Who

Julia Stiles in the moon-faced, precocious young actress known for starring in a spate of teen romance flicks in the late '90s. She'd now like to be considered a serious stage actor, thank you very much.

Backstory

Stiles grew up in SoHo, studied modern dance as a kid, and at the age of 11 made her debut with the experimental La MaMa theatre after she boldly wrote a letter to the manager asking to be in his play. She had a small role on the PBS show Ghostwriter, and made her film debut opposite Claire Danes in 1996's I Love You, I Love You Not. Stiles followed up a year later with a breakout role as Harrison Ford's daughter in The Devil's Own, then became a bona fide teen star in 1999 with the Shakespeare-inspired high school rom-com 10 Things I Hate About You. In the early '00s she starred in a handful of self-important flicks aimed squarely at fourteen year old girls: Down to You, Save the Last Dance, and Mona Lisa Smile; she also branched out into action and horror with parts in the Bourne Identity series and the 2006 remake The Omen. Of course, her bid for legitimacy wouldn't be complete without a bit of theater tossed in for good measure: Stiles appeared in stage productions of Twelfth Night and Oleanna, and earned critical praise in the process. In between her movie roles— and posing on the cover of Cosmopolitan wearing a bustier—she managed to graduate from Columbia, too.

Recently

Stiles unveiled Raving, her Elle magazine-produced directorial debut with Zooey Deschanel, at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2007. The mag had a hand in the flick's marketing campaign: Raving's tagline was, "Sometimes, a change of dress can change your life."

Personal

The formerly vegan Stiles is apparently averse to dating anyone who doesn't share her first initial—she's been linked with Joseph Gordon-Levitt (her co-star in 10 Things I Hate About You), actor Joshua Jackson, musician John Mays, and painter/sculptor Jonathan Cramer. She lives near Gramercy Park, in an apartment she purchased in 2004.

True story

Stiles refuses to wear fake boobs on screen, although she says producers have left drawers full of them in her dressing room in an attempt to pump up her modest A-cups.