Julia Stiles

Overview

Born
March 28, 1981 · New York City, New York, USA
Birth name
Julia O'Hara Stiles
Height
5′ 7″ (1.70 m)

Biography

Family

Spouse
Children
Parents
Relatives

Trademark

Strawberry blonde hair
Deep sultry voice

Trivia

Graduated from Columbia University with a degree in English (2005).
According to the 10th Anniversary commentary by her co-stars for 10 Things I Hate About You (1999), she and Heath Ledger began a relationship during the filming. They broke up in January 2000.
No longer a vegan and when Conan O'Brien asked her what the first bite of a hamburger was like she responded, "The word orgasm comes to mind." (December 2003).
Married her longtime boyfriend Preston Cook following a 20-month-long engagement. They worked on Blackway (2015) together.
Was a college classmate of Anna Paquin at Columbia University.

Quotes

I am a big fan of horror movies but I had never thought that I had wanted to act in one because I don't think that actors get to do much in them. They're usually just reacting.
I was gonna throw the first pitch at a Mets game, but there was a rain delay. So I'm waiting for it to stop, and the team's manager, Willie Randolph, comes by. Now he's already intimidating to begin with. But he comes over to me and says, 'If you screw this up, they will boo you.' And I said 'Thanks.'
I think audiences, producers and directors included, develop crushes on actors (actresses in particular) and then lose interest and move on to the next one. [...] There are a handful of actors who sustain interest because it's exciting to watch them get better at what they do. I want to be one of those actors.
[on the most challenging aspect of playing Lumen in Dexter (2006)] - I never think of myself as an actor who takes work home with them, but I was surprised, especially toward the end of the season -- around episode 10 -- when some of the details of what Lumen had experienced became really harrowing, and I started to realize that it was affecting me outside of work. One scene in particular, in episode 10, when the detectives have found DVDs showing what has happened to the victims -- it was really dark. It made it more difficult for me to sleep.
[on a scene that stands out most when looking back on her time on Dexter (2006)] In the kill room, when she first gets to put the knife in. That was really special. There was also a nice moment of collaboration where the set designers had put up pictures of all the other victims on the wall, and I remember saying to the director that I felt like it was important that Lumen acknowledge the other girls and say that it was for them, too. We did a separate shot of that, and it ended up in the final edit, which I was really pleased about. It's a great example of how collaborative the show is and what a nice environment it is to work in.