Background

Ethnicity: Robert Pattinson's family tree is English going back generations, with many of his ancestors having lived in the north of England.

Robert Pattinson was born on May 13, 1986, in London, England, the United Kingdom. Pattinson is the youngest of three children and the only son born to Robert and Clare Pattinson. One sister, Lizzy, is a personal assistant and singer and participated in the talent show The X Factor UK 2014 and reached the top six in her category. The other, Victoria, works in advertising. During his childhood, his father ran a car-importing business, and his mother worked for a modeling agency.

He discovered his love for music long before acting and started learning the guitar and piano at the age of four. Despite his sometimes shy personality, Robert Pattinson wanted to be a performer from an early age, first as a musician like his older sister Lizzy. It was his father who strongly encouraged him to try out acting.

Education

Pattinson attended Tower House School until the age of 12. During one memorable night out for dinner with his dad, the two found themselves sitting next to a group of young girls who told Pattinson they'd just returned from the Barnes Theatre Club, a renowned program at the Harrodian School, a private school located in Barnes, England.

"Since then, he had nagged me about attending," Pattinson later recalled. "At one point he said he would pay me." Pattinson didn't bite on the payment offer but did end up attending Harrodian as a teenager, where he took on starring roles in plays such as Out Town, Tess of the d'Urbervilles and Anything Goes.

Career

Pattinson's performances drew notice and in 2003, at the age of 17, he jumped from the stage to the screen, nabbing a role in the TV movie Ring of the Nibelungs. The work required him to move to South Africa for several months, where the movie was being filmed. An unaccredited role in Vanity Fair (2004) followed. Around the same time that he was finishing up work on those two projects, Pattinson met with Mike Newell, the eventual director of 2005's Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. The meeting and subsequent audition earned Pattinson the role of Cedric Diggory, Harry Potter's friend, and a fellow wizard.

The movie and the role propelled Pattinson's life and career forward in unimaginable ways. Teen People magazine called him "the next Jude Law" while Screen International magazine labeled him a "British Star of Tomorrow." It was heady stuff and, as Pattinson freely admits, it did indeed go to his head a bit.

A big Marlon Brando and Jack Nicholson fan, Pattinson's post-Potter plan was to take on smaller roles in plays or films that could let him explore unique characters. He did go on to play a shell-shocked World War II veteran in the BBC thriller The Haunted Airman (2005); a student with a teacher crush in The Bad Mother's Handbook (2006); and make a small cameo as Diggory in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007). But he was also fired from a play in London and before Pattinson knew it, he was in Los Angeles sleeping on his agent's couch and trying to figure out his next step.

What followed was a shot at the film Twilight. His audition for the role of Edward Cullen, a century-old vampire in love, took place in the bedroom of the movie's director, Catherine Hardwicke. Pattinson wowed both Hardwicke and his future co-star, Kristen Stewart, with his performance. "Everybody came in doing something empty and shallow and thoughtless," Stewart told GQ. "But Rob understood that it wasn't a frivolous role."

And yet, for the legions of Twilight readers, who had waited breathlessly for the movie adaptation, Pattinson's casting as the perfectly gorgeous Cullen struck a nerve: There were calls for a boycott of the film and 75,000 fans signed a petition asking he be removed from the cast.

Pattinson, who admits he was anxious about the part, seemed to take the criticism in stride. "They had this picture from a Viking film [I did]," he said. "I looked like somebody beat me in the face. I was wearing this disgusting wig, and they were like, 'This is Edward.'"

To live up to the expectations, Pattinson poured himself into his character. He showed up in Oregon, one of the locations where the movie was filmed, months in advance of the shooting to work out with a trainer and dissect the script and other work from Twilight's author, Stephenie Meyer. In the end, the hard work and the original choice to go with Pattinson paid off. In the movie's first weekend, box office receipts totaled nearly $70 million and its leading man was catapulted to heartthrob status among the film's most adoring fans.

The film also served as a reminder that Pattinson, a guitar and keyboard player who loves Van Morrison, retained his music aspirations, as the Twilight soundtrack includes two songs by the actor.

On the heels of his Twilight success came the Little Ashes (2008), which starred the actor in a meaty role as a young Salvador Dalí. Pattinson then reunited with his Twilight cast for New Moon (2009), as well as three more films, 2010's The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, and parts 1 and 2 of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn.

Between filming the Twilight series' later films, Pattinson worked on such notable films as 2010's Remember Me and 2011's Water for Elephants, alongside Reese Witherspoon. In 2012, Pattinson landed one of his most challenging roles yet, playing young billionaire Eric Packer in the drama Cosmopolis, which met with early success from audiences and critics alike. The film, directed by David Cronenberg, also stars Juliette Binoche, Paul Giamatti, and Samantha Morton.

