Julia Stiles

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Born in New York City on March 28th, 1981, Julia Stiles has always had the air of someone who knows what they want and how to get it.

That confidence extended to her acting. At the age of 11, she wrote a letter to a theatre director asking for a audition and was soon doing plays at New York’s La Mama Theater and Kitchen Theater. Shortly thereafter she landed a couple of gigs on the children’s series Ghostwriter. By 1997, she had a guest shot on Chicago Hope.

Her film career started in 1996, when she appeared with Jeanne Moreau, Claire Danes and Jude Law in I Love You, I Love You Not. That was followed in 1997 by a role in The Devil’s Own opposite Harrison Ford and Brad Pitt. In 1998, she made the thriller Wicked and the family comedy Wide Awake which starred Rosie O’Donnell and was written and directed by future Sixth Sense helmer M. Night Shyamalan.

1999 was the year that Julia really gained national attention on both the small and big screens. On TV, she starred in the mini-series The 60s and on the big screen she played tough but sexy Katarina ‘Kat’ Stratford in the enjoyable 10 Things I Hate About You opposite Heath Ledger. The remake of Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew received mixed notices, but the two leads were definitely labeled “ones to watch”.

When 2000 rolled around, Julia appeared in the teen flick Down to You as well as the modern day Hamlet. She also joined the rest of the cast of David Mamet’s State and Main when they premiered their film at the Toronto International Film Festival.

In 2001, Julia Stiles put on her dancing shoes and had the surprise box office hit Save the Last Dance. She also appeared at the Toronto Festival again with Stockard Channing in The Business of Strangers. That same year finally saw the release of O, based on Shakespeare’s Othello. The film had actually been completed in 1998 but had been held back because of a rash high school violence.

Julia also appeared with Matt Damon in 2002’s The Bourne Identity. In 2003, she worked opposite Jason Lee in A Guy Thing, Shirley MacLaine in Carolina and Julia Roberts in Mona Lisa Smile.

Julia’s 2004 slate include The Prince & Me, Romance & Cigarettes and The Bourne Supremacy.

2005 saw her in Edmond with William H. Macy and Joe Mantegna and A Little Trip to Heaven opposite Forest Whitaker. A year later, she was in the remake of The Omen with Liev Schreiber.

2007’s The Bourne Ultimatum saw her reteam with Matt Damon and Joan Allen, while 2008’s Gospel Hill saw her working with Angela Bassett, Giancarlo Esposito and Danny Glover. After 2009’s movie The Cry of the Owl (with Paddy Considine), Stiles appeared in a ten episode arc of the series Dexter with Michael C. Hall.

A busy 2012 saw her in an episode of Jan, It’s A Disaster (also featuring America Ferrera), Girl Most Likely with Kristen Wiig and Annette Bening, Silver Linings Playbook with Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Robert De Niro, Between Us opposite Taye Diggs and Melissa George, Stars in Shorts with Colin Firth, Keira Knightley and Judi Dench, and Midnight Sun with Titus Welliver and Daniella Pineda. She also started work on the web series Blue.

The 2013 TV movie The Makeover (with David Walton and Camryn Manheim) was a gender-reversed take on Pygmalion, while the movie Closed Circuit was a terrorism tale with Eric Bana, Rebecca Hall and Jim Broadbent. In 2014, she worked opposite Scott Speedman in Out of the Dark and played Dr. Jessica Lieberstein in Mindy Kaling’s sitcom The Mindy Project.

2015 saw her in the TV movie Guilt by Association with Elisabeth Röhm and Niall Matter.

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