Rising Star: Kristen Stewart

With her dark hair and fine features, Kristen Stewart could make a great vampire — but in “Twilight,” she only dates one. Kristen plays Bella, the human Juliet to Edward’s vampire Romeo, in the teen romance, and the way she bites into the role has helped make her AccessHollywood.com‘s latest Rising Star.

The LA-bred 18-year-old actress got her start alongside Jodie Foster in 2002’s “Panic Room” — an auspicious beginning for a child star who has worked consistently since. But no role has been as big as “Twilight,” a sensation that has made her a star among readers of Stephenie Meyer’s novels well in advance of the film adaptation’s release on Nov. 21.

VIEW THE PHOTOS: Rising Star: Kristen Stewart

“It’s a very passionate book so it makes sense that the audience would be as hardcore,” Kristen told Access Hollywood. “They’re already going crazy over the hot vampires.”

Kristen came late to the series herself, discovering the novels when she heard about the film. But it’s been love at first bite ever since.

VIEW THE PHOTOS: ‘Twilight’ Scenes & Stars

”[I] lived with the first book,” she said. “For like three months or how ever long that was, and I haven’t been able to move on.”

As “Twilight” readers have discovered, it was hard for her not to identify with the character.

“Bella is sort of easy for every girl to relate to,” she said. “You feel like you are her when you’re reading the book. It’s a total vicarious experience — she really encompasses like the best very fundamental female qualites. She’s a little insecure but she compensates, she likes herself and she trusts herself.”

VIEW THE PHOTOS: Young Hollywood

And she’s infatuated with Edward — a vampire as lonely as he is chiseled.

“There’s like chapters dedicated to descriptions of his jaw line [in the book],” Kristen said. “She’s just obsessed with this guy.”

Robert Pattinson, whose hair has already reportedly caused near-riots during Q&A sessions for the film, filled the role nicely.

“He was so different from everybody else that came in [to audition],” she said. “He’s very responsive, he sees and he listens. And that’s very important, that you’re not acting in a scene by yourself.”

While there were moments of levity on set, with Robert proposing to her numerous times (she has a boyfriend), their on-screen relationship was an intense one.

“What I found really difficult was to keep the push and pull between the two characters and what it feels like to be around him specific and acute,” she said. “He’s not like some guy you have a crush on. Literally, you want him so bad, it hurts. It’s like a magnetic draw.”

Judging by the hordes of fans lining up to see the film, she’s not the only one being pulled in. As with most teen idols, female fans of the series have been expectedly possessive of Robert, which has led to polar opposite reactions to Kristen.

“I get these really, really envious girls that either really like me or really hate me because they want to be me,” she said.

As Kristen can attest as Access’ latest Rising Star, that’s not a bad thing to be.

Related Content from AccessHollywood.com:
PLAY IT NOW: Kristen Stewart Talks ‘Twilight’
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