Name: Kristen Jaymes Stewart
Birthdate: April 9, 1990
Birthplace: Los Angeles, California
Claim to fame: Playing Bella Swan in the Twilight Saga film series.
What we can see her in next: Her latest movie Camp X-Ray hits theatres on Oct. 17.
Interesting fact: Emile Hirsch, her co-star in Into the Wild was the one who recommended her for the part of Bella in the Twilight series.
Best quote: “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.” — on how acting chose her, instead of the other way around.
Why we love her: Our WCW is the very-well-known and often criticized Kristen Stewart. It’s about time we let her off the hook — Twilight ended a long time ago, and sure it wasn’t her best film work, and sure her acting style in the films could best be described as “contrived constipated”. But that doesn’t take away from the fact that she’s still actually a really talented actress — one that just got lost in the world of vampires and screaming pre-teens for a while. Now she’s our crush this week to re-cement her stake as one of the brightest young actresses in Hollywood.
In terms of her memorable roles that don’t include vampires, we should all remember her role as the tomboy, diabetic daughter of Jodie Foster in Panic Room, which earned her a Young Artist Award. Then there was her small role in the Sean Penn directed Into the Wild, as well as her role in Adventureland, which pointed out exactly how depressing you’d think it would be to work at an amusement park. There was also her role as Joan Jett in The Runaways, as well as her turn as a stripper in On the Road.
She was ranked the highest-paid actress in 2012 by Forbes magazine, with total earnings of $34.5 million — thanks in large part to her $12.5 million salary for the final two Twilight films, which included royalties on top of that.
Now her latest film Camp X-Ray opens in theatres on October 17, and many critics have pegged this one as her best screen work to date. So even if you hated Twilight and think Kristen Stewart is about as special as a pair of Wal-Mart overalls, you might want to wait and see her new movie before righting her off completely. It’s about time we gave her a fresh start and let her prove to us again, just how great of a performer she really is.
