Sarah Parvis - Taylor Lautner

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Taylor Lautner copyright 2010 by Downtown Bookworks Inc. All rights reserved. Printed in Malaysia. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of reprints in the context of reviews. For information, write Andrews McMeel Publishing, LLC, an Andrews McMeel Universal company, 1130 Walnut Street, Kansas City, Missouri 64106.

E-ISBN: 978-1-4494-0274-7

Library of Congress Control Number: 2010922405

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Taylor Lautner likes a challenge. When he found out that he might not be asked to reprise his role as sweet-guy-turned-hunky-werewolf Jacob Black in New Moon, he went straight to work. He hit the gym and packed on nearly 30 pounds of muscle to prove to the movie execs that fans would accept him in his newly expanded part. When the final casting choice came in, he was thrilled! And he was not alone. Twilight fans across the worldfrom both Team Edward and Team Jacobhad fought to keep Taylor in the series and were delighted that hed be back. Not only would they get to see the same actor from one movie to the next, but theyd be seeing a whole lot more of him. Thanks to his wolfed-out character and some shirtless movie scenes, audiences would be able to check out close-ups of Taylors hot bod in the second installment of the Twilight mega-series.

Read on to learn more about his early days as a martial artist, his years struggling to make it in Hollywood, and his big break in the 3-D hit The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl. Let us take you behind the scenes of Twilight and New Moon to see how Taylor delved into the role of Jacob Black, and find out what he has to say about fans, friends, and finding love.

T uesday, February 11, 1992, was a big day for the Lautner family. On that day, Deborah and Daniel Lautner welcomed their first child into the world. Taylor Daniel Lautner spent the first few years of his life in the suburbs of Grand Rapids, Michigan. His father was an airline pilot and his mother worked for an office furniture design company. Perhaps he was fated to one day portray a ferocious werewolf on the big screenaccording to his parents, he was a biter in day care!

It is always a big help for a couple with a young child to have family in the same area, but the Lautners were especially lucky to have relatives nearby. One night, when Taylor was only four years old, he and his mother spent the night with an aunt. While they were away, the Lautner house caught fire and burned to the ground. Taylors father was traveling for work, so no one was at home when the devastating fire struck. Although they lost all of their belongings, they were relieved and happy that no one was injured in the blaze. They moved into a bigger, nicer home that was even closer to some relatives in Hudsonville, Michigan. Two years later, there was a new addition to the Lautner trio.

Taylors baby sister, Makena, was born.

did you know?

Taylor was a great student! He told karateangels.com, I get mostly As with an occasional A- here and there.

At Jamestown Elementary School in Hudsonville, it became clear right away that Taylor was an athletic kid. He experimented with wrestling, baseball, and football (hes still a huge football fan!), before finding the perfect sport for himself. When he was only six years old, Taylor took his first karate class, and soon he was hooked!

At first, he was drawn to the silly warm-up games, but as he began to take martial arts more seriously, his instructor took notice, too. When Taylor was seven, his teacher registered him for a karate competition in Louisville, Kentucky. No one could have known that his incredible performance there would set into motion a chain of events that would lead to superstardom.

popquiz

When Taylor first started taking martial arts lessons, one thing really bugged him. What was it?

did you know?

When Taylor has enough free time to watch TV, he tunes in to shows such as American Idol and So You

Think You Can Dance?

In his very first competition, Taylor took home three first-place trophies. He also captured the interest of an influential coach named Mike Chat, an actor who had developed his own supercharged, high-flying blend of martial arts. He combined elements from yoga, ballet, acrobatics, kickboxing, tae kwon do, and other physical disciplines to create XMA, or extreme martial arts.

Chat could tell right away that Taylor was a natural and invited him to attend Camp Chat International, his summer program in Los Angeles, California. As Taylor put it, he fell in love with XMA. By the end of the camp, I was doing aerial cartwheelswith no hands! Even though Mike was headquartered in California and Taylor lived in Michigan, the two kept in touch.

What is so special about XMA? As Taylor explained, Regular martial arts is traditional, with no music and no flips choreographed into it. Extreme martial arts, on the other hand, features moves set to music. Its very fast-beat, up-tempo and you put a lot of acrobatic maneuvers into the routine, he said. A true performer even at a young age, he was soon showing off his skills far and wide with Team Chat International. He even invented his own move called the corkscrew: Its a backflip off one leg and then you do a 360 in the air and I land it in the splits. Taylor said. By the time Taylor was eight years old, he had earned his black belt and beat out boys as old as 12 at the World Karate Federation Championships. At 11, he was ranked number one by the North American Sports Karate Association in his category. By 12, this real-life karate kid had won three Junior World Championships.