Robert Thomas Pattinson (born 13 May 1986) is an English actor, model and musician.
Pattinson was born in London, England. His mother, Clare, worked for a modeling agency, and his father, Richard, imported vintage cars from the U.S. Pattinson attended Tower House School and Harrodian School. He became involved in amateur theatre through the Barnes Theatre Company. After some backstage experience there, he took on acting roles. He caught the attention of an acting agent in a production of Tess of the D'Urbervilles and began looking for professional roles. Since then he has performed in an amateur version of Macbeth at the Old Sorting Office Arts Centre, as well as trying his hand at modeling. Pattinson has two elder sisters.
Pattinson began his modeling career when he was twelve years old, but it wound down only four years later. He has blamed his lack of work as a model on his masculine appearance. Pattinson explained in December 2008, "When I first started I was quite tall and looked like a girl, so I got lots of jobs, because it was during that period where the androgynous look was cool. Then, I guess, I became too much of a guy, so I never got any more jobs. I had the most unsuccessful modeling career."
Pattinson appeared in the advertising campaign for Hackett's Autumn 2007 collection.
Pattinson had supporting roles in the made for television film Ring of the Nibelungs in 2004 and in director Mira Nair’s Vanity Fair, although his scenes in the latter were deleted and only appear on the DVD version. In May 2005, he was slated to appear in the UK premiere of The Woman Before at the Royal Court Theatre, but was fired shortly before the opening night and was replaced by Tom Riley. Later that year he played Cedric Diggory in the film Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Consequently, he was named that year's British Star of Tomorrow by The Times. He also has more than once been touted as the next Jude Law.
Pattinson played Edward Cullen in the movie Twilight, based on Stephenie Meyer's bestselling novel of the same name, which was released on 21 November 2008 in North America. Pattinson also had lead roles in the feature films Little Ashes, How To Be and the short film The Summer House. In 2010, he will appear in a theatre production for producer David Pugh. He presented at the 81st Academy Awards on 22 February 2009.
Revolver Entertainment is creating a documentary, called Robsessed, about Pattinson's popularity. The documentary will be released on DVD in November 2009, to coincide with the release of New Moon. Pattinson plays guitar and piano, and composes his own music. He also appears as the singer of two songs on the Twilight soundtrack: "Never Think", which he co-wrote with Sam Bradley, and "Let Me Sign", which was written by Marcus Foster and Bobby Long.
Pattinson has admitted to taking a quarter of a Valium to calm his nerves before auditioning for Twilight, and to smoking. He was named one of the "Sexiest Men Alive" in 2008 by People magazine and in 2009 through a poll conducted by Glamour magazine. On having a girlfriend, Pattinson states, "I don't have people's phone numbers. I almost don't want to have a girlfriend in this environment." Pattinson currently resides in Los Angeles.