Robert Pattinson

Pattinson was born on 13 May 1986 in London, the youngest of three children of Clare (Charlton), a scout at a modelling agency, and Richard Pattinson, a vintage car dealer. He grew up in a small home in Barnes with two older sisters, Elizabeth (Lizzy) and Victoria. Pattinson started learning the guitar and piano at the age of four. He attended Tower House School, from which, aged 12, he was expelled for shoplifting adult magazines at a post office shop and selling them later to his male classmates. He completed his schooling at the Harrodian School. As a teenager he worked as a photo model for British fashion brands and magazines to improve his pocket money and developed a love of cinema where he counted Jack Nicholson, Marlon Brando and Jean-Paul Belmondo among his acting idols. In his late teens and early twenties, he performed acoustic guitar gigs at open mic nights in pubs around London where he sang his own written songs either solo under the stage name Bobby Dupea, or with his band Bad Girls. He was a frequent performer at the pub The Spice of Life in London's Soho at open mic nights. Pattinson considered becoming a musician or going to university to study speechwriting but never thought about pursuing an acting career; his teacher in school even advised him not to join the drama club because she thought he was not suited for the creative arts. However, when he was 13, he joined the local amateur theatre club called Barnes Theatre Company after his father convinced him to attend because he was quite shy. At age 15 and after two years of working backstage, he auditioned for the play Guys and Dolls and he got his first role as a Cuban dancer with no lines. He got the lead role of George Gibbs in the next play Our Town, was spotted by a talent agent who was sitting in the audience and he began looking for professional roles. He also appeared in the plays Macbeth, Anything Goes, and Tess of the d'Urbervilles. Pattinson had planned to go to university, but did not because the shoot for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire went over schedule. He used to share a flat in London's Soho with fellow actor and good friend Tom Sturridge.