Biography for Kristen Stewart

Date of Birth

9 April 1990, Los Angeles, California, USA

Birth Name

Kristen Jaymes Stewart

Nickname

Kris
KStew

Height

5' 5" (1.65 m)

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. Currently co-producing "On-Air with Ryan Seacrest" (2004).

Born in Los Angeles, California and then spent some of her early years in Colorado 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.

Nominated 3 consecutive years (2003-2005) for the Young Artist Award, but never won.

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

Has 3 dogs: Oz, a border collie mix, Jack and Lily who are mutts. Also has a cat named 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.

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.'

Salary

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 The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009) with co-star Robert Pattinson.

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

(June 2009) Filming the Runaways

(August 2009) Filming The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (2009) in Vancouver, British Columbia