The renowned actress from 10 Things I Hate About You, Julia Stiles, has seemingly retreated from the public eye. Is she just taking an extended break, or has she bid farewell to the film industry for good?
Current Whereabouts of Julia Stiles
For those who grew up in the ’90s, Julia Stiles needs no introduction. As the leading lady in 10 Things I Hate About You and Save the Last Dance, the fair-haired beauty quickly established herself as a prominent figure in teen romance. This was further solidified when she starred alongside Matt Damon in the Bourne franchise, commencing with The Bourne Identity in 2002.
In a 2010 interview with The New York Times, Stiles disclosed that she might not pursue mainstream acting roles anymore, expressing her enthusiasm for venturing into the “second phase” of her career.
“I believe audiences, as well as producers and directors, tend to develop infatuations with actors (especially actresses) and then lose interest, moving on to the next one,” she mentioned in an email.
“There are few actors who manage to sustain interest because it’s enthralling to witness their growth in their craft. I aspire to be one of those actors.”
Despite not having a massive following on Instagram compared to other ’90s actresses, Stiles’ fans remain remarkably loyal.
Over the past four years, Julia has appeared in just four projects, with the most notable being the 2019 crime drama, Hustlers.
It may appear to the average fan that the 40-year-old’s career is decelerating, but in reality, the actress is precisely where she wants to be.
Julia Stiles was once the epitome of a leading actress, but after a string of unsuccessful films and a transition to Broadway, she appeared less frequently in mainstream movies.
Despite her efforts to reclaim her status in Hollywood, directors no longer favored Stiles, leading her to take a hiatus from acting to start a family.
Julia Stiles’ Personal Life
In September 2017, Stiles tied the knot with her long-term fiancé, Preston Cook, a notable camera operator recognized for his work on Deadpool and War for the Planet of the Apes.
Reportedly, Cook and Stiles first crossed paths on the set of Blackway, a 2015 thriller featuring Stiles, Anthony Hopkins, Alexander Ludwig, and Ray Liotta.
Stiles welcomed her son, Strummer Newcomb, in October 2017. The actress and her husband were elated at the arrival of their newborn, and she publicly thanked the staff at Mount Sinai (in New York City) on Instagram, posting a picture of her baby’s hand.
With a new chapter unfolding in her life, Stiles took a brief hiatus from her career to prioritize her family.
Nevertheless, in 2017, the actress was still involved in a couple of non-mainstream projects, including Trouble, an independent dramedy that garnered a 30 percent audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, and Riviera.
In January 2022, Julia Stiles announced the birth of her second child, Arlo. She revealed her pregnancy in November by tenderly cradling her growing belly on the red carpet before a screening of “The Humans” at New York City’s Village East Cinema.
She is now caring for her newborn baby, Arlo, as well as her eldest son Strummer, who is 4 years old. Stiles has taken a hiatus from acting to spend time with her family, but she plans to return to the screen shortly.
What Transpired With Julia Stiles?
Following her success in 10 Things I Hate About You, Stiles starred in Down to You alongside Freddy Prinze Jr., Save the Last Dance with Sean Patrick Thomas and Kerry Washington, and A Guy Thing with Jason Lee.
While Save the Last Dance achieved commercial success, Stiles’ other films in the 2000s did not fare as well. Down to You received criticism for its “blase, formulaic plot” and “lackluster script,” according to Rotten Tomatoes. A Guy Thing failed at the box office, earning less than its production budget.
Stiles experienced some success with the Jason Bourne films in 2002, yet her portrayal of Nicky was inadequate in reigniting her Hollywood career. Consequently, Stiles proceeded to take on numerous non-mainstream projects from 2003 onward.
What Became of Julia Stiles?
Following her stint in Jason Bourne in 2016, Stiles secured the role of Georgina Clios in Riviera, a British TV series that premiered on Sky Atlantic. While Riviera may not be widely recognized in the U.S., many fans believe it would gain traction if it were accessible on more streaming platforms.
Nonetheless, it was hailed as one of “the best TV drama series to watch in Autumn 2020” by iNews U.K. and has garnered a dedicated following in the U.K.
In recent years, Stiles appeared alongside Jennifer Lopez in 2019’s Hustlers, a film based on the true story of a group of New York exotic dancers who conned millions from their affluent Wall Street clients.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Stiles approached director Lorene Scafaria for an opportunity to be involved in the film in any capacity.
This resulted in her portraying the character Elizabeth, a role that Stiles highly valued.
She played the role of journalist Elizabeth, a fictionalized version of Jessica Pressler, whose 2016 article in New York Magazine served as the inspiration for the film.
This is the only role that Stiles has actively pursued since her career took off two decades ago.
Moreover, her most recent project has been setting records.
Riviera, a British television drama where Stiles serves as both an executive producer and a lead actress, achieved unprecedented ratings on a U.K. network and has been picked up by networks in the U.S., Australia (SBS), and beyond.
Stiles plays the role of Georgina, an American art curator for the ultra-wealthy, who becomes entangled in the criminal underworld following her husband’s mysterious death.
Having learned to manage her expectations regarding the success of a project over the years, Stiles has expressed her delight and surprise at the series amassing millions of fans—including in the U.K. alone.
“I was on a billboard on one of those [London] double-decker buses,” she recently told IndeWire. “That was a moment.”.
for me of going, ‘Oh, I finally achieved it.‘”
The Unrevealed Reality about Julia Stiles’ Career
Here is some truth about Julia Stiles’ career you would never hear about it earlier. Julia made a deliberate effort to refrain from doing nudity.
