He was also cast as Brendan Finney in the final season of the TV series Third Watch and as Barsad in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises, for whom he also appeared in small roles in Interstellar and Tenet.

[5] Stewart got his start doing local theater at the Landmark Theatre in Sutton, West Virginia, and eventually moved to New York City to study at the T. Schreiber studios.

He continued his theater in Los Angeles, performing in Light Bulb and Beacon alongside Robert Forster and Brooke Shields.

[7] Stewart also had a recurring role in Criminal Minds as Detective William LaMontagne Jr., SSA Jennifer "JJ" Jareau's boyfriend and later, husband.

After Third Watch was cancelled, Stewart started filming a movie entitled Lenexa, 1 Mile (released on DVD as Full Count), alongside William Baldwin, Michael Beach, Jennifer Hall, Timothy Ryan Hensel, Chris Klein, Austin Nichols, Jason Ritter, Michael Rooker, and Paul Wesley.

In 2009, he had his first feature film starring role, in the horror movie The Collector, playing the part of Arkin, a man attempting to rob a house to make enough money to pay off his wife's debts to loan sharks.

In 2010, he starred, alongside Jamie-Lynn Sigler in the movie Beneath the Dark, (originally titled Wake)[14] inspired by the novel The Shining.

[15] He appeared in Christopher Nolan's final film in his Batman Saga, The Dark Knight Rises as Bane's right-hand man, Barsad.

The found footage film revolves around Jake (Stewart) and Stevie (Ronnie Gene Blevins) who want their own TV show.

In an attempt to grab the media's attention, both Jake and Stevie head to the dense, secluded woods in West Virginia, armed with only their bows and a camera, to find the biggest guy they can.