Taylor Lautner

[AlbertV]

Of course while he is known for his role of Jacob Black in The Twilight Saga, before that hit, martial artist Taylor Lautner had done his fare share of martial arts films. The protégé of XMA founder Mike Chat, Lautner was a national champion by the age of 10. This led to his film debut as the young version of Bas Rutten's character of Kismet in Shadow Fury, which co-starred Sam Bottoms and Masakatsu Funaki. Four years later, Lautner got his breakout role as one half of the titular duo in Robert Rodriguez's The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3-D. Having done also comedies such as Cheaper by the Dozen 2, Lautner proved to be a viable actor and in 2008, was offered the role of Jacob Black. Almost losing the role in the sequel New Moon, Lautner gained 20 pounds of muscle where he would take his first form as werewolf. He would go on to complete the saga and in 2011, he headlined his first action film, Abduction, directed by Boyz n the Hood's John Singleton. Lautner got to showcase his martial arts skills in a few fight scenes and in 2013, gave Adam Sandler a run for his money as a frat bully in Grown Ups 2.

After making the parkour action film Tracers, Lautner got a prominent role on a BBC sitcom, Cuckoo, that lasted from 2014 to 2018. His latest film is the sports biopic Home Team, opposite Kevin James.

 

Edited November 17, 2022 by AlbertV

[J.J. Hayden]

He really was an incredible martial artist as a little kid, one of the most impressive I've seen, doing some very difficult tumbling that most adult can't get the hang of. It would've been very interesting to have seen him become a martial arts star rather than regular stuff, but with the state of MA films these days, he probably would still have been wasted.

 

This clip shows some of his skills back then. I'd of killed to have trained with Mike Chat when I was a kid. Damn!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xa7SqQYGCcg