Actress Julia Stiles rose to fame in the late '90s with roles in movies like I Love You, I Love You Not and 10 Things I Hate About You, and since then she has starred in critically acclaimed projects such as Mona Lisa Smile and Silver Linings Playbook. Nowadays, the actress is pickier about her projects which is why fans don't see as much of her as they used to.
Today, we're taking a look at whether Julia Stiles has any dancing experience. From which famous dance movie she starred in, to what she has to say about dancing — keep on scrolling to find out!
6 Julia Stiles Starred In The Dance Romance Movie 'Save The Last Dance'
The teen dance movie Save the Last Dance came out in 2001, and in it, Julia Stiles portrays Sara Johnson. Apart from Stiles, the movie also stars Sean Patrick Thomas, Terry Kinney, and Fredro Starr. Save the Last Dance follows a girl who moves to Chicago where she falls in love and trains for a Juilliard School dance audition. The movie currently holds a 6.2 rating on IMDb, and it ended up grossing $131.7 million at the box office.
5 Viewers Believed The Dancing Was Mediocre Because Julia Stiles Isn't A Dancer
In the movie, Julia Stiles’ character Sara Johnson does an audition dance which has since the movie's release become a meme. At the time of the release, the ballet and hip-hop number didn't seem too bad, but today it definitely doesn't look great.
The choreography is mediocre and most viewers always assumed that that is because the actress has no dance training. However, that isn't entirely true.
4 Julia Stiles Practiced Dancing A Lot Before The Movie
In an interview with Today from 2021, the actress remembered what shooting Save the Last Dance was like. The actress admitted that dancing for the movie was her favorite part:
"The absolute best thing about making that movie was the dance. I mean, the rehearsals, and the dance training. I was, like, sign me up; where do I start? It was really challenging and really daunting because I’m not a professional dancer. So there was a lot of playing catch-up. But it was so fun. And such an awesome opportunity to get to do that kind of, like, rigorous training, and choreography rehearsals."
3 Julia Stiles Used To Dance Ballet When She Was Younger
While Julia Stiles isn't a professional dancer, she does have some experience in dancing. The actress revealed that she danced ballet as a child and teenager, but she didn't specify at what age she stooped:
"I had to bust my butt to get in shape. And also, you know, catch up to the level that Sara — or, at least, look like I could catch up to — I could be at the level that Sara was supposed to be at. I did ballet as a kid and a teenager, but I had stopped. So that was the most rigorous part of the training. So we did two months before we started filming. And then on the weekends, we would do the choreography rehearsals. Fatima [Robinson], who was the hip-hop choreographer, when we would rehearse the audition scene, she was always, always refining the moves. So it was hard to keep up."
2 Julia Stiles Admitted That She Missed Out On Plenty Of Fun Because Of Rehearsals
In an interview with Entertainment Tonight, Julia Stiles admitted that she missed out on plenty of partying because of her rehearsals. The cast was going to different parties to do research for the movie's club scenes — but Stiles would rarely go:
"When we were in pre-production and doing all of the dance rehearsals, I was doing the ballet too, and [choreographer] Fatima [Robinson] would take Sean [Patrick Thomas] and Kerry [Washington], and all of the other actors out to the club in Chicago, and every night I’d get a phone call, 'We’re going here, we're going there,' and I was such a do-gooder that I was like, 'I can’t, I have ballet rehearsals at nine in the morning.'"
1 Julia Stiles Got Cast In 'Save The Last Dance' Thanks To The Rom-Com '10 Things I Hate About You'
One thing that many may not know is that Julia Stiles got cast in Save the Last Dance thanks to her portrayal of Katarina "Kat" Stratford in the 1999 romantic comedy 10 Things I Hate About You. In that movie, Kat dances drunk on a pool table in one scene, and when director Thomas Carter was that — he knew she would be perfect for the role of Sara Johnson. Here's what Stiles said: "He saw that and he was like, 'Oh, you have rhythm,' so then I screen tested with Sean [Patrick Thomas]. And then another actor who was up for the role. And then they hired me."