Julia made a deliberate effort early in her career to avoid doing nudity
The Dexter alum’s acting resume has also been shaped by her decision to remain covered up on camera. “It’s not that I’m prudish,” she said in her chat with the Independent. “It’s just that I don’t really want to go to work and take off my clothes.”
The New York native added, “I don’t have a problem with it or a problem when other actresses do it, but I’m a modest person and generally steer away from nude scenes and love scenes because, more often than not, I find they’re gratuitous.“
Julia Stiles has a passion for this playwright
When Julia Stiles first appeared on the Hollywood radar, she gravitated toward intelligent, brave female roles, unlike the ones featured in most teen rom-com focused on a teen girl undergoing a makeover to win a guy.
Coincidentally, the well-read actress starred in three films based on Shakespeare plays for over a year.
Stiles’ breakout film, 10 Things I Hate About You, was inspired by Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew, and the actress followed it up by starring in an adaptation of Hamlet opposite Ethan Hawke.
She also acted in O, an adaptation of Othello, alongside Josh Hartnett and Mekhi Phifer.
Surprisingly, Stiles didn’t intend to star in the Shakespeare-inspired films.
In an Entertainment Weekly interview in March 1999, Stiles said, “I didn’t set out to be in three Shakespeare movies,” noting, “But just because I had done (10 Things), I wasn’t going to turn down the acting experiences of my life.”
The actress continued to be drawn to Shakespeare, and, in 2002, she starred in the Delacorte Theatre’s presentation of Twelfth Night in Central Park.
Julia Stiles left Hollywood behind for an important reason
Julia Stiles did the unexpected at the peak of her acting success and popularity: She walked away. The actress left the glitz and glamour of Hollywood life for academia, enrolling in Columbia University.
Stiles, who graduated with a major in English literature in 2005, told Independent in August 2007 that she wasn’t sure if her degree helped her obtain acting roles.
“It’s funny, because being cerebral isn’t necessarily the best thing for an actress,” she said. “It is in terms of understanding a role or understanding what roles you want to choose, but in terms of being a visceral actor and reacting emotionally to things, it can be an obstacle. I tend to think about things too much.”
While going to college may or may not have helped her with Hollywood success, going to school helped Stiles stay grounded.
She told The Daily Beast in September 2019, “Academic professionals don’t really give a s*** about me being in a movie or having to go to the MTV Movie Awards. But then also people in the entertainment industry don’t really care about university. That helped me a lot.”
Julia Stiles performed on Television
In 2011, Julia Stiles took on the role of a woman teamed up with a serial killer. The actress starred in Season 5 of Showtime’s hit series Dexter.
Portraying an abuse victim named Lumen, Stiles sought revenge on her abusers with the help of the show’s titular character, and romance would blossom between the pair throughout the season.
Stiles was drawn to the part because Lumen wasn’t just a victim; she was a layered character — and she got to kill someone on-screen.
She told The Hollywood Reporter in August 2011, “I was really excited by the idea that she would be involved in Dexter’s secret life, as opposed to on the outside of it like a lot of the other characters.“
The role earned Stiles an Emmy nomination for outstanding guest actress in a drama series in 2011. Although she didn’t win that year, the actress had a blast starring on the show and really “enjoyed the kill scenes” her character got to participate in.
Julia Stiles is more passionate about acting as she gets older
Although Hollywood is, unfortunately, very well known for putting actresses out to pasture once they’ve hit the age of 31 — sometimes even before — Julia Stiles isn’t concerned about finding work as she gets older.
Stiles is relishing the parts she’s getting in her 30s and 40s. She admitted to Glamour that, in her 20s, the idea of trying to find work ten or 20 years later would’ve been terrifying.
Now that she’s there, however, she said, “I feel like the opportunities for me and my peers are better and better as we get older.“
Stiles acknowledged that she started out being offered the girlfriend role, which slowly transitioned to the mother.
Still, the older she gets, the meatier the material the actress is being offered. The Riviera star reiterated in an interview with InStyle, “I think the roles that we’re playing have gotten so much more interesting than what we were doing in our 20s.”
Julia Stiles likes to do the 10 Things I Hate About You sequel
The movie 10 Things I Hate About You was such a significant, career-defining moment for Julia Stiles, one that will likely continue to dominate interviews even in her golden years.
Thankfully, the actress is more than happy to continue discussing her character, Kat, and everything she loved about playing her.
“We were all really present and it was just so uninhibited. None of the actors felt jaded or shut down [on the set],” she gushed to NME.
Stiles credits the role with getting her more exciting parts down the line, too. However, many years later, when it comes to the matter of a reunion sequel, she’s not against the idea.
Although Stiles admitted to having no idea how it would work logically.
On where her most beloved character would be a decade or two on, she opined, “I would hope that Kat would be a lot happier outside of high school.”
The ’90s star would even watch such a movie herself, as she’d be interested to see how it all works out.
Julia Stiles’ Net Worth
As of May, 2022 Julia Stiles currently has an approximate net worth of $12 million. She lives a very simple life comparable to Hollywood standards.
In 2014, she sold her New York City apartment for $2.7 million. Three years later, she told the Radio Times that she was living in a “modest” Vancouver loft with her husband, camera assistant Preston Cook.
