Cullen Family: Every Member and Who Plays Them

The Cullen family tree has two parents at the top, five adopted children beneath them and one granddaughter at the bottom. Carlisle and Esme lead the household, and the films present Edward, Alice, Jasper, Rosalie and Emmett as their adopted children, which is why the school sees them as adopted siblings. Rosalie and Jasper carry the Hale surname in the credits, while the other three carry Cullen.

Two branches grow out of the central story. Bella Swan marries Edward in Breaking Dawn Part 1 (2011), directed by Bill Condon, which makes her a Cullen by marriage. Their daughter Renesmee is born in the same film, so Carlisle and Esme become grandparents and the five adopted children become her aunts and uncles, with Edward as her father. Jacob Black, the werewolf who bonds with Renesmee, is close to the family but is not a Cullen, and neither is Charlie Swan, Bella's father.

For the oldest to youngest question, Carlisle and Esme head the family and Renesmee is the youngest by birth. The films give no birth order among the five adopted children.

Dr. Carlisle Cullen, played by Peter Facinelli, is the doctor who heads the household and the adoptive father of its five children, and he is billed in all five films. He first appears in Twilight (2008) when Edward brings Bella home to meet the family, and he and Esme lead the Cullens who arrive at the ballet studio after James attacks her.

His weight grows with each sequel. In New Moon the family pleads for Bella's life in Volterra, and the reprieve they win depends on her being changed soon. At the end of Breaking Dawn Part 1, after the credits, the Volturi receive his letter about the wedding and Bella's transformation, and their leader says the Cullens still have something he wants. In Breaking Dawn Part 2 he is among those who fall in the vision Alice shows Aro, a glimpse of how badly the Volturi would lose. His own page, carlisle cullen, covers him in full.

Edward Cullen, played by Robert Pattinson, is the adopted son at the center of the saga, and the films keep him seventeen. When Bella turns eighteen in New Moon, she dreads getting older while Edward stays seventeen forever. So, on the question of whether he is still seventeen, his body is, and the films never put a number on his mind.

He first draws Bella's attention in Twilight (2008) by behaving strangely around her, then saves her from a van sliding across the school parking lot. After the Cullens leave Forks in New Moon, he travels to Italy to ask the Volturi to kill him when he wrongly believes Bella is dead. In Eclipse he proposes, and he kills Victoria and Riley in the mountains. In Breaking Dawn Part 1 he marries Bella, changes her by injecting venom into her heart, and can hear the baby's thoughts, which is when he softens toward the child. His character page is at edward cullen.

Alice Cullen, played by Ashley Greene, is the adopted daughter whose visions of the future warn the family. In Eclipse her visions show an army of newborn vampires heading toward Forks, and the Cullens start watching the area closely. In New Moon her gift causes a crisis: she sees Bella jump off a cliff and wrongly tells Edward that Bella is dead, which sends him to Italy.

That mistake sets up a major set piece, because Alice then brings Bella to Volterra and Bella reaches Edward just before he exposes himself to the sun in public. In Breaking Dawn Part 2 she leaves after seeing a vision of the Volturi coming, and the Cullens decide to gather vampire friends from around the world to stand as witnesses for Renesmee. Alice later shows Aro a vision of the battle that would follow, and she also glimpses a future in which a grown Renesmee and Jacob are together. Her character page is at alice cullen.

Jasper Hale, played by Jackson Rathbone, is an adopted son whose role in the films is defined by control and by experience. At Bella's eighteenth birthday party in New Moon, a paper cut leaves him overcome by the scent of her blood, and he lunges at her. That moment convinces Edward that his world is too dangerous for her, and the family leaves Forks.

In Eclipse the same background becomes useful. As the Cullens and the werewolf pack train side by side before the fight with Victoria's newborn army, Jasper explains to the group, and to Bella, how newborns fight, drawing on his own past. The Hale surname in the credits is shared with Rosalie, and the films present both as adopted children of Carlisle and Esme. In Breaking Dawn Part 2, he is among those who fall in the vision Alice shows Aro.

Rosalie Hale, played by Nikki Reed, is the adopted daughter who guards Bella through her pregnancy. In Breaking Dawn Part 1, once Bella is pregnant and the baby grows at an alarming speed, Rosalie guards her in Forks while Edward fears for Bella's life and the family worries over her failing health.

