At 12 years old, Taylor Lautner is a very busy kid. He is an actor pursuing his acting career in Los Angeles, California. Taylor has also accomplished much in the martial arts industry. By the age of 12, he has three Junior World Championships “under his black belt”. He currently performs for the LA Hip Kids, which is a Hip Hop Dance Performance Group, and also Hot Shots, which is a performing Jazz dance group. One of Taylor’s favorite sports is football. He plays running back on offense and middle line backer on defense. He also is a part of the Hart Baseball Program in the Los Angeles area where he plays center field and second base.

Born February 11, 1992, in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Taylor began his martial arts career at 6 years old, training at Fabiano’s Karate school in Holland, Michigan. After winning in local tournaments, Taylor was looking for something more. He competed in his first national karate tournament at 7 years old and came home with three first place trophies. More importantly than the trophies won at that tournament, he met someone who would challenge and develop his martial arts skills. At 7 years old, he met and began training with 7-Time World Champion, Mike Chat. During the next year, Taylor continued to compete on the NASKA Karate Tournament Circuit and train with Mike Chat. When Taylor was 8 years old, he was invited to represent the United States for the 12 and under age division for the World Karate Association. Taylor became the Junior World Forms and Weapons Champion, triple gold medal winner.

After training with Mike for one year, Taylor was invited to be on Team Chat International. In 2001, Taylor won the coveted Warrior Cup Trophy for 17 and under in Sensei John Sharkey’s World Karate Association tournament in Chicago, IL. In 2002, Taylor took some time off from the busy karate circuit to focus on baseball and football. He returned to the tournament circuit in 2003 with a rekindled passion to compete. He finished 2003 ranked #1 in the World for NASKA’s Black Belt Open Forms, Musical Weapons, Traditional Weapons and Traditional Forms. You can see Taylor perform on ESPN 2 where he won the World Junior Weapons Title July, 2003 in Orlando, FL.

At the beginning of the 2003 season for NASKA Taylor was invited to join the “XMA Performance Team” led by Mike Chat and sponsored by Century Fitness, Inc. In addition to performing for Team XMA at the NASKA tournaments, he has performed for places such as the Orlando Sporting Goods Super Show, Oklahoma Sooners Basketball Half-Time Show, The MAIA Super Show in Los Vegas and the Big 5 Sporting Goods Show in Los Angeles, CA.

When Taylor was 9 years old he went to his first audition in Los Angeles, CA for a Burger King commercial. He had so much fun that he decided to pursue acting. At the age of 10, Taylor was flying back and forth from Michigan to California for auditioning on a regular basis. Between traveling for this and the travel for martial arts, it was beginning to “burn” the whole family out. As a result, Taylor and his family decided to move out to Los Angeles so he could pursue his acting career on a full-time basis. This also has given him the opportunity to play on very competitive football and baseball programs.

Since moving out to Los Angeles, Taylor has booked roles on My Wife and Kids, Summerland, The Bernie Mac Show, and the Nick and Jessica Variety Hour Show. In addition to television, Taylor has been very successful in the voice over work. Taylor has booked a recurring role as “Youngblood” on the cartoon “Danny Phantom”, he has recorded two episodes of “What’s New Scooby Doo” along with “Kick the Football Charlie Brown and He’s A Bully Charlie Brown with Taylor playing the role of the bully. Taylor has also booked a series regular of a pilot presentation called “Which Way Is Up?” along with the voice of Silas in an animation series called “Silas and Brittany”. You can also see Taylor currently on a National Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes commercial.

Taylor is very excited for the release of “The Adventures of Shark Boy and Lava Girl” where Taylor stars as Shark Boy. The release is scheduled for June 10, 2005. Shark Boy and Lava Girl is directed by the highly acclaimed director, Robert Rodriguez, of Spy Kids, Sin City, Once Upon a Time in Mexico, and Desperado. Taylor spent three months in Austin, Texas filming, where he had the experience of a lifetime!

 What Taylor enjoys most is meeting people thru all his activities and having fun and being a regular kid. He also enjoys playing football and baseball. Because the acting bug has bitten, Taylor now spends most of his time in acting class and auditioning. He is really excited about acting and looking forward to building his acting career.