Julia Stiles
Julia Stiles
Julia O'Hara Stilesis an American actress. Born and raised in New York City, Stiles began acting at age 11 and made her screen debut as Erica Dansby in six episodes of the television series Ghostwriter. Her first film role was in I Love You, I Love You Not, followed by a leading role in the thriller Wicked, for which she was awarded the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival Award for Best Actress. She went on to gain prominence for her...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionMovie Actress
Date of Birth28 March 1981
CityNew York City, NY
CountryUnited States of America
I think I was born an artist. But the key is that I have a mom that encouraged and supported my artistic side. She still has the stick-figure drawings framed.
I think that ultimately I just have to be myself. You know, I don't do anything that outlandish anyway.
I know it sounds earnest, but I do really feel in my bones that acting is just a small part of the equation when you are making a movie. The director really is in charge. Actors are as important or unimportant as the rest of the people around them.
Yoga has stopped me from destroying my joints after running. It slows me down. My brain and body can go into overdrive - yoga teaches me to focus on the moment and not get ahead of myself.
I never think of myself as an actor who takes work home with them.
I kind of don't believe in actors directing themselves. Obviously some people have done it well, but I don't see how I could. It's funny that you ask, because I've just been thinking that maybe I'd rather direct The Bell Jar than act in it. It's a huge leap to go from a short to a feature, so I'm tentative - I'm like, Well, that's just so triple-type-A personality of you.
I do think that the more takes you have the more opportunity to experiment [but] at a certain point, there are diminishing returns. There's only so much variety you offer.
I think it's really special to be a part of something that people are still watching or thinking about or interested in, or remember fondly many years later. I don't think it's annoying at all.
I've really turned a corner recently in terms of not taking work too seriously, so it is much easier for me to not take my work home.
When Paul [Greengrass] was writing, he'd send me story ideas that he had. He was particularly interested in social movements and revolutions that had been happening all over the world, and how computers and the internet had helped those movements. He encouraged me to read a book about Anonymous, the hacker group called "white hat" hackers, meaning they're driven by ideology and social disruption as opposed to just greed.
Education is huge for me. I went to public school until I turned thirteen, and was lucky enough to afford college once I became successful as an actress.
I've always been fascinated with the idea of people paying for sex and what goes on with that and why that happens.
Fundamentally women and men are different.
The exercise in theater is night after night you are doing the same play, but you have another opportunity to explore. It changes nightly even because of the audience and your day going into the evening of the performance. With film it's much more controlled.