Robert Pattinson

Robert Pattinson was a British actor who was best known for playing Edward Cullen in the blockbuster film franchise "The Twilight Saga" (2008-2012), as well as various other films. Born and raised in London, Pattinson never intended on becoming an actor. In fact, his first love was music. He began playing the guitar and piano at the age of 4 and had big dreams of becoming a musician one day. His plans changed, however, when in his early teens he joined a local amateur theater club. Pattinson immediately fell in love with acting and before long was appearing in such time-honored plays as "Guys and Dolls," "Our Town," and "Macbeth." After a few years of honing his acting craft on the stage, Pattinson sought to branch out into film work. He got his first big break in 2005 at the age of 19 when he was cast as Cedric Diggory in "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" (2005). From there Pattinson nabbed roles in "The Haunted Airman" (2006), "How to Be" (2008), and "Little Ashes" (2008), the latter of which he played the Spanish surrealist artist Salvador Dali. Then in 2008 Pattinson nabbed a career-defining role as the heartthrob vampire Edward Cullen in "Twilight" (2008). The film was the first of five film adaptations of the popular Twilight novels, and was a worldwide success, making both Pattinson and his co-stars Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner global superstars seemingly overnight. Pattinson starred as Cullen in all five films of "The Twilight Saga," concluding with 2012's "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2." After his run in the "Twilight" films ended, Pattinson sought to take on meatier roles in smaller, independent films. He worked with the acclaimed director David Cronenberg twice in "Cosmopolis" (2013) and "Maps to the Stars" (2014), and went on to appear in "Good Time" (2017), "High Life" (2018), and "The Lighthouse" (2019). After a number of years starring in smaller films, Pattinson returned to making blockbusters when it was announced in 2019 that he would star as Bruce Wayne/Batman in "The Batman" (2021). Pattinson took over the role of Batman from Ben Affleck, who left the franchise entirely in 2017.