What Happened to Julia Stiles?

Last Updated on June 4, 2024

10 Things I Hate About Julia Stiles

I hate that her idgaf attitude was not present in more 90s teen rom coms.

I hate that I totally forgot about the movie Save The Last Dance.

I hate that she doesn’t get the respect she deserves.

I hate that I thought she was in that movie Swimfan.

I hate that she got stuck doing generic rom coms.

I hate that her character in the Jason Bourne franchise never got a spin-off.

I hate that I really haven’t seen much of her later work.

I hate that she tricked me into liking Shakespeare as a teen.

But most of all, I hate the way I don’t hate her – not even close, not even a little bit, not even at all. Oh, and I hate that I don’t know what the heck happened to her?

So let’s find out: WTF Happened to...Julia Stiles?

But to truly understand what happened to Julia Stiles, we go back to the beginning. And the beginning began when she was born on March 28th, 1981, in New York City.

As a teen, Stiles landed the role of a crossed-armed, nose-ringed hacker in season two of Ghostwriter, also getting parts on shows like Promised Land and Chicago Hope. In 1997, she would then share the screen with Brad Pitt by playing one of Harrison Ford’s daughters in The Devil’s Own. The next year she turned up in M. Night Shyamalan’s Hollywood debut Wide Awake.

Before she even had 10 credits on her resume, Julia Stiles got–and slayed–the role of Kat Stratford in the romantic comedy 10 Things I Hate About You, a modernization of Shakespeare’s “The Taming of the Shrew.” As the badass don’t-give-an-F sister to the squeaky-clean Bianca. Stiles ate.it.up, stealing every scene and giving a truly versatile performance, bringing a “SoHo-bred artistic intellectualism” and going from unlikable bitch to vulnerable and sympathetic over the course of the film. In her words, she found it important “seeing a teenage girl be feisty and opinionated and be a fish out of water, but proudly.” She marked herself as a serious presence–nasty but approachable with incredible chemistry with everybody she interacted with, especially Joseph Gordon Levitt and the late great Heath Ledger. She would be recognized by the MTV Movie Awards, Teen Choice Awards, and more.

In addition to the miniseries The ‘60s, Stiles next landed another Shakespeare modern-day high school adaptation, O, a retelling of “Othello”. While it was planned for 1999 and would have given Stiles the perfect follow-up to 10 Things, it was delayed two years due to the Columbine school shooting. More Shakespeare would come–no, not Down to You (2000) opposite Freddie Prinze Jr. (that was far from Shakespearian)–but as Ophelia in Hamlet, again showing her love for The Bard, which would soon enough see her in a production of Twelfth Night. Also in 2000, Stiles was lumped into the National Board of Review-winning cast of State and Main, introducing her to the world of David Mamet (a different kind of Shakespeare). By the end of the year, Julia Stiles enrolled at Columbia, forcing her to find that balance between art and business.

2001 saw her first movie to gross $100 million worldwide: Save the Last Dance, which she landed because of her drunk dance in 10 Things. As aspiring ballerina Sara, Stiles underwent intense choreography lessons she called “challenging and daunting.” While she would later call her work “cringeworthy,” the movie is still a beloved teen dance movie. It, too, would nab her a handful of low-tier but cherished awards: MTV (Best Kiss, shared with Sean Patrick Thomas) and Teen Choice (Choice Movie Actress). Want to know how down to earth she still was? The limo to the MTV Movie Awards picked her up at her dorm. Yeah, she was the girl next door–despite next hosting SNL and presenting at the Oscars.

Ahead of the delayed release of O was The Business of Strangers, for which she earned a Satellite nod for Best Supporting Actress. There, too, would be Wicked, a quasi- possession movie that premiered at Sundance ‘98 but went to DVD once Stiles’ fame could be capitalized on.

While still focusing on her English major at Columbia, Julia Stiles got a shot at a major franchise: The Bourne Identity, playing technician Nicky in a role that would be a series mainstay. It’s limited and basically a thankless role here, but she clearly left an impression because she was intended to be killed off and would instead reprise her role in every sequel (except that Jeremy Renner one). Following a short stint on stage in The Vagina Monologues (again, no Shakespeare…), Stiles took a safe but challenging lead in A Guy Thing (2003), a rom-com opposite Selma Blair and Jason Lee, also playing the titular character in the direct-to-video Carolina.

