Stewart was born and raised in Los Angeles, California.[1][2][3] Her father, John Stewart, is a stage manager and television producer who has worked for Fox.[4] Her mother, Jules Mann-Stewart, is a script supervisor originally from Maroochydore, Queensland, Australia.[3][5][6][7] She has an older brother, Cameron Stewart, and an adoptive brother, Taylor.[8][9] Stewart attended school until the seventh grade, and then continued her education by correspondence.[3] She has since completed high school.[10]Early life
Career
Kristen Stewart at the 2010 Academy Awards.
Her whole family all worked behind the camera, and Stewart thought she would become a writer/director, but never considered being an actor. "I never wanted to be the center of attention – I wasn't that 'I want to be famous, I want to be an actor' kid. I never sought out acting, but I always practiced my autograph because I love pens. I'd write my name on everything."
[11] Stewart's acting career began at the age of eight, after an agent saw her perform in her elementary school's Christmas play.
[12] After a year of auditioning, Stewart's first role was a nonspeaking part in the film
The Thirteenth Year.
[4]Then, she had another part in the film
The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas as the "ring toss girl".
[4] She subsequently appeared in the independent film
The Safety of Objects, in which she played the
tomboy daughter of a troubled single mother (
Patricia Clarkson). Stewart had a major role in the Hollywood film
Panic Room, playing the
diabetic daughter of a divorced mother (
Jodie Foster). The film received generally positive reviews, and Stewart garnered positive notices for her performance. She was nominated for a
Young Artist Award for her performance.
[13]
After
Panic Room's success, Stewart was cast in another thriller,
Cold Creek Manor, playing the daughter of
Dennis Quaid's and
Sharon Stone's characters. She was again nominated for a
Young Artist Award for her performance.
[13] It was revealed that at about this time in her career, she had to be
homeschooled due to her irregular schedule, which was affecting her grades. She said, "I started homeschooling because my teachers were failing me. I think it was just resentment – I made more work for them. But homeschooling is great; you can study what you want, which allows you to get more excited about what you're doing".
[13]
Her first starring role followed, in the children's action-comedy
Catch That Kid, opposite
Max Thieriot and
Corbin Bleu. Stewart also played the role of Lila in the thriller
Undertow. To date, Stewart's most critically acclaimed role may be in the
Showtime television film
Speak (2004), based on
the novel by
Laurie Halse Anderson. Stewart, 13 at the time of filming, played high school freshman Melinda Sordino, who stops almost all verbal contact after being raped. Stewart received great praise for playing the character, who had only a few speaking lines, but kept up a darkly humorous commentary inside her head throughout the film.
Kristen Stewart in October 2008.
In 2005, Stewart appeared in the fantasy-adventure film
Zathura, playing the role of Lisa, the irresponsible older sister of two little boys, who turn their house into a spacecraft hurtling uncontrollably in outer space by playing a board game. The film received praise by critics, but Stewart's performance did not garner much media attention, as it was noted that her character is immobilized during most of the film.
[14] The following year, she played the character Maya in
Fierce People, directed by
Griffin Dunne. After that film, she received the lead role of Jess Solomon in the
supernatural thriller film
The Messengers.
In 2007, Stewart appeared as teenager Lucy Hardwicke in
In the Land of Women, a romantic drama starring
Meg Ryan and
Adam Brody. The film, as well as Stewart's performance, received mixed reviews. That same year, Stewart appeared in
Sean Penn's critically acclaimed adaptation film
Into the Wild. For her portrayal of Tracy – a teenage singer who has a crush on young adventurer
Christopher McCandless – Stewart received generally positive reviews.
Salon.com considered her work a "sturdy, sensitive performance",
[15] and the
Chicago Tribune noted that she did "vividly well with a sketch of a role."
[16] Her performance was not without detractors, however;
Variety's critic Dennis Harvey wrote, "It's unclear whether Stewart means to be playing
hippie-chick Tracy as vapid, or whether it just comes off that way."
[17] After
Into the Wild, Stewart had a cameo appearance in
Jumper and also appeared in
What Just Happened, which was released in October 2008.
[18] She also co-stars in
The Cake Eaters an independent film that has only been screened at film festivals.
On November 16, 2007,
Summit Entertainment announced that Stewart would play
Isabella "Bella" Swan in the film
Twilight, based on
Stephenie Meyer's bestselling
vampireromance
novel of the same name.
[19] Stewart was on the set of
Adventureland when director
Catherine Hardwicke visited her for an informal screen test which "captivated" the director.
[20] She stars alongside
Robert Pattinson, who plays
Edward Cullen, her character's vampire boyfriend. The film began production in February 2008 and finished filming in May 2008.
Twilight was released domestically on November 21, 2008.
[21] Her performance garnered mixed reviews with some critcs calling her "the ideal casting choice" and praising her for conveying "Bella's detachment, as well as her need to bust through it"
[22] while others criticized her acting for being "wooden" and lacking variety in her facial expressions which they described as "blank".
