K. Stew Just Broke A Huge Record

I've been a vehement Kristen Stewart defender for the better part of a decade now, so I firmly believe that this amazing news should come as a surprise to no one. According to E! Online, Kristen Stewart was just nominated for a major award that broke a huge record no American female in Hollywood has been able to crack — for 30 years. Seriously.

So, what's the award? Per the report, Stewart has officially been nominated for a 2015 César Award, recognizing her supporting role in the indie flick Clouds of Sils Maria. For those of you who may not know, this is huge: The César Awards are basically the Academy Awards of France, and an American actress hasn't received a César nomination for the past 30 years — Stewart is the first in a long, long while, and that's only more proof of her excellence as an actress.

I get some of the skeptical speculation surrounding Stewart's career, I do: Not everyone understood Twilight, nor did they identify with its romantic and admittedly sappy overtones. But, it served its purpose for what it was, which is an extremely successful franchise, and Stewart played her part well. This award nomination, now, is all the more proof that the actress deserves to be taken seriously.

In addition to her recent success, here are some other reasons you should take K. Stew seriously:

1. She's Serious About Her Craft

Yes, she's been involved in some big budget films, but her resume is mostly filled with highly-acclaimed indie projects: On the Road, The Clouds of Sils Maria, Welcome to the Rileys, Into the Wild, Still Alice, and The Runaways, to name a few.

2. She's Been Nominated For (And Won) Impressive Awards

• She won a Young Artist Award for Best Supporting Young Actress in a Feature Film for her work in Into the Wild — not to mention, Stewart was nominated for 3 other Young Artist Awards for Panic Room, Cold Creek Manor, and Undertow.

• She was nominated, along with the cast of Into the Wild, for a SAG Award in 2007 for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture.

• She won Best Actress for her role in Welcome to the Rileys at the Milan International Film Festival.

3. She's Refreshingly Down-To-Earth and Self-Aware

As she told Vanity Fair France ,

...I think that after Twilight and after Snow White and the Huntsman, which were such huge movies, that I felt I didn’t want to search for the next “big, successful” thing. One thing that people do with two enormous movies is think that that’s their thing now, to do big movies, and ride that wave. I got off this huge wave and said, “I’m going to go in for a bit.” I’m going to come back out later. That was good. I needed some time off. I needed to get in with my friends. I needed to be back in my life. I needed to like, live in my house and be surrounded by my own shit and play guitar and write.

4. She's Respected By Show Business Veterans

Julianne Moore, who stars in Still Alice with Stewart, told IndieWire:

...So she made a movie with my husband when she was 12, and I can remember when he was casting it, and he’s like: 'This is the girl I want to work with. This girl is extraordinary. She is going to be a huge star, she's a major talent.' So there was never any question in my mind that Kristen wouldn't — I always knew how special she was. What was a pleasure for me, working with her, is to witness somebody that’s got that enormous reserve of emotion at their fingertips. It's just right there. She has a tremendous amount of feeling. It was a joy to sit there and watch her access it. There were times when I was working with her — when I could see her, her face would flush. I'd see the feeling in her eyes. I also — you know she's only 24 years old, and she's a young person. But she has a remarkable degree of maturity and compassion.

Additionally, in 2012, the late and great James Gandolfini wrote of Stewart in Variety for the "SAG Preview: Actors on Actors," saying:

Kristen Stewart is one of the mad ones. But mad in a beautiful way. And she is determined to make people mad. To show them she is more than Bella in Twilight. To show them she does burn, and smolder, and wants more out of her career and life. And smolder she does.

As soon as she steps into the movie On the Road, you can’t take your eyes off her. As Marylou, whenever she fixes her gaze, you see someone who will go as far as she can, and do it as mad as she can, to live and feel alive. [...] Stick around my friends, and there will be much, much more to come.

Congrats to Stewart on the nomination! The César Awards will take place on Feb. 20, in Paris.

Image: Giphy