Kristen Stewart
Synopsis
Actress Kristen Stewart was born on April 9, 1990, in Los Angeles, California. A talent scout discovered her while acting in a grade school Christmas play. Shortly after, she was cast in a Disney movie and has had steady work ever since. She starred with Jodie Foster in 2002's Panic Room andDennis Quaid and Sharon Stone in 2003's Cold Creek Manor. Her most notable role, however, has been playing Bella in The Twilight Saga films from 2008 to 2012.
Breakthrough Role
Actress. Born Kristen Jaymes Stewart on April 9, 1990, in Los Angeles, California. Her father John—a stage manager, producer and director—and mother Jules—a scriptwriter—immersed their daughter in the Hollywood scene at an early age. She made her first television appearance at the age of eight after her performance in a grade school Christmas play caught the eye of a talent scout. Shortly after, she landed a bit role on the Disney Channel TV movie, The Thirteenth Year (1999).
Two years later, Stewart landed a more substantial in the independent film The Safety of Objects (2001). But the actress' big break didn't come until 2002, when she was cast as the lead in the blockbuster drama, Panic Room, starring with film veterans Jodie Foster, Forest Whitaker and Jared Leto. Stewart's role as the diabetic, troubled teen caught the attention of critics, who praised her understated and solid performance. Fans also resonated with Stewart, and the film raked in a respectable $95 million at the box office.
Early Film Roles
Stewart next signed on to play the daughter of Dennis Quaid andSharon Stone in another suspense drama, Cold Creek Manor (2003). Although Stewart and her co-stars turned out solid performances in the film, the plot was lambasted by reviewers and fans and performed poorly at the box office. Stewart followed up with two more low-performing films in the next year: the light-hearted teen film, Catch That Kid (2004), and the adventure film Undertow(2004) which, despite decent reviews, went almost straight to video.
Stewart showed her versatility as a performer in the Showtime special feature, Speak (2005), about a teen who stops speaking after a sexual assault. That same year, she appeared in the sci-fi filmZathura, followed by the drama Fierce People (2006). After appearing in several more mild box-office successes, Stewart landed a the role of a teenage commune dweller in the critically acclaimed biopic Into the Wild (2007). The role brought Stewart back to the spotlight, and that same year she landed in Mary Stuart Masterson'sThe Cake Eaters.
Twilight Saga
The year 2008 was a big one for Stewart, who starred acrossRobert De Niro in the Hollywood satire What Just Happened?(2008), then landed the starring role across from teen heartthrobRobert Pattinson in the film version of the successful Stephenie Meyer book series, Twlight (2008). The novels, about a teen who falls in love with a charming vampire, already had a legion of fans. Soon Stewart became the romantic icon for thousands of teens, launching her to A-List actor status. In fact, her popularity in the role overshadowed other projects in the works, including a starring part in the comedy Adventureland(2009), and her role in Welcome to the Rileys (2009), starring James Gandolfini.
The Twilight Saga: New Moon came out in 2009, and it proved to be an even bigger hit than the first installment. The film earned more than $290 million at box office in the United States alone, and Stewart and her co-star Pattinson found themselves with an ever growing young fan base. There was also much media speculation about an off-screen relationship between the pair. In an attempt to break out of the Bella mold, Stewart played rocker Joan Jett in the 2010 biopic The Runaways with Dakota Fanning.
Three more Twilight films followed, ending with its finale in 2012. The last film, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2, brought in more than $140 million in its opening weekend alone. In all, theTwilight movies earned more than $3 billion worldwide, according to the Box Office Mojo website.
Life After Twilight
The same year that the Twilight series concluded, Stewart enjoyed some box office success in another famous role. She portrayed the famed fairy tale heroine in Snow White and the Huntsman with Chris Hemsworth and Charlize Theron. The film, which transformed the Snow White character into a warrior of sorts, proved to be one of the summer's most popular hits.
Stewart, however, experienced a tremendous personal backlash later that year when it was revealed that she had been involved with theSnow White and the Huntsman's married director Rupert Sands. Stewart publicly apologized to her boyfriend and Twilight co-starRobert Pattinson about this indiscretion.
While plans are in the works for Snow White and the Huntsmansequel, most reports indicate that a new director will be used for the project. Stewart has a challenging road ahead her as she struggles to find new roles after Twilight. Audiences embraced her as one-half of a popular fiction power couple, but it remains unclear how far she can propel herself out of Twilight's shadow.
This transitional time in her film career has not slowed interest in her personal life. She continues to be under a media microscope. Stewart's appearance at the 2013 Academy Awards ceremony, for instance, became a hot topic of discussion. She limped on stage to serve as a presenter, and it was later revealed that she had cut her foot on a piece of glass. The status of her relationship with Pattinson also gets frequent coverage in the weekly tabloids.
