Julia Stiles | |
|---|---|
 Stiles in 2007 | |
| Born | Julia O'Hara Stiles (1981-03-28)March 28, 1981 (age 44) New York City, U.S. |
| Education | Columbia University (BA) |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1993–present |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 3 |
Julia O'Hara Stiles (born March 28, 1981)[1] is an American actress. Stiles began acting at the age of 11 as part of New York'sLa MaMa Experimental Theatre Club.[2] Her film debut was a small role at age 15 inI Love You, I Love You Not (1996), followed by a lead role inWicked (1998) for which she received theKarlovy Vary Film Festival Award for Best Actress. Stiles co-starred in the made-for-TV mini-seriesThe '60s (1999) as a teenage daughter in a middle-class American family from Chicago. She rose to prominence with leading roles in teen films such as10 Things I Hate About You (1999),Down to You (2000), andSave the Last Dance (2001). Her accolades include aTeen Choice Award and twoMTV Movie Awards, as well as nominations for aGolden Globe Award, andPrimetime Emmy Award.
Stiles added to her list of credits with films such asThe Business of Strangers (2001),Mona Lisa Smile (2003), andThe Omen (2006), and became known to audiences worldwide with her portrayal of Nicky Parsons in theBourne franchise (2002–2016). Her other notable film credits includeHamlet,State and Main (both 2000),O (2001),A Guy Thing (2002),Carolina (2003),The Prince & Me (2004),Edmond,A Little Trip to Heaven (both 2005),The Cry of the Owl (2009),Silver Linings Playbook (2012),Out of the Dark (2014),Blackway (2015),11:55 (2016),Hustlers (2019) andOrphan: First Kill (2022).
Outside of film, Stiles playedLumen Pierce on thefifth season ofDexter (2010), earning nominations for theGolden Globe for Best Supporting Actress and thePrimetime Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actress. From 2012 to 2014 she appeared as the titular character in the web seriesBlue, for which she earned twoIAWTV Awards for Best Actress. From 2017 to 2020 she starred as Georgina Ryland on theSky Atlantic seriesRiviera. She starred in theAmazon seriesThe Lake (2022–2023).
Stiles was born in New York City[1] to Judith Newcomb Stiles, aGreenwich Village artist, and John O'Hara, a businessman. She is the oldest of three children.[3] Stiles is of English, Irish, and Italian descent.[4] She started acting at age 11, performing with New York'sLa MaMa Theatre Company.[5]
After finding an agent, Stiles began auditioning for television in 1993 and films in 1996.[6] She made her acting debut in 1993 on the mystery showGhostwriter as Erica Dansby.[7]
Stiles's first film role was inI Love You, I Love You Not (1996), withClaire Danes andJude Law.[8] She also had small roles asHarrison Ford's character's daughter inAlan J. Pakula'sThe Devil's Own (1997) and inM. Night Shyamalan'sWide Awake (1998). Her first lead was inWicked (1998), in which she played a teenage girl who might have murdered her mother so she could have her father all to herself. Critic Joe Baltake wrote she was "the darling of the 1998Sundance Film Festival."[9] She next starred in the TV miniseriesThe '60s in 1999.[9]
Stiles was cast at the age of 17[6] for the role of Kat Stratford, oppositeHeath Ledger inGil Junger's10 Things I Hate About You, an adaptation ofThe Taming of the Shrew set in a high school in Seattle. She won anMTV Movie Award for Breakthrough Female Performance for the role. The Chicago Film Critics voted her the most promising new actress of the year. Her next starring role was inDown to You (2000), which was panned by critics, but earned both her and her co-starFreddie Prinze, Jr. aTeen Choice Award nomination for their on-screen chemistry. She subsequently appeared in two moreShakespearean adaptations. The first was asOphelia inMichael Almereyda'sHamlet (2000), withEthan Hawke in the lead. The second was in theDesdemona role, oppositeMekhi Phifer, inTim Blake Nelson'sO (2001), a version ofOthello set at a boarding school. Neither film was a great success;O was subject to many delays and a change of distributors, andHamlet was anart house film shot on a minimal budget.
