at the Twilight Eclipse premiere in Los Angeles
Taylor Lautner (born February 11, 1992) is an American actor, voice actor, and model. He is known for playing Jacob Black in The Twilight Saga film series based on the novels of the same name by Stephenie Meyer.
Lautner began his acting career playing bit roles in comedy series such as The Bernie Mac Show (2003) and My Wife and Kids (2004), before having voice roles in television series like What's New, Scooby-Doo? (2005) and Danny Phantom (2005). In 2005, he appeared in the film Cheaper by the Dozen 2 and starred in The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3-D. He also starred in the 2011 action film Abduction.
Since 2013, Lautner has starred in the BBC sitcom Cuckoo as the son of the titular main character. In 2016, he joined the main cast of FOX black comedy series Scream Queens as Dr. Cassidy Cascade, joining in the second series.
The late 2000s saw Lautner become a teen idol and sex symbol, after extensively changing his physique to keep the role of Jacob Black in further Twilight installments, and generating media attention for his looks. In 2010, he was ranked second on Glamour's "The 50 Sexiest Men of 2010" list, and fourth on People's "Most Amazing Bodies" list. Also in the same year, Lautner was named the highest-paid teenage actor in Hollywood.
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, commonly referred to as Eclipse, is a 2010 American romantic fantasy film based on Stephenie Meyer's 2007 novel Eclipse. It is the third installment of The Twilight Saga film series, following 2008's Twilight and 2009's New Moon. Summit Entertainment greenlit the film in February 2009. Directed by David Slade, the film stars Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, and Taylor Lautner, reprising their roles as Bella Swan, Edward Cullen, and Jacob Black, respectively.Melissa Rosenberg, who penned the scripts for both Twilight and New Moon, returned as screenwriter.Filming began on August 17, 2009, at Vancouver Film Studios, and finished in late October, with post-production began early the following month. Bryce Dallas Howard was cast as Victoria, replacing Rachelle Lefevrewho previously played her.
The film was released worldwide on June 30, 2010 in theatres, and became the first Twilight film to be released in IMAX. The film has received mixed reception from critics. It held the record for biggest midnight opening in the United States and Canada in box office history, grossing an estimated $30 million, until it was surpassed by Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 in 2011. The film then scored the biggest Wednesday opening in the United States and Canada history with $68,533,840 beating Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen's $62 million. Eclipse has also become the film with the widest independent release, playing in over 4,416 theaters, surpassing its predecessor, The Twilight Saga: New Moon, which held the record since November 2009.