Despite her stratospheric launch into stardom with the Twilight films, she stayed true to her roots by working on a number of indie projects, including Adventureland (2009) (filmed prior to the Twilight series) and Welcome to the Rileys (2010). And she took on the daunting task of playing hard rocker Joan Jett in Floria Sigismondi's The Runaways(2010) alongside Dakota Fanning. Stewart received praise for her acting and musical performances and later won the 2010 BAFTA Rising Star Award and best actress at the Milan International Film Festival for Welcome to the Rileys (2010).
Stewart starred in several other movies filmed between the Twilight Saga installments including the #1 summer box office hit, Snow White and the Huntsman (2012), and the Cannes selection On the Road (2012)
A few of Stewart's following projects are: Sundance drama Camp X-Ray (2014), Cannes selection Clouds of Sils Maria (2014) for which she won a César award, and the Lionsgate distributed action comedy, American Ultra (2015), starring the Adventureland(2009) duo.
Stewart continues to live in Los Angeles, California.