Interviewee: Robert Pattinson
Date: November 6, 2008

When Robert Pattinson played the role of a wizard in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, not a few girls took a long second look at him. But when he turned vampire for Twilight, millions of them not only looked — they wanted a bite from him.

Until the film adaptations of J.K. Rowling and Stephenie Meyer’s books sidled along, Robert Pattinson had been pretty much the obscure thespian. The biggest screen credit to his name then was a made-for-TV movie.

Born in May 1986 to an auto dealer and a modeling agent in London, Robert Pattinson precociously caught his acting bug. He studied drama at the Harrodian and later entered the Barnes Theatre Company.

Robert Pattinson earned roles in several company productions, including Tess of the D’urbervilles. He also acted in a staging of Macbeth at London’s Old Sorting Office Arts Centre.

He eventually broke into TV screens in 2004 with Ring of the Nibelungs, a German-made movie of the Nordic myth. Two years later, the SciFi Channel broadcasted it in the US as Dark Kingdom: The Dragon King.

Additionally, Robert Pattinson portrayed a young James Purefoy in Mira Nair’s Vanity Fair, but his scenes were edited out.

On the upside, he had work reserved for him after shooting Nibelungs in 2003. Mike Newell, director of Goblet of Fire, cast him as the ill-fated Hufflepuff wizard Cedric Diggory.

Opening in 2005, Goblet of Fire brought unprecedented opportunities for Robert Pattinson. He instantly became the newest British sensation, the “Star of Tomorrow,” according to The Times Online.

He snatched even more meaty roles after Goblet of Fire. He performed opposite Catherine Tate for ITV in The Bad Mother’s Handbook and played a World War II pilot in BBC Four’s The Haunted Airman. He also reprised his wizardly role, albeit briefly, in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

Yet his brightest star turn was with Twilight, where he played the eternally 17-year old vampire Edward Cullen. Twilight drained the blood off the competition when it launched in 2008. Out of its box office juggernaut emerged Robert Pattinson, the world famous dreamboat.

In addition to Twilight, Pattinson released two movies in 2008. In one, Little Ashes, he played famous surrealist painter Salvador Dali.