It is a fact that the stars of the great film sagas rarely manage to transcend the shadows of their characters. Artists like Daniel Radcliffe or Mark Hamill will always be ed as Harry Potter and Luke Skywalker, no matter what they do. There are, of course, some exceptions. And although Kristen Stewart is always associated with the role that made her famous (Bella Swan in Twilight ), the truth is that the actress has given more than enough arguments to forge herself in the film industry, with a versatile and award-winning filmography, far beyond the controversial creation of Stephenie Meyer. Among Kristen Stewart’s main films are commercial successes and authorial works.
- Also check out: Where to watch the best Kristen Stewart movies
From Twilight to Success in Love Lies Bleeding
Today, thanks to her versatility, she has established herself as one of the most respected actresses in independent and auteur cinema, with several critically acclaimed Kristen Stewart films. She has worked with established names such as the French Olivier Assayas , the Chilean Pablo Larraín and the Canadian master of body horror , David Cronenberg .
But she also diversifies her projects in of size and level of renown. She has participated, for example, in a remake of Charlie’s Angels or a queer Christmas comedy. But her most recent work — and one of the most talked about — is Love Lies Bleeding , only the second feature film by its director, Rose Glass (of the acclaimed and chilling Santa Maud ).
After its premiere at the Sundance Festival, the film left a good impression, consecrating Kristen Stewart among critics (the actress pairs up with Katy O’Brian, also formidable in her performance).
It was a long road from the saga that launched her to stardom with a character that also surrounded her with criticism. Bella Swan was left far behind.
Kristen Stewart’s early film career
Kristen Jaymes Stewart was born on May 9, 1990 in Los Angeles, California, the home of Hollywood cinema. She has always been close to the world: her father, John Stewart, is a television producer; while her mother, Jules Mann-Stewart, is a cinematographer and script supervisor.
Because of this, she always believed that she would work in the entertainment world, but not that she would be in front of the cameras. “I never wanted to be the center of attention. I wasn’t that girl who said ‘I want to be a famous actress,’” she said in a 2010 interview .
However, Kristen Stewart began her career as an actress at a very young age. She had her first jobs as an extra in films, such as in the Disney Channel production The 13th Anniversary in 1999, and The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas in 2000. This would be the gateway to what would launch her career as a child actress: Panic Room , a 2002 thriller directed by David Fincher, in which she starred alongside Jodie Foster. This film marked the beginning of her career as a prominent actress in cinema.
Kristen Stewart in Twilight: the importance of Bella Swan in her career
Later, Kristen Stewart would star in children’s and young adult productions of varying quality, such as Watch That Kid from 2004, or Zathura: A Space Adventure from 2007. In the same year, she began to diversify towards more independent projects such as Sweet Encounters and also participated in the biopic Into the Wild , directed by Sean Penn.
By 2008, the actress had maintained this diversity in her projects, even with small roles. She appeared in Doug Liman’s Jumper and also starred in Yellow Handkerchief alongside William Hurt and a young Eddie Redmayne, in addition to sharing credits with Robert De Niro, Robin Wright, Stanley Tucci and other established luminaries in Spineless .
However, 2008 would be Kristen Stewart’s big year on the big screen, for better or for worse.
The legacy as “Twilight actress” and “Twilight Bella”
Since the publication of the first book in the series in 2005, Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight has become a pop culture phenomenon. The anticipation surrounding the actors to play Bella Swan and Edward Cullen was, naturally, overwhelming.
The highly anticipated film adaptation, starring opposite one of the hottest couples of the era .
Regardless of the criticism of both the source material and its adaptations (by far some of the worst-reviewed projects in her filmography), it is undeniable that they were an important platform for Stewart. To this day, the Twilight saga remains among the most successful in history at the box office , and the actress played Bella Swan in its five installments, released between 2008 and 2012.
- Read more: Where is the cast of the Twilight saga now?
How Kristen Stewart overcame Twilight fame and reinvented herself in film
In parallel and in the following years, Kristen Stewart continued to diversify her resume. Alongside Bella Swan, she appeared in independent films such as Adventureland or The Runaways (playing Joan Jett). In her last year in the vampire world, she appeared in roles ranging from the road movie On the Road to another attempt at a franchise with Snow White and the Huntsman .
However, and just like her colleague Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart has managed to gradually move away from Bella Swan’s shadow. And the first step would be to win a César, the main award in French cinema.
In addition to sharing credits with Julianne Moore in the devastating Still Alice , Stewart made her first collaboration with French director Olivier Assayas in the metatextual drama Clouds of Water , opposite the legendary Juliette Binoche. For her work, she received the César Award for Best ing Actress, a notable feat as she was the first American actress to do so, confirming her talent in auteur films.
The actress’s most acclaimed roles in independent cinema
From then on, and with few exceptions, Kristen Stewart would opt more for independent and auteur cinema. Her collaboration with Assayas led her to star in Personal Shopper , another acclaimed performance. She also starred alongside Laura Dern, Michelle Williams and Lily Gladstone in Certain Women , by Kelly Reichardt. To crown a still ascending career, she was nominated for an Oscar for her work as Lady Di in Spencer , by Pablo Larraín.
Kristen Stewart as a director: from short films to her feature film debut
In addition to acting, she has also explored other languages in Kristen Stewart’s films, now as a director.
Since 2014, Stewart has also experimented behind the camera, as she intended to do as a child. She has directed music videos (including for CHVRCHES’ “Down Side of Me”) and short anthologies. Most notably, Crickets is part of Netflix’s pandemic anthology Cannes 2025 with her first feature, The Chronology of Water .
LGBTQIA+ activism and representative roles
In 2017, she publicly declared herself bisexual , beginning her journey in pro-LGBTQIA+ activism, something that was also reflected in some of her role decisions (such as in the Christmas comedy Someone Tell Me? ).
Love Lies Bleeding : the new film with Kristen Stewart
And so we come to Love Lies Bleeding , the second feature film by English filmmaker Rose Glass. Set in 1980s New Mexico, it’s a love story between an ambitious bodybuilder, Jackie (Katy O’Brian), and a gym manager, Lou (Stewart), who gets sidetracked when she gets involved with the latter’s crime family.
“I believe in individuality, but we’re also all human and we have the capacity to do really nasty things,” Stewart explains in an interview with Deadline . “It’s also a love story set in the ’80s that’s really about strength.”
And it’s also a small project, one that she seems to continue doing both in front of and behind the camera. She’s made it clear , at least, that she would never do a Marvel movie. “It sounds like a nightmare, actually.”
Thus, Kristen Stewart’s films continue to reflect an artist in constant transformation, with a career full of bold choices and films that mark her identity as an actress.
First published in the Mexican edition of Filmelier News .
[Original article from 04/02/2024, updated on 05/27/2025]