Pattinson continued to ply his craft in critically acclaimed films. He starred alongside Guy Pierce in the Australian dystopian drama The Rover (2014) and followed with a role as a limo driver in Cronenberg's Maps of the Stars (2014). Pattinson then landed another supporting role as explorer Henry Costin in the biographical adventure The Lost City of Z (2017), before starring as a bank robber in the indie crime drama Good Time (2017).

2017 also saw Pattinson finally film Claire Denis’ High Life which is currently in post-production and although it didn’t premiere at Cannes as hoped, there are rumors swirling that it may premiere at the Venice Film Festival held in Aug/September 2018.

As predicted, the beginning of 2018 saw the Zellner Bros Damsel with Mia Wasikowska have its international premiere at Sundance and although it had mixed reviews, Pattinson’s performance received positive praise again. The film also had its world premiere at Berlinale on February 16, 2018, before heading off to SXSX in Austin Texas in March.

In 2018, Pattinson filmed Robert Egger’s next project The Lighthouse with Willem Dafoe in Nova Scotia. News swirled on May 31, 2018, that Pattinson had officially joined David Michôd and Joel Edgerton’s The King.

High Life had it’s world premiere at Toronto International Film Festival on September 9, 2018. Again, much like Damsel it has had mixed reviews, although the critics have loved it and Claire Denis garnered the Critics Award at the San Sebastian Film Festival. Pattinson next filmed Ciro Guerra’s adaptation of J M Coetzee’s Nobel Prize-winning novel Waiting for the Barbarians in November and December 2018. Oscar-winner, Mark Rylance (Bridge of Spies) stars as The Magistrate and Johnny Depp as Colonel Joll alongside Rob as Warrant Officer Mandel.

On May 31, 2019, it was confirmed that Pattinson had been selected to star as the new Caped Crusader in The Batman, scheduled for a June 2021 release.

Musically, Pattinson plays both guitar and piano and writes his own music. One of his songs, Never Think, which he co-wrote with Sam Bradley was featured on the soundtrack of Twilight and he sang three songs, not his own, on the soundtrack of How To Be. In 2011, Pattinson was in the audience at an intimate concert for Songs From a Room in London when he decided to do an impromptu performance of an original song. In recent times, Death Grips’ sampled Pattinson playing guitar on their track Birds.

With regards to film soundtracks, Pattinson featured on both the soundtracks for Damsel and High Life, the former singing a song penned by David Zellner called Honeybun and the latter a song called Willow written by Stuart A Staples of the Tindersticks which was released on iTunes in March 2019.

Achievements

• 

  Robert Pattinson’s excellent acting skills have won him numerous awards in his career. For his role in the Twilight series, he has won several Teen Choice Awards and Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards, including Nickelodeon UK Kids' Choice Award for Favourite UK Actor twice (2012 and 2013).
  
  Other awards won by Pattinson include the Hollywood Film Festival award for his role in the movie Twilight in 2009 and People’s Choice Award for Favorite Movie Actor for his role in movie ‘Water for Elephants’ in 2011.
  
  In July 2018, Robert Pattinson received a top award at the closing of the 53rd edition of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.
  
  A wax statue of Pattinson was added to the Madame Tussauds collection in London and New York City in 2010. On 19 February 2014, Timur Kryachko a Russian astronomer named the asteroid he discovered after Pattinson, as 246789 Pattinson.
  
  In 2009, Vanity Fair named Pattinson "the most handsome man in the world" along with Angelina Jolie as the most beautiful woman in the world. In June 2010, Pattinson was named by Forbes magazine the 50th most powerful celebrity in the world with earnings of $17 million. In October 2012, Pattinson was named "Sexiest Man Alive" by Glamour UK. London Evening Standard included him in their list of 2014's London's 1000 most influential people.
  
  

Works

More photos

• movie

  • The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1

    (In the highly anticipated fourth installment of The Twili...)

    2011
  • Remember Me

    (In the summer of 2001, New York college student Tyler (Ro...)

    2010
  • The Lost City of Z

    (The Lost City of Z tells the incredible true story of Bri...)

    2016
  • The Twilight Saga: New Moon

    (In the second chapter of Stephenie Meyer's best-selling T...)

    2009
  • Good Time

    (Robert Pattinson stars in this fast-paced heist thriller ...)

    2017
  • Twilight

    (Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) doesn't expect much when she...)

    2008
  • Bel Ami

    (An erotically charged drama about a charming and manipula...)

    2012
  • The Rover

    (In this gripping suspense thriller set in the near future...)

