On this day in the year 1990, Kristen Jaymes Stewart was born in Los Angeles to a script supervisor mother and father who works in television. Who'd have guessed that she'd grow up to become the highest earning actress in Hollywood before she was old enough to drink? Thanks to the Twilight films, Stewart's star rose in the blink of an eye (okay, four years and soon to be five movies), but she also deserves credit for racking up indie cred between bouts of vampire swooning. On the occasion of her 22nd birthday -- and with 22 features to her name to date -- let's name Stewart's finest onscreen moment.
Stewart began her career with a few uncredited appearances in kids flicks (The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas, anyone?) before launching a steady stream of child acting roles (Catch That Kid, Panic Room, Cold Creek Manor). By her early teens she was already balancing indie dramas with mainstream films (Catch That Kid and Undertow in 2004; Fierce People and Zathura in 2005), continuing to keep a foot in both worlds even after 2008's Twilight.
Over the years she's robbed a bank, adventured through space, battled a debilitating neurological disease, rocked out as Joan Jett, and hooked the mean streets of New Orleans; played daughter to Jodie Foster, Dennis Quaid, Robert De Niro, Meg Ryan, and Diane Lane; and romanced Jesse Eisenberg, Emile Hirsch, Jamie Bell, Adam Brody, Eddie Redmayne, and, of course, Robert Pattinson. (This year she'll be seen Snow White and the Huntsman, On the Road, and the franchise-ender The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2.)
But reach back to 2001 and you'll find fine work from an 11-year-old Stewart playing tomboy Sam in the ensemble indie The Safety of Objects. Rose Troche's suburban drama featured a natural, instinctive turn from Stewart, who shared scenes with Patricia Clarkson and Timothy Olyphant a full year before mainstream audiences saw her in Panic Room. Watch little Kristen Stewart below and chime in below.