Birth Name : Julia O'Hara Stiles
Height : 5' 8" (1.73 m)
Having started acting at age 11, Julia Stiles eschewed any semblance of a normal childhood in pursuit of a stage and screen career. After appearing for several years in avant-garde theater productions in her native New York City, Stiles made her first significant film appearance in the politically themed thriller, "The Devil's Own" (1997). But it was her starring turn in the dark and comic thriller about suburban dysfunction, "Wicked" (1998), that served as the young actress' breakthrough performance. julia stiles bournejulia stiles 10 thingsjulia stiles ghostwriter.
From there, she reached mainstream success with the moderate hit, "10 Things I Hate About You" (1999), a contemporary take on William Shakespeare's "The Taming of the Shrew." In between two more modern adaptations of the Bard's work, "Hamlet" (2000) and "O" (2001), Stiles had a shining supporting performance as a manipulative teenage girl in the laidback show business satire, "State and Main" (2000). She reached new plateaus with "Save the
Last Dance" (2001), a rather surprising box office hit that helped expand her fan base exponentially. Though she appeared in all three movies of the "Bourne" franchise, her role as a CIA assistant failed to reach full fruition until the third film,
"The Bourne Ultimatum" (2007). Because of her ability to move from light-hearted comedies to biting satires to action thrillers, Stiles made her mark as one of the most versatile young actresses working in the business.
Born on March 28, 1981 in New York, NY, Stiles was raised by her father, John O'Hara, a businessman and educator, and her mother, Judith, a potter. When she was 11 years old, Stiles was prescient enough to write a letter to a stage director convincing him to hire her for an avant-garde production, leading to performing with the La MaMa Theatre Company in New York. Venturing into onscreen roles just a few years later, she had a non-speaking part in the low-budget drama
"I Love You, I Love You Not" (1997) before playing the teenage daughter of a New York police officer (Harrison Ford) in the terrorist thriller "The Devil's Own" (1997). Stiles offered a strong supporting performance as Phoebe, a young girl coping with an abusive home in the Oprah Winfrey-produced "Before
Women Had Wings" (ABC, 1997). While her character was peripheral, she made the most of the part as the ambivalent older sister of an innocent and trusting girl (Tina Majorino), both of whom suffer at the hands of their mother (Ellen Barkin).
Putting pen to paper once again, Stiles used a similar tack as she did with the La MaMa Theatre by writing a note to director Michael Steinberg and landing her breakthrough role in the darkly comic thriller "Wicked" (1998),
an Electra-like fable set in the immaculate suburbs. Blonde and fair, with wise eyes set in an otherwise childlike face, Stiles played the perfect angelic villain Ellie Christianson, a seductive, calculating and driven young teen. She offered an exceptional performance that conveyed
Ellie's power and maniacal determination while still hinting at the emotional fragility that accompanied her youth. Turning to television, Stiles went on to play the featured role of Kate Herlihy, a pregnant teenager who moves to San Francisco and joins a hippie commune where she finds herself caught up in the social upheaval of the time in the historical miniseries
"The 60s" (NBC, 1999). She returned to the big screen in the leading role of Kat, a strong-willed and dauntless high school student romanced by a hired beau (Heath Ledger) who inevitably falls for her in "10 Things I Hate About You" (1999), a modern adaptation of Shakespeare's comedy "The Taming of the Shrew." Rarely cast as an innocent, enthusiastic teenybopper, she capably presented Kat as staunch and outspoken while still making her a likable character.