    2014
  • Water For Elephants

    (Academy Award Winners Reese Witherspoon and Christoph Wal...)

  • Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

    (When Harry Potter's name emerges from the Goblet of Fire,...)

    2005
  • How To Be

    (Starring sexy British sensation Robert Pattinson, this hi...)

    2008
  • Little Ashes

    (In the midst of repression and political unrest, artist S...)

    2009
  • The Childhood of a Leader

    (Robert Pattinson and Bérénice Bejo lead a powerhouse cast...)

    2016
  • Maps to the Stars

    (Julianne Moore, Mia Wasikowska, John Cusack and Robert Pa...)

    2014
  • Queen of the Desert

    (Nicole Kidman plays explorer, diplomat and "female Lawren...)

    2015
  • LIFE

    (Inspired by the true story of photographer Dennis Stock a...)

    2015
  • The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2

    (In the fifth and final chapter of The Twilight Saga, the ...)

    2012
  • Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

    (Lord Voldemort has returned, but the Ministry of Magic is...)

    2007
  • The Bad Mother's Handbook

    (Daniel (Robert Pattinson) has been spending a lot of time...)

    2007
  • High Life

    (Monte (Robert Pattinson) and his baby daughter, last surv...)

    2018
  • Haunted Airman

    (An injured RAF pilot, confined to a wheelchair is committ...)

    2006
  • Cosmopolis

    (28-year old finance golden boy Eric Packer watches his wo...)

    2012
  • Damsel

    (A businessman travels West to join his fiancée in the mou...)

    2018
  • The Twilight Saga: Eclipse

    (It all begins...with a choice. In the third chapter of St...)

    2010
  • Willow 2019

• music

  • Honeybun 2018

Religion

Robert Pattinson mentioned in an interview that he is a devout Catholic.

Politics

Pattinson has mentioned before that he would have liked to get into politics as a speechwriter but gave up on this idea.

Views

Outside of acting, Pattinson has been a supporter of various charities including Hope for Haiti Now, Stand Up to Cancer, the GO Campaign since 2013 and was announced in November 2015 as first ambassador, International Medical Corps, becoming one of their first responders, Prostate Cancer Research Foundation, the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, and the Royal Flying Doctor Service. On November 15, 2017, Pattinson was co-chair of the inaugural Fred Hollows Foundation Gala in Los Angeles along with Lisa Wilkinson, Joel Edgerton, Leonardo Di Caprio, and Al Pacino to name a few. In April 2018, Pattinson showed his support by filming a PSA for the Turtle Conservancy.

In May 2019, at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival, he co-hosted a charity event along with Helen Mirren, organized by HFPA. Pattinson along with Mirren donated $500,000 to international aid organization Help Refugees on behalf of HFPA.

Quotations: "Sometimes I think, 'to hell with acting,' and then I realize I could be working at a shoe shop. Acting is much cooler."

"I think as soon as you feel validated, you're a bad actor. You need to constantly feel like there's a 99% chance of failure; total failure; devastating failure. You should feel like every single job is a potential that you're never going to get one again."

"I definitely want to record an album, direct a film and start my own religion. Well, I definitely wouldn’t have to pay taxes anymore."

"One really nice thing about acting is that it's like a weird therapy exercise. If you're insecure or shy or something, then you can kind of experiment with expanding your horizons within the framework of a fiction."

Personality

Right before he got the job in Twilight, Pattinson was thinking about leaving acting altogether. While the role in Goblet of Fire was sweet, he was still having trouble finding work. His alternate plans included going back to school to become a political speechwriter or throwing his hat back into music.

Pattinson was asked if, as a method actor, he abstained from sex to prepare for his role in The Twilight Series. Pattinson said he did, in fact, abstain from sex.

Despite being no stranger to these on-screen displays of passion, Pattinson told The Scotland Herald that he hates sex scenes in films. "I always find sex scenes are the most random thing to see in a movie. Two actors pretending to have sex. Why? It's so stupid," Pattinson said.

Robert Pattinson was often taken advantage of by his older siblings. “Up until I was 12 my sisters used to dress me up as a girl and introduce me as ‘Claudia’!” the actor told the BBC.

Despite earning millions for The Twilight Saga, Pattinson told Harper's Bazaar in 2009 that he isn't into a lavish lifestyle. "I don't spend any money. The only thing I've really bought is my car, which cost $1,500 and keeps exploding."

Robert said in an interview with Moviefone in January 2009 that he thinks he has "wide hips" and is self-conscious about taking off his clothes in public. In fact, he said that when he goes to the pool, he keeps all of his clothes on to avoid feeling embarrassed.

