10 Things I Hate About You famed actress Julia Stiles now disappeared from the limelight. Is she taking a long break or has she decided to leave the film industry for good?
Where Is Julia Stiles Now?
If you are a kid of the ’90s then you must know Julia Stiles very well.
As the female star in 10 Things I Hate About You and Save the Last Dance, the blonde beauty instantly cemented herself as a teen romance queen before starring alongside Matt Damon in the Bourne franchise, beginning with The Bourne Identity in 2002.
In an interview with The New York Times in 2010, Stiles revealed that she might never again be a mainstream actress. However, she was excited to embark on the “second phase” of her career.
“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,” she said in an email.
“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.”
Though her follower count on Instagram is nothing huge in contrast to other actresses who got fame in the 90s, Stiles’ fans are strongly loyal.
But over the past four years, Julia has appeared in just four projects, the most striking of which was the 2019 crime drama Hustlers.
To an average fan, the 40-year-old’s career may seem to be slowing down, but the actress is right where she wants to be.
Julia Stiles was once upon a time the “it” actress; however, after a series of flop films and a move over to Broadway, Julia didn’t seem to be popping up in as many mainstream movies as she once did.
Despite her efforts to regain status in Hollywood, directors no longer favored Stiles and took some time off from acting to start a family.
Julia Stiles’ Family Life
In September 2017, Stiles married her long-time fiancée Preston Cook, a camera operator known for his work on Deadpool and War for the Planet of the Apes.
Cook and Stiles reportedly met on the set of Blackway, a 2015 thriller starring Stiles, Anthony Hopkins, Alexander Ludwig, and Ray Liotta.
Stiles then gave birth to her son Strummer Newcomb in October 2017. Stiles and her husband were delighted to welcome their newborn, and Stiles thanked the staff at Mount Sinai (in New York City) on Instagram beneath a photo of her baby’s hand.
With a new chapter in her life just beginning, Stiles took a short break from her career to focus on her family.
However, the actress still appeared in a couple of non-mainstream projects in 2017, including Trouble, an independent dramedy that received a 30 percent audience score on Rotten Tomatoes and Riviera.
Julia Stiles revealed the birth of her second baby, Arlo, in January 2022. She disclosed her pregnancy in November by caressing her expanding baby bump on the red carpet before a screening of “The Humans” at New York City’s Village East Cinema.
She is looking after her infant baby Arlo as well as her elder son Strummer, who is 4 years old. Stiles has taken a break from acting to spend time together with her family, but she will return to the screen shortly.
What Happened To Julia Stiles?
Soon after 10 Things, I Hate About You, Stiles appeared 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.
Though Save the Last Dance was successful at the box office, Stiles’ other 2000s films did not perform well. Down to You was bashed for its “bland, by-the-numbers plot” and “awful script,” according to Rotten Tomatoes. A Guy Thing bombed at the box office, earning less than its production budget.
Stiles had more progress with the Jason Bourne films in 2002, but her role as Nicky was not enough to bring her back into the Hollywood spotlight. As a result, Stiles continued to take on many non-mainstream projects from 2003 onward.
What Happened To Julia Stiles?
Soon after 10 Things, I Hate About You, Stiles appeared 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.
Though Save the Last Dance was successful at the box office, Stiles’ other 2000s films did not perform well. Down to You was bashed for its “bland, by-the-numbers plot” and “awful script,” according to Rotten Tomatoes.
A Guy Thing bombed at the box office, earning less than its production budget.
Stiles had more progress with the Jason Bourne films in 2002, but her role as Nicky was not enough to bring her back into the Hollywood spotlight.
As a result, Stiles continued to take on many non-mainstream projects from 2003 onward.
Julia Stiles Now
After appearing in Jason Bourne one last time in 2016, Stiles landed the role of Georgina Clios in Riviera, a British TV series that premiered on Sky Atlantic. The show became so successful that it premiered on the U.S. channel Ovation in 2019.
Though Riviera is not exceptionally well known in the U.S. Many fans believe that it would become popular if it were available on more streaming platforms.
Still, it was named one of “the best T.V. drama series to watch in Autumn 2020” by iNews U.K. and certainly has a strong fanbase in the U.K.
In recent years, Stiles starred opposite Jennifer Lopez in 2019’s Hustlers, a film based on the true story of a group of New York exotic dancers who fleeced millions from their wealthy Wall Street clients.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Stiles asked director Lorene Scafaria for an opportunity in any capacity to be a part of the film.
This resulted in a chance to play the journalist Elizabeth, something Stiles did not take for granted.
Stiles played journalist, Elizabeth; a fictionalized version of Jessica Pressler whose 2016 article in New York Magazine was the basis for the film.
It’s the only role that Stiles has chased down since her career was established 20 years ago.
But her most recent project is the one breaking records.
British television drama Riviera, on which Stiles is an executive producer and star, attracted never-before-seen ratings for its U.K. channel and has been picked up by networks in the U.S., Australia (SBS) and beyond.
Stiles plays Georgina, an American art curator for the super-wealthy who is drawn into the criminal underworld after the mysterious death of her husband.
Having learned over the years to temper her expectations about the success of a project, Stiles has expressed her joy and surprise that the series has found millions of fans — 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, ‘Ah, I finally made it.‘”
The Untold Truth about Julia Stiles’ Career
Here is some truth about Julia Stiles’ career you would never hear about it earlier. Julia made a conscious effort to avoid doing nudity.
Julia made a conscious 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 popped up 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 unthinkable at the height of her acting success and popularity: She walked away. The actress left the glitz and glamor 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.
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