Stiles's next commercial success was inSave the Last Dance (2001) as an aspiringballerina forced to leave her small town in downstate Illinois to live with her struggling musician father in Chicago after her mother dies in a car accident. At her new, nearly all-black school, she falls in love with the character played bySean Patrick Thomas who teaches herhip-hop dance steps that help get her intothe Juilliard School. The role won her two more MTV awards for Best Kiss and Best Female Performance and a Teen Choice Award for best fight scene for her battle withBianca Lawson.Rolling Stone named her "the coolest co-ed" and put her on the cover of its April 12, 2001, issue.[10] She toldRolling Stone that she performed all her own dancing in the film, except for some closeups of the feet.[10]
InDavid Mamet'sState and Main (2000), about a film shooting on location in a small town inVermont, she played a teenage girl who seduces a film actor (Alec Baldwin) witha weakness for teen girls. Stiles also appeared oppositeStockard Channing in the dark art house filmThe Business of Strangers (2001) as a conniving, amoral secretary who exacts revenge on her boss. Channing was impressed by her co-star: "In addition to her talent, she has a quality that is almost feral, something that can make people uneasy. She has an effect on people."[11] Stiles later described theBourne franchise as very important for her career, stating that it "reinvented the action genre, especially for female characters".[6] Her small role asTreadstone operative Nicolette "Nicky" Parsons inThe Bourne Identity (2002) grew inThe Bourne Supremacy (2004), then greatly expanded inThe Bourne Ultimatum (2007).
Between theBourne films, she appeared inMona Lisa Smile (2003) as Joan, a student atWellesley College in 1953, whose art professor (Julia Roberts) encourages her to pursue a career in law rather than become a wife and mother. CriticStephen Holden called her one of cinema's "brightest young stars",[12] but the film met with generally unfavorable reviews. Stiles played a Wisconsin college student who is swept off her feet by a Danish prince, played byLuke Mably, inThe Prince and Me (2004), directed byMartha Coolidge. Stiles told an interviewer that she was very similar to her character Paige Morgan. Critic Scott Foundas said she was "irrepressibly engaging" and the film was a "strange career choice for Stiles".[13] This echoed criticism in reviews ofA Guy Thing (2003), a romantic comedy withJason Lee andSelma Blair. Critic Dennis Harvey wrote that Stiles was "wasted"[14] and Holden called her "a serious actress from whom comedy does not seem to flow naturally".[15] In 2006, Stiles starred opposite herHamlet co-starLiev Schreiber inThe Omen, a remake ofthe 1976 horror film.[16] She returned to theBourne series with a much larger role inThe Bourne Ultimatum (2007), her highest-grossing film to date.
Stiles acted inBetween Us (2012) withTaye Diggs,David Harbour, andMelissa George.Between Us is the screen adaptation of theoff-Broadway play of the same name byJoe Hortua.[17] Stiles starred alongsideDavid Cross andAmerica Ferrera in the dark comedyIt's a Disaster.[18] The film premiered at the 2012Los Angeles Film Festival and was picked up byOscilloscope Laboratories and received a limited release the next year. Stiles had a small but pivotal role as a reporter in the 2013 British-American filmClosed Circuit. Stiles starred in the indie supernatural thrillerOut of the Dark (2014) alongsideScott Speedman andStephen Rea.[19]
In 2015, Stiles signed on to reprise her role as Nicky Parsons inJason Bourne, the fifth installment of theBourne franchise.[20] She also featured as Courtney, the wayward mother ofSophie Nélisse, inThe Great Gilly Hopkins (2016).[21] In 2019, Stiles appeared in the movieHustlers as the journalist, Elizabeth. The film was a box office success.[22]
While Stiles performed in a school play in fourth grade,Bob McGrath of Ridge Theater in Manhattan, a friend of her parents, needed an actor for a nonspeaking role.[6] Stiles's first theatrical roles were in works by author/composerJohn Moran at Ridge Theater from 1993 to 1998. In the summer of 2002, she performed on stage inEve Ensler'sThe Vagina Monologues,[23] and appeared as Viola, the lead role inShakespeare in the Park's production ofTwelfth Night withJimmy Smits.[24]
In 2004, she made herWest End stage debut oppositeAaron Eckhart in a revival ofDavid Mamet's playOleanna at theGarrick Theatre.[25][26] She reprised the role of Carol in a 2009 production ofOleanna, directed byDoug Hughes and co-starringBill Pullman at theMark Taper Forum.[27] The production moved to Broadway'sJohn Golden Theatre.[28]
Stiles was to play Jeannie in a production ofNeil LaBute'sFat Pig directed by the playwright beginning in spring 2011,[29] but the show was postponed indefinitely.[30]
Stiles appeared in the video forCyndi Lauper's single "Sally's Pigeons" in 1993.[31] In 2001, she hostedSaturday Night Live and returned to parody as then-PresidentGeorge W. Bush's daughterJenna Bush in a skit that poked fun at the two first daughters for being arrested for underage drinking. MTV profiled her in itsDiary series in 2003,[32] and she wasPunk'd byAshton Kutcher at a Washington, D.C., museum in 2004.[33]
In 2010, Stiles played a major role in 10 episodes of theShowtime seriesDexter[34][35][36][37] For this role, she received a nomination for theGolden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film,[38] as well as aPrimetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series.
