Taylor Lautner Transformation: Actor Then Now, Photos

Growing up in the public eye! Taylor Lautner starred as one of the title characters in his breakout role, the 2005 movie The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3-D. Years later, he became a total heartthrob following his role as Jacob Black in the Twilight movies, which spanned from 2008 until 2012.

“To be honest, I’m pretty scared because whenever I finish filming a movie and I go home and just have time to relax, I wake up and I’m like, ‘What am I going to do today?'” Taylor told MTV News in April 2011 about the Twilight film series coming to an end. “It’s so weird not having to wake up at 5 a.m., go to work, come back. It’s a weird feeling, so I’m excited but also a little nervous. I might go a little crazy.”

Following the fame brought on by the film series, the actor had nabbed a ton of roles and, eventually, took a brief break from acting.

“I don’t think it was a conscious decision, but it made sense for me at that time in my life,” he told People in January 2022. “I started acting from when I was a child, and it was kind of nonstop until I was in my early to mid twenties.”

Before getting cast in more movies, Taylor explained to the publication that he “wanted to take a step back and enjoy life,” which led to him meeting his now-fiancée, Taylor Dome. The couple went public with their relationship in 2018 and announced their engagement in November 2021.

“How I knew [she was The One], it was just like, she’s the best person,” the Abduction star explained to Extra in January 2022. “She’s just, she’s my best friend … I strive to be more like her every day, and that’s how I knew.”

Aside from gearing up to plan a wedding, the Michigan native has also officially returned to the acting world with the Netflix movie Home Team — his first role since 2016. But even though he’s grown up, the actor will never forget his Twilight days, especially since the film series is becoming popular among a new generation thanks to streaming services.

“It definitely feels full circle and it’s like sort of nostalgic … A lot of it was like Twi-mom attention the last like few years and now all of a sudden we’re getting like the teenagers again because they’re just starting to see it for the first time,” Taylor explained while talking with Extra. “It reminds me a little bit of what it was like a decade ago.”

Scroll through our gallery to see Taylor’s total transformation over the years.

2023

Taylor slammed online trolls for claiming that he “did not age well” in a May 2023 Instagram video post.

“I just got back from a run, I was feeling really good about myself, trying to stay healthy both physically and mentally, and I felt compelled to share something with you because when I got back from that run,” he said in the clip. “I hopped on Instagram and read a post from last week. I was going through the comments and it brought up old feelings and memories on why I don’t look through comments.”

The Home Team actor then revealed the negative comments he noticed from social media users, one of which alleged that he “did not age well.”

“Those comments are all from one single post, which is crazy but that’s the world we live in and there’s only so much we can do to change it,” Taylor continued. “If this was 10 years ago, five years ago, maybe even two, three years ago, that really would have gotten under my skin, and it would have caused me to want to just go in a hole and not go outside.”