Interests

• Writers

  Tom Waits, Charles Baudelaire, Doomed Love by Virgil, Money by Martin Amis, Where Angels Fear to Tread by E. M. Forster, Maurice by E. M. Forster, A Room With A View by E. M. Forster, Ticket to Ride by Dennis Potter

• Sport & Clubs

  darts, pool, football, Arsenal Football Club

• Music & Bands

  blues,Van Morrison, Jeff Buckley, Kings of Leon, Wu-Tang Clan, James Brown

Connections

In the summer of 2009, Pattinson became romantically linked to his The Twilight Saga co-star Kristen Stewart. For a long time, the two decided not to talk about their private life and did not explicitly confirm a relationship, but press photographs and eyewitness accounts drove intense media attention and fan speculations. However, Stewart officially acknowledged her relationship with Pattinson for the first time in July 2012, when Us Weekly published photos of Stewart having an affair with her Snow White and the Huntsman director, Rupert Sanders. The day that the photos were released, Sanders, who was 19 years older than Stewart and married at the time, issued a public apology for the affair, as did Stewart via People magazine. Stewart and Pattinson reconciled in October 2012 but eventually broke up in May 2013.

In September 2014, Pattinson began dating singer FKA Twigs. They were rumored to be engaged, but never publicly confirmed it. The couple split in the summer of 2017.

Father:

Richard Pattinson

Richard Pattinson made a number of public appearances to support his son’s career. For example, in 2010 he attended Jay Leno show together with his wife. At the show, Robert shared, that his dad e-mails him regularly and gives advice, how to behave in public or how to charm the ladies. The actor tells he really likes to get those e-mails.

When the future Twilight star announced, that he was going to become an actor, his father supported such a decision. That surprised Pattison Jr because he had never considered his dad as a creative person before.

Mother:

Clare Pattinson

Pattison likes to show his beautiful mother at various public events. They visit the premieres of the actor’s movies together.

colleague:

Octavia Spencer

Sister:

Victoria Pattinson

Victoria is Robert’s older sister. She is the first child of Richard and Clare Pattinson. The girl is in good terms with her popular brother. As Rob remembered, Victoria and their middle sister Lizzy used to dress him in girly clothes and introduced to their friends as Claudia.

In his older years, Victoria became Rob’s friend. After his problems with Kristen Stewart (the actress was Pattison’s girlfriend when she cheated him with a married filmmaker Rupert Sanders) she advised her brother to break up with his co-star and not to forgive her infidelity.

Sister:

Lizzy Pattinson

Elizabeth is another celebrity in the Pattinson family. She is popular as a singer and songwriter. Lizzy, like she is called in a family circle, is a solid music star in the UK.

ex-girlfriend:

Kristen Stewart

The notoriously media-averse couple began dating sometime after meeting on the set of Twilight in 2008 and dated on and off until 2013. But apart from their obvious chemistry on the popular vampire franchise, the pair kept their relationship behind closed doors.

In fact, the only time Stewart was forced to speak out about their relationship was in 2012 when she was busted cheating on Pattinson with her married Snow White and the Huntsman director, Rupert Sanders, 48.

"I'm deeply sorry for the hurt and embarrassment I've caused to those close to me and everyone this has affected," Stewart wrote in a statement at the time. "This momentary indiscretion has jeopardized the most important thing in my life, the person I love and respect the most, Rob. I love him, I love him, I'm so sorry."

The couple stayed together despite the cheating scandal but split just one year later.

ex-girlfriend:

FKA Twigs

From 2014 to 2017, singer and dancer FKA Twigs was in a high-profile relationship with Twilight star Robert Pattinson. It came with a lot of public criticism from his throng of adoring young fans, who swarmed her social media and said some pretty ugly things about her. In addition to that though, FKA, born Taliah Debrett Barnett, said she also found it unsettling that those who weren’t calling her all sorts of vile things were embracing her and her looks because Pattinson, whom she was rumored to be engaged to, was giving her the time of day. The multifaceted entertainer resents that when she looks back on those years and considers what she’s been able to accomplish in the years since.

“People thought I was quite odd-looking until a white male validated my beauty,” she told The Guardian magazine. “That’s frustrating, and I still don’t accept it. But if I sing really well, you can’t question that. If I dance well, you can’t question that. If I express myself honestly, or if I’m pole dancing or wushu-ing excellently, you can’t question that. I’ve never felt more beautiful because I’ve never been more skilled. Everything else is ephemeral.”

colleague:

Helena Bonham Carter

colleague:

Anna Kendrick

colleague:

James Franco

colleague:

Tom Holland

colleague:

Sebastian Stan

References

• Robert Pattinson