In 2012, the web seriesBlue starred Stiles as a single mother with a 13-year-old son. She works at an office and also as acall girl to make ends meet on an otherwise meager income fighting to protect her son from the collision between her complicated past and tenuous present.[39] For her work onBlue, Stiles won twoIAWTV Awards, in 2013 and 2014.[40] The actress during the recordings shared set with artists likeMichelle Forbes,JC Gonzalez, andUriah Shelton.
Stiles played Maisy-May in the Canadian Amazon Prime seriesThe Lake. Maisy-May is the "picture-perfect" stepdaughter/stepsister who was given the family cottage by her stepfather, to the dismay of her stepbrother Justin.[41][42] Season 1 premiered in summer 2022.[42]
Stiles made her writing and directorial debut withElle magazine'sshortRaving starringZooey Deschanel.[43] It premiered at the 2007Tribeca Film Festival.[44]
Stiles' first feature film as a director,Wish You Were Here, was released in January 2025.[45]
Stiles graduated fromColumbia University with a degree inEnglish literature in 2005.[46][47] She almost turned down the firstBourne film because of college exams, and deferred a semester for the first two films.[6] At Columbia she dated actorJoseph Gordon-Levitt and the two lived inJohn Jay Hall.[10] She and actorDavid Harbour were in a relationship between 2011 and 2015.[48] In 2010, she received aJohn Jay Award, an honorary award given annually to five alumni by the Columbia College Alumni Association for professional achievements.[49]
Stiles has also worked forHabitat for Humanity, building housing inCosta Rica,[50] and has worked withAmnesty International to raise awareness of the harsh conditions of immigration detention of unaccompanied juveniles. In January 2004,Marie Claire featured Stiles's trip to witness conditions at theBerks County Youth Center inLeesport, Pennsylvania.[51][52]
Stiles is a formervegan, occasionally eating red meat.[53] She says she gave up veganism after she developedanemia and found it difficult to get proper nutrition while traveling.[53]
She has described herself as afeminist and wrote about the subject inThe Guardian.[26]
She is a fan of baseball and theNew York Mets.[54] She threw the ceremonial first pitch before their May 29, 2006 game.[55]
In September 2017 Stiles married camera assistant Preston J. Cook with whom she worked onBlackway.[56][57] They have three children.[58][59]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | I Love You, I Love You Not | Young Nana's Friend | |
| 1997 | The Devil's Own | Bridget O'Meara | |
| 1998 | Wicked | Ellie Christianson | |
| Wide Awake | Neena Beal | ||
| 1999 | 10 Things I Hate About You | Kat Stratford | |
| 2000 | Down to You | Imogen | |
| Hamlet | Ophelia | ||
| State and Main | Carla | ||
| 2001 | Save the Last Dance | Sara Johnson | |
| The Business of Strangers | Paula Murphy | ||
| O | Desi Brable | ||
| 2002 | The Bourne Identity | Nicolette "Nicky" Parsons | |
| 2003 | A Guy Thing | Becky | |
| Carolina | Carolina Mirabeau | ||
| Mona Lisa Smile | Joan Brandwyn | ||
| 2004 | The Prince and Me | Paige Morgan | |
| The Bourne Supremacy | Nicolette "Nicky" Parsons | ||
