Julia Stiles

Julia Stiles began her acting career in 1993, making her television debut as Erica Dansby on the mystery series Ghostwriter. She began auditioning for films in 1996 and made her film debut in I Love You, I Love You Not (1996), starring alongside Claire Danes and Jude Law. She subsequently appeared in The Devil's Own (1997) as the daughter of Harrison Ford's character and in Wide Awake (1998), directed by M. Night Shyamalan. Stiles earned her first leading film role in Wicked (1998), playing a teenager suspected of murdering her mother. She later starred in the television miniseries The '60s (1999).

In 1999, Stiles starred as Kat Stratford opposite Heath Ledger in Gil Junger's 10 Things I Hate About You, a high school adaptation of William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew. She won the MTV Movie Award for Breakthrough Female Performance for the role, and the Chicago Film Critics Association named her the most promising new actress of 1999. She next starred alongside Freddie Prinze Jr. in Down to You (2000), earning a Teen Choice Award nomination for their on-screen chemistry. That same year, she appeared as Ophelia opposite Ethan Hawke in Michael Almereyda's Hamlet (2000).

Stiles portrayed Desdemona opposite Mekhi Phifer in Tim Blake Nelson's O (2001), a boarding school adaptation of Shakespeare's Othello. She also starred in Save the Last Dance (2001) as an aspiring ballerina who moves to Chicago and pursues admission to the Juilliard School. The role earned her MTV Movie Awards for Best Kiss and Best Female Performance, as well as a Teen Choice Award for Best Fight Scene. In State and Main (2000), directed by David Mamet, she played a teenage girl who becomes involved with a film actor portrayed by Alec Baldwin. She also appeared opposite Stockard Channing in The Business of Strangers (2001).

Stiles joined the Bourne franchise as Treadstone operative Nicolette "Nicky" Parsons in The Bourne Identity (2002). Her role expanded in The Bourne Supremacy (2004) and The Bourne Ultimatum (2007). She reprised the character in Jason Bourne (2016). Between her appearances in the franchise, Stiles played Joan, a student at Wellesley College, in Mona Lisa Smile (2003), directed by Mike Newell. She also starred in A Guy Thing (2003) and portrayed Paige Morgan, a Wisconsin college student who falls in love with a Danish prince, in The Prince and Me (2004), directed by Martha Coolidge.

In 2006, Stiles starred opposite Liev Schreiber in The Omen, a remake of the 1976 horror film. She continued her work in film with Between Us (2012), a screen adaptation of Joe Hortua's off-Broadway play, alongside Taye Diggs, David Harbour, and Melissa George. She starred in the dark comedy It's a Disaster (2012) with David Cross and America Ferrera. The film premiered at the Los Angeles Film Festival in 2012 and received a limited release the following year. Stiles also played a reporter in the British-American film Closed Circuit (2013) and starred in the supernatural thriller Out of the Dark (2014) with Scott Speedman and Stephen Rea.

In 2016, Stiles appeared in The Great Gilly Hopkins as Courtney, the mother of Sophie Nélisse's character. She portrayed journalist Elizabeth in Hustlers (2019), which was a box office success.

Stiles began her stage career in 1993 with theatrical works by author and composer John Moran at Ridge Theater in Manhattan, where she continued performing through 1998. In the summer of 2002, she appeared in Eve Ensler's The Vagina Monologues and played Viola in Shakespeare in the Park's production of Twelfth Night, alongside Jimmy Smits.

In 2004, Stiles made her West End debut opposite Aaron Eckhart in a revival of David Mamet's Oleanna at the Garrick Theatre. She reprised the role of Carol in a 2009 production of Oleanna, directed by Doug Hughes and co-starring Bill Pullman at the Mark Taper Forum. The production subsequently transferred to Broadway's John Golden Theatre. Stiles was scheduled to play Jeannie in a 2011 production of Neil LaBute's Fat Pig, directed by LaBute, but the production was postponed indefinitely.

Stiles appeared in the music video for Cyndi Lauper's single Sally's Pigeons in 1993. In 2001, she hosted Saturday Night Live and appeared in a sketch portraying Jenna Bush. MTV profiled her in its Diary series in 2003, and she appeared on Punk'd in 2004.

In 2010, Stiles played a major role in 10 episodes of the Showtime series Dexter. Her performance earned her a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film and a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series.

Stiles starred in the web series Blue (2012) as a single mother balancing office work and employment as a call girl while protecting her son. She won two IAWTV Awards for her work on the series, in 2013 and 2014. She later played Maisy-May in the Canadian Amazon Prime series The Lake, whose first season premiered in 2022.

Stiles made her writing and directing debut with the short film Raving (2007), produced for Elle magazine and starring Zooey Deschanel. The film premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2007. Her first feature film as a director, Wish You Were Here, was released in January 2025.

Stiles is now appearing on Dancing With the Stars.