Kristen Stewart

Date of Birth
9 April 1990, Los Angeles, California, USA

Birth Name
Kristen Jaymes Stewart

Nickname
Kris
KStew

Height
5' 6" (1.68 m)

Mini Biography
Though most famous for her role as Bella Swan in the Twilight saga, Kristen Stewart has been a working actor since her early years in Los Angeles, California. Her parents, John Stewart and Jules Mann-Stewart, both work in film and television. Her mother is Australian. The family includes three boys, her older brother Cameron Stewart, and two adopted brothers Dana and Taylor.

After a talent scout caught her grade school performance in a Christmas play at the age of eight, she appeared on television in a few small roles. Her first significant role came when she was cast as Sam Jennings in The Safety of Objects (2001). Soon after that, she starred alongside Jodie Foster in the hit drama, Panic Room (2002) and was nominated for a Young Artist Award.

Praised for her Panic Room performance, she went on to join the cast of Cold Creek Manor (2003) as the daughter of Dennis Quaid and Sharon Stone. Though the film did not do well at the box office, she received another nomination for a Young Artist Award. After appearing in a handful of movies and a Showtime movie called Speak (2004), Stewart was cast in the role of a teenage singer living in a commune in Sean Penn's Into the Wild (2007), a critically acclaimed biopic. A third Young Artist Award nomination resulted in a win for this role. She also appeared in Mary Stuart Masterson's The Cake Eaters (2007) that same year.

Just 18, Stewart took on the starring role in Twilight (2008/I) opposite Robert Pattinson who plays the vampire lead, Edward Cullen. Based on a series of the same name written by Stephenie Meyer, the novel already had a huge following and the film opened to fans anxious to see the vampire romance brought to life. Awarded the MTV Movie Award for Best Female Performance, Stewart's turn as Bella continued in the sequels New Moon (2009) and Eclipse (2010/I). The final installments of the series start filming in late 2010.

Rocketed into stardom with the Twilight films, Stewart has continually shrunk from the spotlight. She's also taken on a number of indie projects such as Adventureland (2009) (filmed prior to the Twilight series) and Welcome to the Rileys (2010). And she took on the daunting task of playing rocker Joan Jett in Floria Sigismondi's The Runaways (2010) alongside Dakota Fanning. Though most critics heaped praised on Fanning for her poignant performance as Cherie Currie, Stewart also received praise for her acting and musical performances.

One of Stewart's next big projects is the upcoming film adaptation of the classic novel by Jack Kerouac, On the Road (2011), in which she'll star as Marylou. Shooting begins in the summer of 2010.

Stewart continues to live in Los Angeles, California.


Trivia
Has an older brother named Cameron and two adopted brothers named Dana and Taylor. They reside with her parents in the Woodland Hills area of Los Angeles. Kristen purchased her own home in 2008 and divides her time between there and her parents' residence.

Her father is John Stewart, a TV Producer who works at FOX TV. Co-producing "On-Air with Ryan Seacrest" (2004). Since (2010) he is working with George Lopez in the "Lopez Tonight" at TBS TV.

Born in Los Angeles, California and then spent some of her early years in Colorado and Pennsylvania and has moved back to Los Angeles where she currently resides with her parents.

Supporter and member of the Red Cross National Celebrity Cabinet.

Was ranked #17 on Entertainment Weekly's '30 Under 30' the actress list. (2008).

Had to wear brown contact lenses for Twilight (2008/I) because she has naturally green eyes while Bella's eyes are supposed to be brown.

Four times nominated, 3 consecutive years (2003-2005) and in 2008 for the Young Artist Award. She won in 2008 for her acting in the movie Into The Wild.

Named The Movie Fanatic's Hottest Young Actress. (2008).

Has 3 dogs: Oz, a border collie mix, Jack and Lily who are hybrid wolves. Also has a cat named Max / Jella.

Was ranked #9 on Moviefone's 'The 25 Hottest Actors Under 25'(2008).

Her mother is Australian.

Reads novels by Charles Bukowski and Kurt Vonnegut Jr..

Favorite book is "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck. Also likes the book "The Stranger" by Albert Camus.

Mother is Jules Mann-Stewart, a script supervisor who is directing her first film K-11 (2010), which stars Kristen.

Was introduced to Vegemite (an Australian spread) by her Sydney-born mum, and names Noosa Heads (a Queensland resort town) as one of her favorite places on the planet. Her Australian heritage also inspired the name of her dog, a border collie named Oz.

