What Happened to Julia Stiles and Her Movie Career?

Many young, promising actresses in the entertainment industry made it to the top. Still, there are way more of those who left their glamourous Hollywood careers for various reasons. One of those people is Julia Stiles. Who is she, and what exactly happened to her over the years? Let’s find out.

From an early age, Julia was obsessed with modern dance, which to a certain extent contributed to her interest in Shakespeare and theater. At the age of eleven, she made her debut on the theater stage as part of the experimental troupe La MaMa Theatre, and not long after that, Julia started acting.

Her first big role came around in 1999 in “10 Reasons I Hate About You”, a loose adaptation of William Shakespeare’s play “The Taming of the Shrew.” In the early 2000s, the actress appeared in movies like “Just You and Me,” “Life Behind the Scenes,” “Save The Last Dance,” and the big hits — “Bourne Identity” and “Bourne Supremacy,” which brought her worldwide fame.

One of Julia’s most notable roles from that decade was a remake of Richard Donner’s 1976 film “The Omen,” where she played the role of Catherine Thorne — the wife of American diplomat Robert Thorne. In 2010, Julia got a role on the critically acclaimed show Dexter. After that, there were some small roles here and there, and she even got two IAWTV Awards in 2013 and 2014, but things just stopped after 2016’s Jason Bourne. It was the fifth installation in the Bourne series and the sequel to The Bourne Ultimatum, and it became the last big gig for Julia. At least for a while.

The actress decided to focus more on her personal life and put her acting career on the back burner. She got married and gave birth to two amazing kids before going back to acting. In 2019, she appeared in a low-budget film “Hustlers,” but even that was enough to satiate her ego.

Julia has grown a lot since starring in “10 Things I Hate About You” and is now in full control of her career. After all, acting is not the only showbiz-related profession you can learn in Hollywood. That’s right, Julia has been dipping her toes in directing, and judging by her crime drama Riviera, it’s been going swell.

If you come to think of it, Julia Stiles has portrayed a vast array of characters, like the cute girl, a nervous mom, a badass spy, and most recently, the roles got much darker and more complex. It’s pretty clear that her role as Kat in “10 Things I Hate About You” did more good to Julia’s career than the rest of the projects.

Apparently, many of us have forgotten about Julia after the last Bourne movie, but she still appeared on the screens, even if in a smaller capacity. But she has a family now, directs her own movies, and still enjoys acting from time to time. Here’s to another decade of being a productive actress/director/mom, Julia!