The world was never the same after being introduced to sparkly vampires in 2008's Twilight.
As for the main actors in the infamous saga? They've gone on to work in some pretty big
television and film projects. Here's a look into what the cast has been up to.
Twilight wasn't Kristen Stewart's first movie — not by a long shot — but her portrayal of
awkward and clumsy new girl Bella Swan no doubt helped launch her career into
the stratosphere — though she seemed destined for stardom from the get-go.
Stewart starred with Jodi Foster in 2002's Panic Room, which was early in her career.
She followed that up with some smaller roles before landing Twilight.
Even as the Twilight Saga continued for four more movies after Twilight,
Stewart balanced her portrayal of Bella with movie appearances as Joan Jett in The Runaways,
and Snow White in Snow White and the Huntsman. Despite personal drama that
filled the tabloids and threatened her career, she continued to find roles.
In recent years, Stewart has expanded her range by taking on psychological thrillers
like Personal Shopper, becoming one of Charlie's Angels in the 2019 remake of the same name,
and leading the 2020 holiday romantic comedy Happiest Season.
Stewart plays Abby in Happiest Season. An art history Ph.D. student,
she's invited home for Christmas by her girlfriend Harper. When Abby intends to propose to Harper,
plans quickly change when they both have to pretend to be straight.
When she was cast as Princess Diana in the film Spencer,
Stewart dedicated herself to research. She told Clea DuVall in a 2020 interview for InStyle:
"It's one of the saddest stories to exist ever,
and I don't want to just play Diana — I want to know her implicitly."
Harry Potter fans may have first known Robert Pattinson as Cedric Diggory in
2005's Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, but it was Pattinson's portrayal of vampire
Edward Cullen in Twilight that made him a household name. The actor has been
making some interesting choices over the years, challenging himself as a performer.
Since hanging up his Twilight fangs,
Pattinson made a surprising turn to arthouse and experimental films,
showing that his acting ability and range are far greater than Edward Cullen let on.
Pattinson played a criminal in the 2018 sci-fi horror movie High Life,
where he volunteers for a bizarre and dangerous mission in space.
As The Guardian put it, Pattinson's roles in films like The Rover in 2014,
The Lost City of Z in 2016, and The Lighthouse 2019, allowed an opportunity for, quote,
"elevating his reputation [in and] elegant reshaping of his own stardom."
Pattinson is also very committed to his roles,
particularly when it came to filming The Lighthouse,
in which he plays one of two lighthouse keepers slowly going mad. He told The Guardian:
"I like doing whatever I can to not know what's going on. To be completely
overwhelmed and disorientated. To feel like it's actually happening."
This commitment is one reason some consider him the perfect casting choice for Batman,
a role he was cast in for 2022's The Batman.
Taylor Lautner's portrayal of Jacob Black in Twilight made him an instant teen heartthrob,
despite revealing to Vanity Fair in 2008 that he was the youngest person
on set. He noted it was surprising to have so many dedicated fans.
He said:
"Just coming out onstage [at Comic-Con] and hearing everyone
scream and seeing how many people were in that auditorium was crazy."
Though it wasn't until 2009's The Twilight Saga: New Moon that a shirtless Lautner started driving
young girls wild, his abs became his calling card of sorts, but not always in a good way.
The Salt Lake Tribune called Lautner's 2011 movie Abduction exploitative,
while follow-up movies Tracers in 2014 and The Ridiculous 6 in 2015 both flopped. After that,
Lautner put his foot down about what Metro called his, quote, "penchant for displaying [his] abs."
"She's a virgin? I'm a virgin, too.
Unless you count cantaloupes." Lautner told the publication in 2016:
"I find myself rebelling against it now. [If
it] doesn't make sense for me to be shirtless, let's not do it."
Unfortunately, setting those boundaries may have cost him some films. But though
it's always challenging to miss opportunities, Lautner seems to be sticking by his choices.
He tried his hand at comedy with the Netflix series Cuckoo from 2014 to 2018 and Ryan
Murphy's Scream Queens in 2016, but he seems to have largely stepped away from Hollywood.
Grey's Anatomy fans no doubt recognized Elizabeth Reaser,
who played Edward's vampire "foster mother" Esme Cullen in Twilight.
Reaser had been guest starring in television long before — and even during — the Twilight films.
After the final Twilight installment, Reaser found herself in other movie roles,
playing Doctor Edwards in the 2015 Sally Field flick Hello, My Name is Doris,
as well as joining horror movies Ouija: Origin of Evil in 2016 and Nightmare Cinema in 2018.
And horror seems to be agreeing with Reaser.
Recently, ten years after the first Twilight film, the actress took on
the role of mortician Shirley Crain in the Netflix smash hit The Haunting of Hill House.
The role of a mortician in a dysfunctional family
seems somehow fitting for someone who is so well known as the matriarch of the undead.
Often ranked as the favorite Cullen vampire, Ashley Greene's portrayal
of the precognitive vampire Alice Cullen stole hearts. Maybe it was her politeness,
especially toward Bella who she cared for like a sister. Despite that fan love,
Greene's work since Twilight hasn't been the undeniable success many might have predicted.
