016, Lautner started dating actress Billie Lourd. The couple announced their separation in July 2017. In 2018, Lautner started dating Taylor "Tay" Dome, who is a nurse. The couple got married on November 11, 2022.

He practices and trains martial arts, which he started from his youth and continues regularly. Lautner, mentioned by many magazines as a sex symbol, has been described as a future example of pop culture. He was ranked number one on the list of "Hollywood's Top 5 Abs" by the Access Hollywood program. In 2010, Lautner appeared second on Glamor magazine's "50 Sexiest Men of 2010" list. He was placed third on the "Top 10 Sizes of Summer" list by Men's Health magazine. He was also ranked fourth on the "Most Amazing Bodies" list by People magazine in 2010.