Robert Pattinson: The Latest Brit To Make It Big In Hollywood

Thanks to the Twilight Saga Robert Pattinson has staked his claim on the hearts of millions as Edward Cullen. And that fame has already earned him a fortune...With Twilight mania sweeping the globe it is perhaps unsurprising that vampire Robert Pattinson, aka Edward Cullen, found his way on to the Sunday Times Young Millionaires List this year.

His new entry on the list places him at 13th, above Charlotte Church and Cheryl Cole but below Rupert Grint and Daniel Radcliffe of Harry Potter fame. And at the tender age of just 24.

For the uninitiated, the Twilight Saga is a series of romantic fantasy films, which built up a cult following, based on novels by the American author Stephenie Meyer. Robert Pattinson, with a notable similarity to Robert Smith of the Cure, is its star. He is just the latest Brit to make it big in Hollywood.

His new found fame and fortune are still seemingly strange to him though, since he struggled diligently in acting for years. He started acting in amateur plays at the age of 15 with the Barnes Theatre Company.
His first real break came along with a supporting role in the television film Curse of the Ring in 2005. However most of the earnings from his first acting job then went towards paying off his fees for his attendance at the Harrodian School, in Barnes, West London.

But none of it might have happened. He has admitted that at one stage he was ready to give up acting, and spent a year instead trying to break into the music business: he's also a talented musician, playing both guitar and piano.

His next big break came along in the form of the role of Cedric Diggory, a character in the Harry Potter films. However, this temporary character was nothing in comparison to the Twilight persona he would go on to create. Twilight was the defining moment that cemented his place in the hearts and minds of millions of people, as well as making him rich.

When he first took on the role of Edward Cullen he was paid an already hefty $2m (approximately £1.3m) and by the time the mass hysteria of fandom had kicked in, the second instalment saw both him and co-star Kristen Stewart receive around six times their original fee - around £8m each.

According to E! he garnered between £8m and £9.2m for his reprisal of the role in the third installment. He also made Vanity Fair's Top Hollywood Earners of 2009, at position 36, for pulling in earnings of $18m (£12m). However, unlike most other celebrities, even those who haven't rocketed up the rich list, Pattinson appears to have no real yearning for material goods, at least not yet.

He noted that throughout the last three years he has spent much of it staying in hotels and when he's back at home in England he happily stays with his family. He considered buying a house in Hollywood but decided not for the level-headed but pessimistic reason that 'I don't even know if I'll be working next year.'

Far from being out of work, he is inundated with it. Aside from his more independent films in which he is attempting a carve out a different name for himself, the role of Edward Cullen pays well. With the release of Eclipse, the third film in the series, attention has turned to the final installment.

That movie, Breaking Dawn, is set to be split into two films and it is yet to be announced how much he earned from these although it is reported that the cast all wanted raises.

It is perhaps this guarantee of work that inspired him to be a little more decadent with his money and rent an apartment in LA which, apparently, is also furnished with rented furniture.

Not only has he not bought himself a mansion or squandered money on meaningless frivolities, but he drove his old car, a 1989 BMW until it died, literally, in flames. He finally rented an Audi S4 convertible – a car worth a modest (in Hollywood circles) £40,000 and is believed to have bought one since. Not exactly what you might attribute to being the lifestyle of the rich and the famous.

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