[23] After the release of
Twilight, Kristen Stewart was awarded the MTV Movie Award for Best Female Performance for her portrayal as Bella Swan.
Stewart reappeared as Bella in the sequel,
The Twilight Saga: New Moon to critical acclaim, receiving much more positive reviews than her portrayal of the same character in
Twilight. Jordan Mintzer from
Varietycalled Stewart "the heart and soul of the film" and praised her for giving "both weight and depth to dialogue...that would sound like typical chick-lit blather in the mouth of a less engaging actress, and she makes Bella's psychological wounds seem like the real deal"
[24] while critics who gave the film its worst reviews still found her performance "bringing plenty of soul" to the character.
[25] She reprised this role in
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse.
Stewart most recently portrayed rock star
Joan Jett in
The Runaways, a
biopic of
the titular band from writer-director
Floria Sigismondi.
[28] Stewart met with Jett over the 2008–2009 New Year to prepare for the role, and ended up prerecording songs in a studio for the film.
[29] She received nearly unanimous praise for her performance. Josh Tyler of
Cinema Blend pronounced her to be "a modern day
James Dean. She gives the kind of performance in
The Runaways that hasn’t been seen on screen since his death.
The Runaways is her
Rebel Without a Cause ... she’s absolutely brilliant as Joan Jett."
[30] The
Metro Times wrote, "It turns out that Stewart is actually really good at capturing Jett's icy, tough-but-cool girl swagger, adding the needed touches of vulnerability that transform it into a pretty terrific performance... Stewart is a genuine rock star here."
[31] Also,
A. O. Scott of
The New York Times noted "Ms. Stewart, watchful and unassuming, gives the movie its spine and soul."
[32]
Stewart was listed as the highest earning female actress in Hollywood in the "2010's Top Hollywood Top Earners List" compiled by
Vanity Fair. Throughout 2010, Stewart earned an estimated $28.5 million for all her movie appearances.
[34]
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn- Part 1 was released on November 18, 2011. The film was successful in the box office making $283.5 million its opening weekend. Though the film received negative reviews, Stewart's performance was mostly praised. Gabriel Chong said that Stewart's performance, calling it "mesmerising" and saying that she "makes [Bella's] every emotion keenly felt that runs the gamut from joy, trepidation, anxiety, distress and above all quiet and resolute determination"
[35] and the
Village Voice's Dan Konis saying Stewart "beautifully underplays"
[36] the role. However, some critics found that despite Pattinson and Stewart's chemistry, the relationship came off like a "charade"
[37] or that none of the three leads were convincing in their roles.
[38]
In March 2011, it was confirmed that Stewart will playing the leading role in the film
Snow White and the Huntsman.
[39] Filming began on August 15 and is set to be released on June 1, 2012.
[40]
Stewart has also been attached to an upcoming big-budget, live-action adaptation of
Akira from
Warner Brothers for the role of Ky.
[41]
On December 6, 2011, Stewart was named number one on Forbes magazine's list of Hollywood's Best Actors for the Buck.
[42]
She was named the new face of an unnamed Balenciaga perfume on January 13, 2012.
[43]
Personal life
Stewart currently lives in
Woodland Hills, Los Angeles. She has expressed a desire to live and work in Australia, saying, "I want to go to
Sydney University in Australia. My mom's from there."
[44] Apart from acting, she is also interested in attending college in the near future, saying, "I want to go to college for literature. I want to be a writer. I mean, I love what I do, but it's not all I want to do – be a professional liar for the rest of my life."
[45] In Vanity Fair, Stewart admitted that she was in a relationship with Michael Angarano, her costar from
Speak.
[46]
Since meeting on the set of
Twilight, Stewart has been romantically linked to co-star Robert Pattinson.
[47] Though they have never explicitly confirmed a relationship, paparazzi photographs and eyewitness accounts have driven intense media and fan speculation and attention, making "Robsten" the subject of wide media coverage.
[48] In an interview with
GQ, when asked why she remained reluctant to talk about the relationship despite evidence of it being accessible online, Stewart replied, "Yeah, I know it is...So much of my life is so easily googled. I mean, it's like, come on guys, it's
so obvious!"
[48] When asked why she refuses to talk about her life, Stewart replied "I'm selfish. I'm like, 'That's mine!' And I like to keep whatever is mine remaining that way. It's a funny little game to play and it's a slippery slope. I always say to myself I'm never going to give anything away because there's never any point or benefit for me. I guarantee whenever I get married or have a baby, everyone is going to want to know my kid's name and I'm not going to say it for ages."
[48]
Filmography
Awards and nominations
| Kristen Stewart |
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Stewart at the 2012 Wondercon on March 17, 2012. |
| Born | Kristen Jaymes Stewart
April 9, 1990 (age 21)
Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
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| Occupation | Actress |
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| Years active | 1999–present |
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| Signature |  |
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