Attended Saint Martin of Tours in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Replaced Hayden Panettiere as Sarah Altman in Panic Room (2002) just before shooting began.

After the release of New Moon (2009), Kristen Stewart was called for jury duty in Los Angeles and was accepted to a jury for a case in which the defendant was accused of soliciting sex from an undercover police officer posing as a prostitute. The case proceedings took three days and ended with the jury finding the defendant not guilty.

Was in a relationship with Michael Angarano until early 2009. They met on the set of Speak (2004).


Personal Quotes
On working on the film Panic Room (2002) with such a big name star as Jodie Foster: "When I got "Panic Room", I'm like, 'Oh my God that's huge! It's bigger than huge'. I was kind of freaked out at first".

(about her love for acting) I love it because I love to tell stories. I like being in movies that have a great story. I'm not so interested in being a Hollywood star. It's a job, you know. When you wake up at six in the morning every day for a week, it feels like hard work.

I don't want to make movies for kids, and I don't want to make movies for adults either.

Acting is such a personal thing, which is weird because at the same time it's not. It's for the consumption of other people. But in terms of creative outlets and expressing yourself, it's just the most extreme version of that that I've ever found. It's like running, it's exertion. When you reach that point where you can't go anymore and you stop and you take a breath, it's that same sort of clearing of the mind.

A lot of actors think that what we do is so important, like we're saving people's lives or something.

All I try to do in the press is be honest about something that I really care about.

I've always had an aversion to looking sexy, but I've grown out of it.

I start everything from the same place, with that sense of responsibility. On a bigger movie, you have to be aware that you can only control your aspect of the film. It's nice to be on a smaller movie because you're working with your friends and you feel so close-knit. It's your movie and you can do anything you want, and nobody's going to have anything to say. With a bigger movie, it concerns so many people. It's so much more of a process. But, in terms of what I do personally, it has to be the same, or else I'm just on some big movie, being a liar, and I can't do that.

Really, I'm incredibly disjointed and not candid. Just in general, my thoughts tend to come out in little spurts that don't necessarily connect. If you hang around long enough, you can find the linear path. But it will take a second. That is why these interviews never go well for me.

About having an aha moment when it came to pursuing an acting career: I have the "Aha" moments progressively -- they're like milestones and they hit you. I think my first "Aha!" moment was when I did this (TV) movie called "Speak." I was just rolling with it, and ended up kind of really losing myself in it, so that I felt like I was a different person at the end. That was a big moment.

You should have the opportunity to be more than one person with different people - because you have that within you. It's not like you're faking it. If everyone knows you so well and can always get a hold of you, then you're stuck to this thing that people think you are. You should have the opportunity to reinvent yourself. Because you do. Naturally.

On whether she wants to develop her skills as a writer: I do want to work on writing, because writing's a skill. Writing is something that you can train yourself to know better. To know yourself better. And it's intimidating as hell. I mean, I definitely will always do what I've been doing. I've also started taking a lot of pictures, and they help the writing. The pictures help the writing. I mean, I want to make books. I want to take pictures and then write all over the pictures. And then I don't have to say a complete story, because I have the picture, and I have just a word.

About Bella in New Moon: Well, she loses what basically gives her the drive to do anything in her whole life. She loses the man she's in love with, but she also loses her entire life plan, and she's so young to have to be forced into a decision like that. It's just a glorified, elaborate version of the worst breakup you've ever been through. All of a sudden you question everything. All of a sudden you know nothing and you're dropped in the middle of a freezing cold ocean. Oddly, we have a character that's warm enough and bright enough to bring her out of that, and it's truly gut-ripping. Because as perfect as Jacob is for her, she holds on to an ideal, the ultimate fiery love that she has for Edward even though it's not comfortable, it's not practical and it's not a good idea.

This weird thing happens when you're in a movie that has some level of success. People start offering you all kinds of things, and they just expect you to do them because they'll be good for your career. It's not about the project's integrity or anything like that. It's about raising your profile and all that crap.

I was just in Botswana in Africa. I wanted to learn something about the world. I just feel really ignorant whenever I leave the country. I don't know a lot of stuff, and I really want to. I figure that traveling is a good way to start if you want knowledge. Like, if you don't know something about a country, then go and check it out. That's what I did.