Things ended on a stronger note–in Stiles’ eyes, at least–with Mona Lisa Smile (2003), as part of an ensemble that also featured Julia Roberts, Kirsten Dunst, and Maggie Gyllenhaal. Partly in reaction to criticism over feminist ideals, Stiles penned an op-ed for The Guardian the next year on that topic and the role of “girl power” in cinema, and this was before the days of The Mary Sue… back when Hollywood didn’t screw up the idea of a “strong female character”.

2004 had the rom-com The Prince and Me and the second in the Bourne series, The Bourne Supremacy, which would begin seeing Stiles pushing herself a larger screen presence for both herself and what her character was capable of. That same year, she returned to the world of David Mamet, starring opposite Aaron Eckhart in a London production of Oleanna.

2005 brought her tragic turn as a doomed waitress in Edmond, as well as A Little Trip to Heaven and a trip to the collegiate stage, graduating from Columbia University. But celebration would halt quickly as she took the Lee Remick role in the dreadful, pointless remake of The Omen (2006).

2007 saw her once again in a Bourne movie, this time there was an Ultimatum or something. She would continue learning about herself with 2008’s Gospel Hill, playing a teacher in a role and movie that she says helped her get over her NYC edge. But the edge would return with her Broadway debut in, again, Oleanna. This time around, she wanted to get it right. And with such a challenging character and play, that was almost impossible, especially considering that much of the audience disagreed with how sexual abuse accusations were presented on the stage.

It was around this time that Stiles began to wonder just what her place was, saying, “My frustration was feeling like nobody knew what to do with me…You know, I had some success in my twenties and now I’m in a different place in my life and I didn’t really fit anywhere.”

But Stiles–who really can’t avoid her New York, on-guard style or her desire to bring a strong female presence to audiences–wouldn’t shake. In 2010, she appeared as rape survivor Lumen, who becomes a partner of Dexter Morgan’s on Showtime’s series Dexter. Although it was her first major foray into television–she maintains there are better roles for women on TV–her continuation as a proponent of strong women was as steady as ever (after all, her character Lumen wasn’t going to allow herself to be a victim just because it’s expected). And this character on the 5th season of Dexter is undoubtedly one of her most defining performances, earning her Golden Globe and Emmy nods.

In 2012, Stiles latched onto a Critics Choice win–and SAG nod–as part of the Silver Linings Playbook cast as Jennifer Lawrence’s sister. There would also be a brilliant black comedy It’s a Disaster, that all takes place in one location and is driven by the performances and a small weird role in Girl More Likely. She, too, would appear in a pair of TV movies: 2012’s The Midnight Sun and 2013’s The Makeover. In 2012, she challenged her own views by playing a strong-willed prostitute in the web series Blue. During that three-season run, she gave supporting turns in Between Us and Closed Circuit (both 2013), played in the direct-to-video Out of the Dark, nailed a three-episode stint on The Mindy Project, and got roles in The Great Gilly Hopkins and Blackway (both 2015), playing yet another resilient victim of harassment.

2016 brought Misconduct (a small release before going on-demand) and her most recent outing as Nicky Parsons in Jason Bourne, a role she helped build into something far more than it was meant to be. On developing roles such as this, she said, “I’ll only accept a part if there’s something I can contribute to a character.” Sure, there was crap like the direct-to-video The Drowning, small bits like 11:15 (both 2016) and Trouble (2017), and the 2017-2020 TV series Riviera, but then she’d surprise you by popping up in a mature role as a journalist in Hustlers (2019); yes, it was a J-Lo showcase but Stiles is crucial.

Mature roles (on this, she said: “I feel like the opportunities for me and my peers are better and better as we get older.”) would continue, playing a doctor in The God Committee (2021) and one more attempt at horror after the disaster of The Omen, 2022’s Orphan: First Kill. And her voice would crop up, too, appearing in an animated series based on How to Train Your Dragon. As of 2023, she has co-starred alongside Heather Graham in Chosen Family and currently leads Amazon’s The Lake, somehow making her character– an unpleasant piece of work that will do what she can to get her way–likable and, while not pleasant, someone to admire in a way.

“When I was 17, I had a lot of teenage angst and I was always told to be more bubbly or more effervescent, to lighten up and stop being so serious.” She twisted that girl-next-door persona and made it work for her–and audiences–in the days when her peers were a little more perky peppy. She had no choice but to age out of it but it remains now, even if her presence has dwindled. And that’s because she had that maturity and seasoned edge long before her counterparts. So nobody should give a care about what the heck happened to Julia Stiles cuz she’s doing just fine.