Taylor Daniel Lautner born February 11, 1992) is an American actor. He is best known for playingshapeshifterJacob BlackinThe Twilight Sagafilm series.
Lautner began his acting career playing bit parts in comedy series such asThe Bernie Mac Show(2003) andMy Wife and Kids(2004), before having voice roles in television series likeWhat’s New, Scooby-Doo?(2005) andDanny Phantom(2005). In 2005, he appeared in the filmCheaper by the Dozen 2and starred inThe Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3-D. He also starred in the 2011 action filmAbduction.
From 2014 to 2018, Lautner starred in theBBCsitcomCuckooas the son of the titular character. In 2016, he played a leading role, Dr. Cassidy Cascade, in the second season ofFOXblack comedyseriesScream 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.