Julia Stiles was revealed as Ezra Sosa’s Season 35 partner Wednesday, September 2, joining a 16-celebrity cast on Dancing With the Stars.
Not long after, Sosa made the pairing TikTok official with a clip captioned, “last dance? not even close ;)” The comments rolled in fast.
“That’s cheating. She went to Juilliard,” one person wrote.
“Based on experience. No one else has a chance now,” another added.
“This should NOT be allowed!! She’s a classically trained dancer!!!!” a third piled on.
For anyone who somehow missed this particular piece of Y2K canon, Stiles did not attend Juilliard, nor is she secretly a professional dancer. She took ballet classes growing up, but the backstory flooding Sosa’s comment section belongs to Sara, the aspiring ballerina Stiles played in 2001’s Save the Last Dance.
Even if that background were hers, there’s no DWTS rule requiring celebrities to arrive with two left feet. Casting director and executive producer Deena Katz recently told Parade that age, background and dance experience aren’t what make or break a potential contestant — the real requirement is wanting to be there and committing to the process. This season alone includes Jenna Dewan and Harry Shum Jr., both of whom danced professionally long before joining the ballroom.
Stiles has already tried to clear up the confusion. “I’m so grateful for all the opportunities that came from that movie but I am not a professional dancer,” she told Us Weekly after Wednesday’s reveal. “I just played pretend.” Sosa was even more explicit: “We are emphasizing that she did not actually get into Juilliard, people.”
In fairness, the movie wasn't some forgotten teen flick. It opened at No. 1 in January 2001, eventually pulled in nearly $132 million worldwide, and helped cement her, already riding the success of 10 Things I Hate About You, as one of the defining faces of the era. Rolling Stone put her on the cover and called her “the coolest coed,” which she technically was, since she was a Columbia freshman at the time.