The film gives her a larger role here: she watches over Bella at the very moment a wolf pack decides the child must be destroyed. She is billed in every film of the series, including Breaking Dawn Part 2. Her character page is at rosalie hale.

Emmett Cullen, played by Kellan Lutz, is the fifth adopted child of Carlisle and Esme, and he is billed in every film. He is credited as Emmet Cullen in Twilight (2008) and as Emmett Cullen from New Moon onward.

The plot summaries of the five films name the family as a group rather than pointing to Emmett alone, so his part is as a member of the Cullen ensemble. He is there at the family's gatherings and at the standoff in Breaking Dawn Part 2, without a storyline of his own.

Bella Swan, played by Kristen Stewart and billed first in all five films, begins as an outsider and becomes a Cullen by marriage and then by transformation. She moves from Phoenix to Forks to live with her father Charlie in Twilight (2008), learns that Edward is a vampire and falls for him anyway.

Her path to the family runs through the rest of the series. In New Moon, the Volturi decide she must be turned or killed because she knows their secret, and Edward says he will change her only if she marries him. In Eclipse she accepts his proposal. In Breaking Dawn Part 1 she marries Edward, becomes pregnant, nearly dies in labor and wakes up as a vampire with red eyes. In Breaking Dawn Part 2 she discovers that her mental shield can be stretched to protect other people from vampire powers, and in the final scene she drops it so Edward can see her memories. Her character page is at bella swan.

Renesmee, played by Mackenzie Foy, is Bella and Edward's daughter and the youngest Cullen. She is born at the climax of Breaking Dawn Part 1, and Jacob Black, who had been furious about the baby, bonds with her instead, which ends the wolf pack's plan to destroy her.

She is the engine of Breaking Dawn Part 2. She grows at an astonishing speed, Charlie begins to sense something is off about the family, and Irina glimpses her from far away and carries a mistaken story to the Volturi: that Renesmee is an immortal child, a forbidden kind of vampire that cannot be controlled. The Cullens spend the film gathering witnesses to show otherwise. Behind the camera, Bustle reports that the filmmakers dropped an animatronic doll and built the character with CGI and face mapping on Foy. See renesmee for her own page.

The Cullen family powers the films show are a handful of clear gifts. Alice sees visions of the future, and the plots of New Moon, Eclipse and Breaking Dawn Part 2 all turn on what she sees or gets wrong. Edward hears the baby's thoughts in Breaking Dawn Part 1, which is when he softens and comes to love the child. Bella's mental shield, discovered after she becomes a vampire, can be stretched to protect other people from vampire powers, and it keeps Edward from seeing her memories until she lowers it.

Jasper's strength is knowledge rather than a named power: he knows how newborns fight and teaches the group in Eclipse. For Carlisle, Esme, Rosalie and Emmett, the films define them through role and loyalty rather than a gift. For how the films compare with Stephenie Meyer's books, see twilight books vs movies.

In my opinion, the Cullens rank like this by how much of the five films they drive, not by who is the better actor or the more likable character. First is Edward, because almost every plot turn passes through his choices: leaving Bella in New Moon, traveling to Italy, proposing in Eclipse and changing her in Breaking Dawn Part 1. To answer the question of whether he is still mentally seventeen, it could be argued that he is: leaving to protect someone and then trying to die when you believe you have lost her are teenage decisions made at full intensity. That is my reading, not something the films state.

Second is Alice, whose vision error sends Edward to Volterra and whose vision and last witness help make the Volturi back down in the last film. Third is Bella, who changes from human to Cullen over the course of the saga. Fourth is Renesmee, who gives Breaking Dawn Part 2 its entire conflict. Fifth is Carlisle, the steady leader whose letter sets the Volturi's attention on the family.

Sixth is Rosalie, whose guarding of Bella in Breaking Dawn Part 1 is her defining stretch. Seventh is Jasper, strongest in Eclipse when he explains newborn tactics. Eighth is Esme, and ninth is Emmett, both of whom have the fewest defining scenes in the plots. Perhaps a future project, such as the Midnight Sun series, could give them more room. For the films themselves, see twilight movies ranked.