Kristen Jaymes Stewart was born April 9th, 1990 in Los Angeles, California. Her father, John Stewart, is a stage manager and producer for Fox Studios, and her mother, Jules, who is originally from Australia, is a screenwriter. Kristen began acting at the age of eight, but her career did not begin in earnest until 2002, when she played Sarah Altman in the movie Panic Room. That performance earned her a nomination for "Best Peformance in a Feature Film - Leading Young Actress" at the Young Artist Awards.
Kristen acted in several movies after that, including Cold Creek Manor (2003), Catch That Kid (2004), Zathura: A Space Adventure (2005) and Into the Wild (2007), but it was her role as Bella Swan in the movie Twilight (2008), alongside actor Robert Pattinson, that made her a household name. Kristen's performance in that film, based on the first book in a series by author Stephenie Meyer, also earned her multiple awards, including a Teen Choice Award ("Choice Movie Actress: Drama") and an MTV Movie Award ("Best Female Performance"). The movie did so well that she was signed for its sequels, New Moon (2009) and Eclipse (2010).