Julia Stiles, a recognizable talent from smash films 10 Things I Hate About You and Save the Last Dance, started her acting career at 11. She wrote a letter to a theater director in her home town of New York City and soon appeared on stage at the Kitchen Theater and the La Mama Theater.

Not long after, she premiered on the silver screen in the Billy Hopkins-helmed I Love You, I Love You Not. This garnered her enough attention to be featured in the Sundance entry Wicked. Her big break, though, came when she reinterpreted the title character of William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew in 1999's 10 Things I Hate About You.

Stiles powerful performance in 10 Things... caught the eye of People Magazine, which named her one of the "21 Hottest Stars Under 21" in the same year. After spending a year working on Save the Last Dance and Habitat for Humanity, Ms. Stiles enrolled in Columbia University in August 2000.

Watch for Julia Stiles in the recent remake of Othello, O.

Filmography

• The Bourne Identity (2002)
• Carolina (2002) (Previously "Carolina Torn Asunder")
• A Guy Thing (2002)
• O (2001)*
• The Business of Strangers (2001)
• Save the Last Dance (2001)
• State and Main (2000)
• Hamlet (2000)*
• Down to You (2000)
• 10 Things I Hate About You (1999)*
• Wide Awake (1998)
• Wicked (1998)
• The Devil's Own (1997)
• I Love You, I Love You Not (1996)

* By fate or choice, Ms. Stiles has a routine of appearing in adaptations of Shakespearean works. To date, a quarter of the motion pictures on which she has worked were written by the Bard.

Awards

• 1998 Karlovy Vary International Film Festival "Best Actress" (Wicked)
• 2000 MTV Movie Award "Breakthrough Female Performance" (10 Things...)
• 2000 Chicago Film Critics Association Awards "Most Promising Actress" (10 Things...)
• 2000 MTV Movie Award "Best Kiss" (Save the Last Dance)