While Greene has certainly been in some audience and critic favorites like 2018's Antiquities and
Accident Man and 2019's Bombshell, she's also been in a series of major flops.
She's certainly been working hard across genres, taking roles in horror,
such as 2012's The Apparition, drama like 2013's CBGB, and comedy such as 2014's Burying the Ex and
2015's Staten Island Summer, but critics haven't been fans of most of the films she's taken on.
That may be part of the reason that Greene has recently started taking on TV movies,
specifically Hallmark holiday movies. She told KTLA 5 that she always wanted to star
in a Christmas movie, and she got her wish by starring in 2019's Christmas on My Mind.
"My family and I always have Christmas music playing in the background all throughout
December. We're one of those families, and so now I get to force them to watch my Christmas movie."
Greene will soon be heading back to the big screen. She's set to
star in Aftermath and The Immaculate Room.
Peter Facinelli's portrayal of the charming and honorable Dr. Carlisle Cullen was far
from his first movie role. That first movie was 1995's Angela in which he played Lucifer
in makeup not too unlike the white makeup he'd wear more than a decade later as Dr. Cullen,
but it was Twilight that introduced Facinelli to a new generation of fans.
Despite years of movie roles, after Twilight Facinelli was very in-demand on television.
Facinelli's television roles include Glee, American Odyssey and S.W.A.T.,
in addition to a villainous turn as Maxwell Lord on Supergirl,
and a six-year stint on Nurse Jackie. But Facinelli doesn't just act.
In 2019, Facinelli sported a mustache while playing special agent Number One
in Running with the Devil, a film about a cocaine supply chain.
He's a man of many talents; Not only did Facinelli co-create the graphic novel Protocol Orphans and
co-write the novel After the Red Rain, he both wrote and directed 2020's The Vanished,
in which he played Deputy Rakes. These days, Facinelli is making a
return to starring in films, with several in various stages of production in 2021.
While many of the Twilight vampire stars look different in real life than their
on-screen counterparts, perhaps none is more different than Nikki Reed,
who played Edward's "foster sister," the quick-tempered Rosalie Hale.
Her drastically different appearance in real life is one reason you may think you
haven't seen much of Reed since Twilight, though she also hasn't been doing as much
on screen — fans may remember her as Betsy Ross on the TV series Sleepy Hollow in 2015 and 2016
or for her short arc on V-Wars alongside her husband Ian Somerhalder in 2019.
That same year, she guest-starred on Hulu's Dollface. Reed played Bronwyn,
a neo-hippy who invites the cast to do peyote in the desert.
Instead of focusing on acting these days, Reed is busy living green and inspiring
others to do the same. She started the lifestyle brand BaYou with Love.
"I founded BaYou in hopes of creating conscious pieces that were
as beautiful as they were sustainable."
The company focuses on sustainable fashion, accessories, home, and beauty products,
and she partnered with UpWest in 2020 to design two Earth Day t-shirts with
the proceeds benefiting her husband's foundation.
While he'd enjoyed both movie and television roles before Twilight,
and has enjoyed many since, Kellan Lutz is arguably best known for his portrayal of
the physically intimidating but playful vampire Emmett Cullen.
Lutz portrayed the large-statured Emmett for all five of the Twilight films and went on to
hold other roles fit for a man of his size, including playing the titular character in
2014's The Legend of Hercules . He appeared alongside the likes of Sylvester Stallone,
Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Jason Statham in The Expendables 3 the same year.
But Lutz isn't limited to just action roles,
despite currently playing Special Agent Kenny Crosby on FBI: Most Wanted.
Lutz told Canada's In the Seats:
"Don't get me wrong, I love doing the hero/action guy type of parts. [...] Just something better
rounded and ultimately relatable is what I am keeping my eyes open for these days."
That said, Lutz wishes we'd seen more of Emmett during Twilight
and wouldn't say no to reprising the role. He told Showbiz Junkies in 2018:
"I would of course love to have more Emmett, do another movie,
do a more origin story of how he came to be."
Like his Twilight co-star Nikki Reed, Jackson Rathbone looks a bit different
these days than he did as newly "vegetarian" vampire Jasper Hale, but perhaps that's
because in real life he doesn't "look like he's in pain," as he's described onscreen.
Following Twilight's success, Rathbone began starring in mostly little-known
movies like 2009's thriller Hurt, 2013's Live at the Foxes Den,
and the 2014 horror City of Dead Men, but much of Rathbone's recent work is more personal.
In a 2018 interview with Us Weekly to discuss his film Heart, Baby,
Rathbone also talked about several of his other films including filming the
2020 movie Dreaming Grand Avenue, and revealed his own mental health struggles in the past.
He said:
"I've definitely been [at] some of the lowest lows. I really try, nowadays,
to be open and honest about it. [...] It's hard to talk about when you're in it."
Like his on-screen foster father Peter Facinelli, Rathbone is also a musician and released his
first single in 2016, followed by his debut album in 2018 called American Spirit Blues,
proving he can balance acting and creating music all while raising
a family with his wife, Sheila Hafsadi - they welcomed their third child in 2020.
