Julia Stiles Reveals Her Family’s Role in DWTS Journey

Julia Stiles Reveals Husband, Kids’ Reaction to DWTS Casting

Julia Stiles has already proven her dancing chops.

But 25 years after acing her Julliard audition in Save the Last Dance, she’s pirouetting into a new style. And as she prepares to step into the Dancing With the Stars ballroom alongside pro partner Ezra Sosa, she knows she’ll have millions of eyes on her.

Right now, though, her husband Preston Cook and their three children, Strummer, 8, Arlo, 4, and a baby they welcomed in 2023 are her first audience members.

“They see me dance every day and every night in my kitchen and in the living room,” Stiles exclusively told E! News of her children after casting for DWTS’ season 35 was announced Sept. 2. “They’re like, ‘Oh there goes Mommy again.’”

In fact, her kids have even become dance partners—whether willing or unwilling, she didn’t say—by proxy when Sosa isn’t around. 

“Sometimes I pick them up and I’m actually practicing the dance holding them,” the Bourne alum added. “And my husband will just stand there and I kind of twirl around him.”

As she added, “It’s pretty special.”

Yet, despite Stiles’ experience dancing onscreen as Sara in Save the Last Dance, she admitted DWTS comes with its own set of challenges.

“That’s the crazy thing,” she said. “This is the first time I’m not hiding behind a character, or like a script. This is me. It’s not Sarah, it’s not any of the other characters I’ve played. It’s just Julia.”

“But,” she affirmed, “I am ready.”

And Sosa is thrilled he’s been chosen as the 10 Things I Hate About You star’s partner.

“I feel so lucky,” he said. “The moment she walked in the door I literally could not even believe that she signed on to do this show. But just the fact that she is such a fan of the show makes it that much more special, and I just feel so lucky.”

Plus, if he and Stiles get far enough into the competition, he teased that fans may get to see some resurrected dance moves from Save the Last Dance.