Julia Stiles

Julia O'Hara Stiles is an American actress and director. Born on March 28, 1981, in New York City, she began acting at the age of 11 with New York's La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club. Over her career, she has earned wide recognition across film, television, and theater, receiving honors such as a Teen Choice Award, two MTV Movie Awards, two IAWTV Awards, and a Karlovy Vary Film Festival Award, alongside nominations for a Golden Globe and a Primetime Emmy Award.

Stiles was raised in New York City as the oldest of three children born to Judith Newcomb Stiles, a Greenwich Village artist, and John O'Hara, a businessman. She is of English, Irish, and German descent. Stiles later pursued higher education alongside her acting career, graduating from Columbia University with a degree in English literature in 2005, and was honored with a John Jay Award by the Columbia College Alumni Association in 2010.

After securing an agent, Stiles began auditioning for television in 1993, debuting on the mystery series Ghostwriter. Her feature film debut came in 1996 with a small role in I Love You, I Love You Not, followed by appearances in The Devil's Own and Wide Awake. She secured her first lead role in the film Wicked (1998), winning the Karlovy Vary Film Festival Award for Best Actress. In 1999, she achieved wide prominence starring as Kat Stratford in 10 Things I Hate About You and appearing in the television miniseries The '60s.

Following her breakthrough, Stiles starred in projects such as Down to You (2000), Hamlet (2000), O (2001), and Save the Last Dance (2001), the latter earning her multiple MTV Movie Awards. She gained international recognition for her performance as Treadstone operative Nicolette "Nicky" Parsons in the Bourne franchise between 2002 and 2016. Her notable film work also includes State and Main (2000), The Business of Strangers (2001), Mona Lisa Smile (2003), The Prince & Me (2004), The Omen (2006), Silver Linings Playbook (2012), Hustlers (2019), and Orphan: First Kill (2022).

On television, Stiles portrayed Lumen Pierce in the fifth season of Dexter (2010), earning nominations for a Golden Globe and a Primetime Emmy Award. From 2012 to 2014, she starred in the web series Blue, winning two IAWTV Awards for Best Actress. She subsequently starred as Georgina Ryland in the drama series Riviera (2017–2020) and played Maisy-May in the Amazon series The Lake (2022–2023).

In addition to her work on screen, Stiles has performed extensively on stage, including productions with Ridge Theater, Eve Ensler's The Vagina Monologues, Shakespeare in the Park's Twelfth Night, and revivals of David Mamet's Oleanna on the West End and Broadway. As a filmmaker, she wrote and directed the short film Raving (2007) and directed her first feature film, Wish You Were Here, released in January 2025.

Stiles married camera assistant Preston J. Cook in September 2017, and the couple has three children. Outside of her entertainment career, she has engaged in humanitarian work, including building housing in Costa Rica with Habitat for Humanity and working with Amnesty International regarding juvenile immigration detention conditions.