Raised in the coastal area of Los Angeles, California, Kristen Stewart is the daughter of John Stewart, a stage manager and FOX's television producer, who co-produced the Ryan Seacrest Show, "On-Air". As a little girl, she spent some of her early years in Colorado and has moved back to Los Angeles where she resided with her parents. Like many of L.A. teenagers, Kristen, who was born on April 19, 1990, spent most of her life in the beach, surfing with friends at her age, to enjoy the challenge of sea waves.

Kristen's performance in a grade school Christmas play caught the eye of an agent in audience desk. Their parents rejected the idea to bring little Kristen in front of camera, but her curiosity won them over, and at the age of eight, when her other friends still had their boards in hands for skiing, she began auditioning for film and television role.

In 2001, Kristen succeeded grabbing a minor role as a non-speaking part in the Disney TV production film "The Thirteenth Year". However, she didn't play in front of the camera again until two years later when she was chosen to take part in "The Safety of Object" as a tomboy daughter of a troubled single mother played by Patricia Clarkson.

Kristen's career continued to rise when a filmmaker noticed her striking resemblance to young Jodie Foster and signed her to replace Hayden Panettiere as Jodie's diabetic daughter in a Hollywood major big screen "Panic Room" (2002). Despite the presence of such big names as Jodie, Forest Whitaker, and Patrick Bachau, she held her own assured performance that led some positive critics to compare her with other young actors at her age.

Ever since, Kristen consistently continues impressing audiences and critics, both with her performances and with her choice of projects, which frequently strayed far from kid-oriented materials offered to actors in her age group. In 2003, she appeared in another suspenseful project "Cold Creek Manor" (2003) as the daughter of Dennis Quaid and Sharon Stone. Unfortunately, the film didn't gain much attention from movie lovers.

Her first leading role was in "Catch That Kid" (2004), which cast her as a young mountain-climber who was involved in a high-tech bank robbery to get some cash for her ill-father's operation. Her other major roles included her involvements in psychological drama "Undertow", and television movie "Speak", where she handled the complexities of the character named Melinda Sordino who stops almost all verbal communication after being raped by an upperclassman, but retains a vivid and often sardonic running commentary in her head.

Kristen comical skills first appeared when she joined the casts of Jon Favreau's underrated space fantasy "Zathura" (2005). Some praises addressed to the film but like "Cold Creek Manor", it unfortunately scanned a poor ticket sales. The next year, she starred in movie entitled "Fierce People" (2005), a sad-ending drama about a troubled masseuse played by Diane Lane who struggled to get a better life for her teenage son.

Two years later, Kristen was back in supernatural film "The Messengers" (2007). After that, she worked on no less than six pictures including romantic drama "In the Land of Women" (2007), with Meg Ryan and Adam Brody, "Into The Wild" (2007), and "Jumper" where she had a cameo appearance. Besides, she also found time for smaller projects like "The Cake Eaters" (2007), in which she played as a young woman with a debilitating disease. She also took part a satirical comedy movie entitled "What Just Happened?", which is scheduled to be released in October 2008 and stars Robert De Niro, Bruce Willis, and Sean Penn.