Kristen Jaymes Stewart (born April 9, 1990) is an American actress.
Stewart was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. Her father, John Stewart, is a stage manager and television producer who has worked for Fox. Her mother, Jules Mann-Stewart, is a script supervisor originally from Maroochydore, Queensland, Australia. She has an older brother, Cameron Stewart. Stewart attended school until the seventh grade, and then continued her education by correspondence. She has since completed high school.
Stewart's acting career began at the age of eight, after an agent saw her perform in her elementary school's Christmas play. Stewart's first role was a nonspeaking part in the movie The Thirteenth Year.
Stewart had a major role in the Hollywood film Panic Room, playing the sullen, diabetic daughter of a divorced mother. The film received generally positive reviews, and Stewart garnered positive notices for her performance. 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; the film generally failed at the box office. Her first starring role followed, in the children's action-comedy Catch That Kid, opposite Max Thieriot and Corbin Bleu.
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 movie 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 movie. In 2007, Stewart appeared as teenager Lucy Hardwicke in In the Land of Women, a romantic drama starring Meg Ryan and The O.C. star Adam Brody.
On November 16, 2007, Summit Entertainment announced that Stewart would play Isabella "Bella" Swan in the movie Twilight, based on Stephenie Meyer's bestselling vampire romance novel of the same name. Stewart was on the set of Adventureland when director Catherine Hardwicke visited her for an informal screen test which "captivated" the director. 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. After the release of Twilight, Kristen Stewart was awarded the MTV Movie Award for Best Female Performance for her portrayal as Bella Swan. Stewart will be reprising her role as Bella in the sequel, New Moon, in 2009.
Stewart will star in a movie called K-11 with Nikki Reed, also of Twilight, and Jason Mewes. The film, which is being directed by Stewart's mother, takes place in a dorm of the Los Angeles County Jail, and will feature both Stewart and Reed as male characters. Stewart was also cast to portray Joan Jett in The Runaways, a biopic of the titular band from writer-director Floria Sigismondi. Stewart met with Jett over the 2008-2009 New Year to prepare for the role, and hopes to be able to sing in the film.
Stewart currently lives in Woodland Hills in Los Angeles, California. In a 2008 interview with Vanity Fair, Stewart stated that she was dating actor Michael Angarano, her co-star from the movie Speak. Stewart 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." 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." Stewart is a guitar player and singer.