Julia Stiles' acting career started in 1993, when she was cast in the role of Erica Dansby in PBS' children mystery drama series, Ghostwriter. After that, she enjoyed a rather meteoric rise, as she starred in two films that have since become the stuff of folklore.

In 1999, she joined Heath Ledger in the Gil Junger rom-com 10 Things I Hate About You, with the two stars enjoying great chemistry on camera and behind the scenes. 10 Things I Hate About You went on to become a sensational success, with ABC even developing a TV series of the same in 2009.

Two years after the release of that classic film, Stiles was once again one of the star attractions in a hit movie, this time when she played Sara Johnson in MTV's Save the Last Dance. From a budget of about $13 million, the Thomas Carter-directed film returned a gross of more than ten times that at the box office.

Stiles' has continued to grow since Save the Last Dance, both in her personal and professional life. That being said, she has not quite become the star she looked destined to be, and she feels like things she said in her past might have played a role in that.

Julia Stiles' Career Slowed Down When She Returned To College

Julia Stiles was talking to NME magazine in early 2020 when she spoke about the thing she regrets most about her career so far. She was only 20 years old when she arguably hit the highest peak of her career with Save the Last Dance in 2001.

She returned to college soon after that, to study English literature at Columbia University. Stiles told NME that this break was good for her, although she wasn't very clear on what direction her career should take after she eventually graduated in 2005.

"It was good to slow things down a bit in my 20s," the actress said. "In university, and when I finished, I wasn’t as clear about what I wanted to do. I just took roles because I thought it was interesting to have that life experience: ‘Oh, I’ll go to this part of the world or I’ll work with these people or this is kind of an interesting story’."

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With time and maturity, she now feels that she can make those kinds of decisions better.

What Does Julia Stiles Regret Most About Her Career?

"Now, I’m a little more thoughtful about what I work on in terms of my career and the bigger picture," Stiles said in the same NME interview. When asked whether if she went back in time there was anything particular that she would change, the actress was very resolute in her response.

"I think I would have dressed better or not gone out of the house without makeup on," Stiles said, referencing the spotlight under which she would often find herself, from things such as their personal relationships to her public fashion choices. She then went on to express her wish that she would have been more calculated with her words in her younger days.

"I also think nobody should be quoted in print before the age of 30," she continued. "I wish I’d been more careful about some of the things I said. I just didn’t have any experience. I learned through trial and error what it means to be quoted."

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Being inexperienced, Stiles revealed that she would often say things that she thought people wanted to hear, instead of what she actually thought.

Julia Stiles Feels She 'Gave A Lot Of Dumb Responses' To Media Questions

"I wouldn’t have said things for effect and for popularity over things that I actually thought," Stiles reflected. The New York-born star was pressed on what some of these things might be, to which she drew a parallel between recent ways in which media is consumed, compared to two decades ago.

"The media has changed since I was in my 20s," she explained. "We were asked a lot of dumb questions and I gave dumb responses – about my diet and exercise regime or ‘who’s your favourite co-star to kiss?’ Lots of fluffy things and I would want to appeal to that."

"It all felt very far away from who I was," Stiles continued. "It usually ended up biting me in the ass because it would sound stupid or offensive." Nonetheless, she managed to press on with her life, and has been in successful productions such as Silver Linings Playbook and Showtimes crime drama series, Dexter.

The latter earned Stiles both a Golden Globe and an Emmy nomination. Today, she has a net worth of about $12 million, and is married with two kids.

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