Julia Stiles then
Actress Julia Stiles has been a part of New York’s La MaMa Theatre Company since the age of eleven. Her film debut was at the age of fifteen, in the romantic drama I Love You, I Love You Not (1996). She had a number of notable roles in the following years, but her first lead role was in the 1998 thriller filmWicked.
Her biggest role of the decade, and arguably the biggest role of her career, came in 1999 with the hugely-successful romantic comedy 10 Things I Hate About You, where she had the lead role opposite Heath Ledger. The film was a modern adaptation of Shakespeare’s play The Taming of the Shrew. This was the first of three Shakespearean adaptations where she was featured.