| 2005 | Edmond | Glenna | |
| A Little Trip to Heaven | Isold | ||
| 2006 | The Omen | Katherine Thorn | |
| 2007 | The Bourne Ultimatum | Nicolette "Nicky" Parsons | |
| Raving | — | Short film; director and writer | |
| 2008 | Gospel Hill | Rosie | |
| 2009 | The Cry of the Owl | Jenny Thierolf | |
| Passage | Ella | Short film | |
| 2012 | Silver Linings Playbook | Veronica Maxwell | |
| Stars in Shorts | Young Woman | Short film; segment:Sexting | |
| It's a Disaster | Tracy Scott | ||
| Girl Most Likely | Stage Imogene | ||
| 2013 | Between Us | Grace | |
| Closed Circuit | Joanna Reece | ||
| 2014 | Out of the Dark | Sarah Harriman | Direct-to-video |
| 2015 | The Great Gilly Hopkins | Courtney Rutherford Hopkins | |
| Blackway | Lillian | ||
| 2016 | Misconduct | Jane | Direct-to-video |
| Jason Bourne | Nicolette "Nicky" Parsons | ||
| The Drowning | Lauren Seymour | Direct-to-video | |
| 11:55 | Janine | ||
| 2017 | Trouble | Rachel | |
| 2019 | Hustlers | Elizabeth | |
| 2021 | The God Committee | Dr. Jordan Taylor | |
| 2022 | Jennifer Lopez: Halftime | Herself | Documentary |
| Orphan: First Kill | Tricia Albright | ||
| 2024 | Chosen Family | Clio | |
| 2025 | Wish You Were Here | — | Director and writer |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1993–1994 | Ghostwriter | Erica Dansby | 6 episodes |
| 1996 | Promised Land | Megan Walker | Episode: "The Secret" |
| 1997 | Chicago Hope | Corey Sawicki | Episode: "Mother, May I?" |
| Before Women Had Wings | Phoebe Jackson | TV movie | |
| 1999 | The '60s | Katie Herlihy | Miniseries[60][61][62] |
| 2001, 2023 | Saturday Night Live | Jenna Bush Host/Herself Herself | Episode: "Pierce Brosnan/Destiny's Child" (uncredited) Episode: "Julia Stiles/Aerosmith" Episode: "Adam Driver/Olivia Rodrigo" (cameo) |
| 2004 | Punk'd | Herself | Episode: "Kaley Cuoco/The Rock/Julia Stiles" |
| 2009 | The City | Episode: "I Lost Myself in Us" | |
| 2010 | Dexter | Lumen Pierce | 8 episodes |
| 2012 | Midnight Sun | Leah Kafka | TV movie |
| 2013 | The Makeover | Hannah Higgins | Television film[63] |
| 2014 | The Mindy Project | Dr. Jessica Lieberstein | 3 episodes |
| 2017–2020 | Riviera | Georgina Clios | Main role[64] |
| 2021–2022 | DreamWorks Dragons: The Nine Realms | Olivia Kullersen | Voice; Main role |
| 2022–2023 | The Lake | Maisy-May | Main role |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2012–2015 | Blue | Blue[39] | Lead role; 40 episodes |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | The Bourne Stuntacular | Nicolette "Nicky" Parsons |
| Year | Title | Role | Venue | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | The 24 Hour Plays of 2008 | Steph | American Airlines Theatre,Broadway | [65] |
| 2009 | Oleanna | Carol | John Golden Theatre, Broadway | [66] |
| 2009 | The 24 Hour Plays of 2009 | Julia | American Airlines Theatre, Broadway | [67] |
Her mother (half English, half Italian) makes ceramic pots, her dad (Irish) sells them – and Stiles admits that the basic ethos is, 'it's bad to be lazy! If I decided not to go to college [my parents] would not be that happy.'
Media from Commons
Quotations from Wikiquote
Data from Wikidata
