Julia Stiles

Julia O'Hara Stiles (born March 28, 1981 in New York City) is an American stage and screen actress. After beginning her theater career in small parts, she has moved on to leading roles in plays by writers as diverse as William Shakespeare and David Mamet; her film career has been both a commercial and critical success, ranging from teen romantic comedies such as 10 Things I Hate About You (1999) to dark art house pictures such as The Business of Strangers (2001). When Stiles isn't working, she actively supports a variety of progressive and liberal issues.

Television

Stiles' work on television has been more limited. After two appearances on the PBS series Ghostwriter in 1993 and 1994, she appeared as a guest star on the medical drama Chicago Hope. She has been seen in two made-for-TV movies. In Before Women Had Wings (1997) on CBS, she played opposite Ellen Burstyn and Oprah Winfrey in an adaptation of the novel by Connie May Fowler. Marcia Ross, the film's casting director, told Jeffrey Ressner "she projects an intelligent depth, she's not girlish, and she'll easily grow into adult roles."

Related Topics:
PBS - Ghostwriter - 1993 - 1994 - Chicago Hope - 1997 - CBS - Ellen Burstyn - Oprah Winfrey - Connie May Fowler - Casting director

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Stiles also played a teenage girl who finds herself pregnant and runs away from her unforgiving father (Bill Smitrovich) in NBC's miniseries The '60's (1999), a film Caryn James dismissed as "conspicuously idiotic." Stiles was the public face of the film, with NBC using her face, painted with a peace sign and the American flag, both in its advertising and on the cover of the soundtrack album.

Related Topics:
Bill Smitrovich - NBC - The '60's - 1999

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On March 17, 2001, Stiles hosted Saturday Night Live and eight days later introduced a music nominee at the 73rd Academy Awards. She returned to Saturday Night Live on May 5 in a cameo as President George W. Bush's daughter Jenna. MTV profiled her in its Diary series in 2003, and she was Punk'd by Ashton Kutcher at a museum in the spring of 2004.

Related Topics:
March 17 - 2001 - Saturday Night Live - 73rd Academy Awards - May 5 - George W. Bush - Jenna - MTV - 2003 - Punk'd - Ashton Kutcher - 2004

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