It was arguably her role as Bella's high-strung human friend Jessica Stanley in Twilight that
propelled then little-known actress Anna Kendrick to the household name she is today.
After her appearance in Twilight,
Kendrick was cast as Stacey Pilgrim in 2010's Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.
She followed that up with her well-known role as Beca in Pitch Perfect in 2012. While her part in
The Twilight Saga was small compared to her role in the Pitch Perfect franchise, there's no denying
that her portrayal of Bella's somewhat-forced bestie was a great springboard for her success.
In addition to Pitch Perfect, Kendrick starred as Cinderella in the 2014 film adaptation of Into the
Woods, starred alongside Ben Affleck in the 2016 crime drama The Accountant, voiced Poppy in the
Trolls franchise, and warmed hearts as Noelle in the Disney movie of the same name in 2019.
In 2020, Kendrick starred in the HBO Max romantic comedy series,
Love Life, playing Darby Carter, who searches for lasting love in all the wrong places.
To say Kendrick has become a star would be an understatement,
and to think it all started in the tiny town of Forks.
Though Billy Burke has been acting in television and films for more than two decades, his beloved
portrayal of Bella's dad, Charlie Swan, in Twilight breathed new life into his career.
He had stints on the series 24 and Gilmore Girls before landing his role in Twilight.
It may seem like our favorite small town chief of police has disappeared since his Twilight days,
but it's probably just that you don't recognize Burke without his Charlie Swan mustache.
Since the final movie in The Twilight Saga, Burke has spent most of his time on television,
starring as Miles Matheson in Revolution from 2012 to 2014
and as veterinary pathologist Dr. Mitch Morgan in Zoo from 2015 to 2017.
Along the way, he also had a recurring role as a pretty despicable villain in the TV series
Major Crimes from 2015 to 2018 and was cast as Hank in the 2021 Netflix miniseries Maid.
But television isn't Burke's only love. Papa Swan is also an indie musician!
He released his first album, Removed, in 2010, followed by The Underkill in 2018.
As any Twilight fan can tell you, not all of the vampires who made their way to Forks,
Washington are as civilized as the Cullens. The tracker vampire James, played by Cam Gigandet,
may not have made it past the first movie once he set his sights on Bella,
but Gigandet successfully moved on to other films.
In 2014, Gigandet, who had short stints on The Young and the Restless and The O.C.,
moved back to television as Roy Rader in the short-lived Reckless,
followed by two seasons portraying diamond dealer Jake Green on Ice from 2016 to 2018.
Gigandet also scored a role in The Magnificent Seven as the right-hand man to Peter Sarsgaard's
corrupt Bartholomew Bogue, but the film was met with mixed reviews. And While Gigandet was set
to appear alongside his Twilight co-star Peter Facinelli in The Dragon's Egg, the film has been
listed as in pre-production since 2017 and seems to have been shelved, at least for the time being.
Edi Gathegi was certainly memorable as the vampire Laurent, whose loyalties were
more than a little murky in Twilight. Like many of his Twilight co-stars,
portraying a vampire wasn't Gathegi's first role, and it certainly wasn't his last.
In 2011, he played the adaptive mutant Darwin in X-Men: First Class, followed by a whole
host of television roles from 2013 to 2020, including an arc as Jean Baptiste on Justified,
the villain Matias [ma-TEE-ahss] Solomon on The Blacklist — and its spinoff The Blacklist:
Redemption — and, most recently, A.D. Singe on the crime, mystery-thriller Briarpatch, starring
alongside Rosario Dawson, about an investigator bent on bringing down a corrupt town in Texas.
But, despite his television success, Gathegi isn't giving up on film roles.
He starred alongside Martin Sheen in the indie film Princess of the Row as Bo Willis,
a man who suffered a brain injury while serving in Iraq. The film won numerous
film festival awards when it premiered in 2019, including three best actor awards for Gathegi.
With the release of Caged, and The Harder They Fall slated for release in 2021,
Gathegi is back on the big screen in 2021.
The final scene in the first Twilight film went to Rachelle Lefevre as Victoria,
the vampire lover of James who thirsts for vengeance after James is killed.
The scene is a teaser for the complications yet to
come for Bella and the Cullens and sets Lefevre up as a major player in the cast.
While Lefevre did reprise her role as Victoria in The Twilight Saga: New Moon,
she was replaced by Bryce Dallas Howard once Eclipse came along.
Lefevre told Entertainment Weekly that she was, quote, "stunned" by Summit
Entertainment's decision to let her go from the franchise due to a scheduling conflict.
Still, Lefevre recovered from her apparent Hollywood faux pas,
starring in the short-lived series Off the Map, followed by parts in 2013 movies White House Down
and Homefront. She followed this up with a pivot to mostly television,
as she played Julia Shumway in Under the Dome from 2013 to 2015
followed by roles in Mary Kills People in 2018, Proven Innocent in 2019, and The Sounds in 2020.
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