taylor lautner

Name
Taylor Daniel Lautner

Date of Birth
February 11, 1992

Birth Place
Grand Rapids, Mich

  It took only three scenes in Twilight and 30 lbs. of muscle in New Moon to make Taylor Lautner the object of every Twi-hard's obsession.

Before fighting off fanatics who toss "Team Taylor" undies, the karate-kicking Michigan native made a name for himself in the tween market, in such kid flicks as The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl 3-D and Cheaper by the Dozen 2.

But once the film adaptation of author Stephenie Meyer's vampire romance hit the big screen, Lautner (as werewolf Jacob Black), Kristen Stewart (as mortal Bella Swan) and Robert Pattinson (as vampire Edward Cullen) shot to stardom. The teen werewolf has since covered Rolling Stone, hosted Saturday Night Live and landed his first post-Twilight starring role as superhero Max Steel.

Taylor Lautner: Five Fun Facts

1.Although he's worshipped for his ripped physique, Taylor Lautner told MTV, "I don't want to become known as just a body."

2.Before taking up acting, Taylor Lautner earned a black belt in karate and won several martial arts championships.

3.Taylor Lautner eats constantly to fulfill his 3,200-calorie-a-day diet. "I pack my bags of meat, what can I say?" he told EW of carrying meat patties while on the run.

4.Tyra Banks gifted Taylor Lautner a "Team Taylor" g-string. "I have had someone ask me to sign their 'Team Taylor' panties," he said on the show. "She wasn’t a teenager. She was in her 40s."

5.Like Twilight's Jacob Black, Taylor Lautner is of Native American ancestry: His mother is part Potawatomi and Ottawa Indian.
 
 
 

 
 
 

You might as well mothball

those "Tay-Tay" and "Team Swifter" T-shirts you were printing out for the new year – Taylor Swift and Taylor Lautner have split, and were never all that serious in the first place, sources tell PEOPLE.

"It was never a big deal to begin with. The media made way more out of it than it is," a source close to Swift says. "They went out on a few dates and realized this was just not going anywhere."

A Lautner source corroborated that perspective, adding that the fact the two rising stars lived nearly a continent apart was a big factor in the low-key break-up.

"They became good friends and then went out a few times, but he lives in L.A. and she lives in Nashville and their busy schedules kept it from becoming more than it was," the source tells PEOPLE.

Representatives for Lautner and Swift had no comment.

The day after Lautner, 17, made a Dec. 12 Saturday Night Live appearance in which he "defended" Swift's honor, he flew down to Nashville to surprise Swift for her 20th birthday party. Sometime after the party, the pair decided that it made more sense just to remain friends.

The couple, who met while filming the upcoming Valentine's Day, had been spending time together since October. Photographers first got hip to the relationship when Lautner was spotted attending two of Swift's concerts in Chicago, and the teen stars reunited three weeks later at an L.A. Kings hockey game.

The down-to-earth pair were photographed earlier this month getting cozy over frozen yogurt after dinner at an L.A. Benihaha, and Lautner even met the 'rents: Swift's mother Andrea joined the two for a relaxed dinner at Bistro Garden in Studio City in October.

• Reporting by JULIE JORDAN and CYNTHIA SANZ

 

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