On how her life has changed since Twilight: My life hasn't changed. Most circumstances I find myself in are different than they were a year ago, but I myself haven't changed...however a normal 18-year-old girl would change in a year. But it makes things so much easier. I would do it for free every day [even] if nobody saw it. I cannot describe how good it feels to actually have something that is truly into your heart and soul actually affecting people. And that's amazing. So that's the biggest change.

On whether she wants to continue making movies or go to college: I absolutely have no foresight. I used to think I had a lot when I was younger. I worked really hard in school to give myself options, and I've literally taken those options and thrown them down the toilet. Purposely - not to make that sound totally negative. It's what I want. I want to keep doing what I'm doing. It's funny, people ask me all the time: 'What do you do for fun? What do you do when you're not acting?' It's a strange thing, acting. It's a business, it's a job, everything like that. All it is, is self-reflection. You just never stop caring about people and I've never stopped doing that, so I'm sure it'll seep into other areas of my life. I want to write. I'm not going to school because I can't take the structure of it, but I'm not going to stop learning.

Usually I come in and sit down at roundtables in America and they look at me like 'what is wrong with you?' Just because I don't fit...nobody fits into the frame that typical Hollywood young actresses do, but they try to. They try to be this thing. Try to memorize answers and make everybody happy. That's so horrifying and scary to me. So when you're not that, you get criticized for it. You get criticized for being honest and criticized for being nervous. So that's kind of annoying. I do a whole day of press and then I get calls from publicity people that are like, 'you might want to be a little bit more bubbly'. And I'm like, 'no'. People get very upset in the States. It's weird. Fans of the book especially. They don't understand me. Which is fine. I guess it doesn't really matter who I am, it just matters that they like the movie.

On doing interviews: Self-evaluation is not my strong point, and you're constantly asked to critique yourself. You just spent three months on a set and your whole life is wrapped up in that - and then it's like, "Okay, define that right now in five seconds." I can't do that. I used to get so nervous that I would become a completely different person - and then they would think that was me. So I've tried to calm down, but no one's ever going to write, "Oh, she's actually just a pretty f---in' average chick who really loves what she does." That's not gonna happen.

On how fame changed her life: There's nothing you can do about it, to be honest. I don't leave my hotel room -- literally, I don't. I don't talk to anybody about my personal life, and maybe that perpetuates it, too. But it's really important to own what you own and keep it to yourself. That said, the only way for me not to have somebody know where I went the night before is if I didn't go out at all. I'm trading. It depends on what mood I'm in. Some nights, I think, 'You know what? I don't care. I'm going to do what I want to do.' Then the next day I think, 'Ugh. Now everyone thinks I'm going out to get the attention.' and I'm like, 'No, actually, for a second, thought that maybe I could be like a normal person.'

Speech after winning an Orange Bafta (2010): Wow. Thank you. I guess first I have to thank all the fans of Twilight for proving again and again to be THE most devoted and attentive fans ever. Considering this is voted, credit is due to them so thank you. To the other actors nominated, I am so blown away by you that I can't even describe it. To be voted among you is just overwhelming. And I'd like to say hi to my family.

People always ask me if Im dating Robert [Pattinson]. It's beyond annoying. What I say is, that, why would I want anything that's private to become entertainment for other people?

My family are amazing. I had like, the perfect upbringing. It sucks for people like Lindsey [Lohan], but it's not her fault she's so off the rails.

I'm totally preoccupied with cooking. And now I'm obsessed with the Food Network. I like Paula Deen because she's hilarious,


Salary
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2 (2012) $12,500,000 + 2.5% of the gross
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1 (2011) $12,500,000 + 2.5% of the gross
Twilight (2008/I) $2,000,000

Where Are They Now
(October 2002) Colorado filming Cold Creek Manor (2003).

(February 2008) Just got cast for Twilight (2008/I), and getting ready to start filming.

(March 2008) Filming Twilight (2008/I).

(May 2008) Finished filming for Twilight (2008/I) on Friday, May 2nd 2008. "Twilight" is due to hit theaters November 21, 2008.

(January 2009) She is filming New Moon (2009) with co-star Robert Pattinson.

(May 2009) May 29th, 2009 was the last day of filming for New Moon (2009).

(June 2009) Filming The Runaways (2010).

(August 2009) Filming Eclipse (2010/I) in Vancouver, British Columbia

(August 2010) Filming On the Road (2011) in Montreal, Canada

(August 2010) Filming On the Road (2011) in Bariloche, Argentina.

(October 2010) Baton Rouge, Louisiana filming The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn