Julia Stiles portrayed Glenna in David Mamet's Edmond, starring William H. Macy, Dylan Walsh, Joe Mantegna and Mena Suvari, which premiered at the 2005 Venice Film Festival. She starred opposite Forest Whitaker in Baltasar Kormakur's Little Trip to Heaven, which premiered at the 2005 Toronto Film Festival.

Last year also saw Stiles reprise her role as Nicky in Paul Greengrass' The Bourne Supremacy, the sequel to The Bourne Identity. Other film credits include Mona Lisa Smile, The Business of Strangers, Save the Last Dance and David Mamet's State & Main. The latter won the 2000 National Board of Review Award for Best Ensemble Cast.

Stiles's Shakespeare-inspired film credits include Tim Blake Nelson's O, a contemporary adaptation of Othello; Michael Almereyda's Hamlet, opposite Liev Schreiber and Ethan Hawke; and Ten Things I Hate About You, for which she won the Chicago Film Critics Award for Most Promising Actress.

Stiles began her career on the New York stage, appearing in a number of plays at the L.A. Mama Theater and the Kitchen Theater, including Everyday Newt Burman, Matthew School of Life, and The Sandalwood Box. More recently, Stiles shared the New York stage with Gloria Reuben and Mary Testa in Eve Ensler's The Vagina Monologues. In the summer of 2002, Stiles appeared as Viola in the New York Shakespeare Festival's production of Twelfth Night in Central Park.

Stiles made her West End debut opposite Aaron Eckhart in a revival of David Mamet's Oleanna, which opened to rave reviews at The Garrick Theatre.