'I do like to change it up,' says Stiles, reclining back in her chair to pause in thought. In her Broadway debut as Carol in David Mamet's 'Oleanna,' Julia Stiles welcomes the transition to stage work. “I feel like my decision to do that without being able to predict the future was rewarded because it was for the right reason.Photo Source: Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images “Years ago, it seemed like the content wouldn’t be as sophisticated as a proper TV show or proper movie, but I could feel that was changing,” said Stiles. More recently, Stiles has been among the first A-list actresses to embrace online storytelling, starring in the hit WIGS Web series “Blue” as a mother juggling raising her son with being a high-end escort, and writing and directing “Paloma,” another WIGS series which stars Grace Gummer navigating modern life.

Stiles’ credits include being in the “Bourne” franchise with Matt Damon, David Mamet’s play “Oleanna” in the West End and Broadway and the films “Silver Linings Playbook” and “Mona Lisa Smile.” “For me, it makes sense because it’s getting back to my roots and also why I wanted to be an actress in the first place,” Stiles says. They wanted something small and something downtown – where the actress began her career with the tiny Ridge Theater company. Stiles, 33, had been looking for a play that she and director Jennifer DeLia could work on together. “I thought it was refreshing that it’s not cynical,” she says. Stiles and co-star James Wirt play one-time lovers who meet several weeks after a one-night-stand to discuss the consequences. This summer, the flux has put Stiles at the intimate Cherry Lane Theatre for a production of the one-act dark romantic comedy “Phoenix” by Scott Organ, which the actress calls “really charming and really romantic.” “I’ve kind of embraced that my work is always in flux.” I’m not very good at the long-term plans,” she says.

“I’m such a child that I just want to show up and play dress-up. “I had to be brutal,” she says.Ĭhange is not something Stiles is uncomfortable with, having jumped into projects as diverse as William Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night,” to being a serial killer on “Dexter,” to her own scripted show on YouTube. She even donated her piano to a music school. Gone was most of her furniture she’d accumulated over a decade. It feels like shedding your skin,” she says.

The Emmy Award- and Golden Globe-nominee sat down before rehearsals of her new play only hours after moving from her longtime three-bedroom apartment on 15th Street to a new one-bedroom East Village space. Moving to a new home is said to be one of the most stressful events you can endure – up there with death and divorce – but Julia Stiles has just done it and looks radiant.

Connected by Kat Stiles