Kristen Stewart will take acting break to 'make some stuff with my hands'

One-time highest-paid female actor in the world has announced she’s swapping front of screen work for a stint pursuing other ‘creative endeavours’ such as directing and poetry

Kristen Stewart at a screening of Clouds Of Sils Maria in New York on 8 October. Photograph: Jim Spellman/WireImage

Kristen Stewart, the Twilight star who just two years ago was named the highest-paid female actor in the world by Forbes magazine, has announced she is to take a break from acting.

Speaking to USA Today, Stewart said she would take time off to pursue other creative endeavours after starring in 10 films in the past four years.
“I’m taking some time off because I’ve been working for two years,” she said. “I’m an actor and that’s my art form, and because I started so young, I’ve always felt intimidated and insufficient when I think about other forms of art I want to create. I’m going to take so much time off.”

Added Stewart, 24: “I’m going to buy a live-work space in downtown LA and I’m going to make some [stuff] with my hands. Literally, I made that decision a few weeks ago. I’m making a short film. I’m making a bunch of [stuff]. I don’t know how I’ll put it out. But I’m not going to hold it so preciously close to me. I write all the time.”

The actor said she was relaxed about taking time off from an industry which saw her paid an estimated $34.5m (£22m) between May 2011 and May 2012 at the height of the Twilight saga’s box office success. “Now, I really have no apprehension about anything, which is great,” she said. “I can get behind all of my creative endeavours more so than ever before. I’m super happy and challenged and inspired and relaxed.”

Stewart, who has published poetry, has plenty of movies in the can which have not yet hit cinemas. She was acclaimed for her turns in Toronto hit Still Alice, which is due in US cinemas in January, as well as Cannes drama The Clouds of Sils Maria. She also stars in indie drama Anesthesia from actor-director Tim Blake Nelson, opposite Nicholas Hoult in sci fi romance Equals, and has wrapped on action comedy American Ultra, co-starring Jesse Eisenberg.

Actors who took a break

Daniel Day Lewis

According to Harvey Weinstein, Day-Lewis was taking time off to work as a cobbler in Florence when the Hollywood super-producer teamed up with director Martin Scorsese and star Leonardo DiCaprio to lure him back to New York “on false pretences” so they could persuade him to play Bill the Butcher in 2002’s Gangs of New York.

Ryan Gosling

“I think it’s good for me to take a break and reassess why I’m doing it and how I’m doing it,” the Drive star told the Associated Press last year. “And I think this is probably a good way to learn about that. I need a break from myself as much as I imagine the audience does.”

Joaquin Phoenix

Announced his retirement from film to pursue a career as a mumbling, hirsute rapper in 2008, but it turned out to be a hoax designed to allow the Oscar nominee to shoot the mockumentary I’m Still Here with pal Casey Affleck.

Chris Evans

“If I’m acting at all, it’s going to be under Marvel contract, or I’m going to be directing,” said Evans in March, suggesting a shift to pastures new once his six-film run as Captain America ends in the next couple of years. “I can’t see myself pursuing acting strictly outside of what I’m contractually obligated to do.”

“I’m not quitting acting”, backtracked the star a few days later, adding: “I certainly am going to try and focus a bit more on directing at this point.” Directorial debut Before We Go - in which he also starred - met with a mixed reception at Toronto in September.