Taylor Lautner: My karate teacher jumpstarted my acting career (video)

Twilight: Eclipse hottie Taylor Lautner says his karate instructor helped him get his start in acting. (Photo/NBC)

Twilight: Eclipse star Taylor Lautner took an unusual path to acting stardom. As a child, Lautner was a martial arts expert whose karate instructor helped him get his foot in the door in Hollywood at the age of 9.

“I was doing martial arts and my karate instructor was involved in the business and he's the one who got me started," Taylor told David Letterman on July 1, 2010. "He was actually the Blue Power Ranger for a year."

TAYLOR WAS JUNIOR WORLD KARATE CHAMP AT 8

As a child, the athletic Lautner -- who plays (and watches) football, baseball and basketball -- competed in karate tournaments, and was the junior world Karate Forms and Weapon champion at age 8 (see video below).

Taylor, who famously gained 30 pounds of muscle for the Twilight saga, became an overnight teen idol after flaunting his rippling 8-pack abs in 2009's New Moon.

Lautner, who's constantly asked by fans (and magazine editors) to take off his shirt, remains modest about his newfound beefcake status.

"I'm just lucky enough to be playing Jacob, the guy that doesn't wear a shirt, and I think all of that love is going toward Jacob, not me personally," he says.

Eclipse, which co-stars Robert Pattinson, Ashley Greene and Kristen Stewart, is in theaters now.

 See more on the Twilight stars below:

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• Taylor Lautner is the fittest person I've ever seen, raves co-star (photos)
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• Taylor Lautner is boxing, doing fight training for action flick Abduction
• Taylor Lautner: My arms hurt after carrying Kristen Stewart all day (new trailers) 
• Robert Pattinson: I've been so lucky I fear I'll die at 30
  
• Taylor Lautner: Staying ripped is hard! I lose weight so easily (photos + video)