Inside Julia Stiles and Heath Ledger’s friendship as she dedicates her DWTS dance to him

Julia Stiles is honouring her 10 Things I Hate About You co-star Heath Ledger on DWTS tonight, and it’s shaping up to be the most emotional routine of the season. For Dedication Night, Julia and her pro partner Ezra Sosa are performing a contemporary routine to Frankie Valli’s Can’t Take My Eyes Off You.

It’s the exact song Heath’s character Patrick Verona belted out from the school bleachers, marching band and all, to win over Julia’s Kat Stratford. The 1999 teen romcom was a breakout for both of them, with Julia cast at 17 and Heath at 19. Over the years, Julia has shared some genuinely lovely memories of working with him, from the way he handled her biggest scene to the handwritten note he left her when filming wrapped.

The admiration went both ways from the very start. While promoting the film back in 1999, Heath told E! the pair were fantastic together, adding that “when she smiles, she lights up the camera.” He also singled out Julia’s poem scene as one of his favourite moments in the whole film, calling her incredible.

That poem scene, where Kat reads her poem aloud in class and breaks down, is the moment Julia credits Heath for most. Speaking on the People In The ’90s Podcast in 2021, she said he never tried to compete with her or milk his own reaction shot. Instead, “He stood back and he was like, ‘This is your scene.'” Julia said she appreciated that far more later in her career, because she learned it doesn’t always happen.

She’s also revealed the tears in that scene were never in the script. They came because the production was ending and the cast, who had become close over that summer in Tacoma, Washington, were about to go their separate ways.

When she was asked on Watch What Happens Live to name her favourite day on any film set, Julia picked the day Heath shot the Can’t Take My Eyes Off You serenade. She said he was phenomenal from start to finish, which makes tonight’s song choice extra meaningful.

The most touching detail of all is the goodbye note. Julia told HuffPost in 2016 that the pair lost touch after filming, but that she later came across a note Heath had written her on hotel stationery from the Sheraton in Tacoma, where the cast stayed during the shoot.

She remembered it reading: “Dance like you’ve never heard the music and love like you’ve never been hurt.” She said it was so sweet that she almost cried, and described it as his goodbye note to her. Considering she’s now spending her autumn in a ballroom, the advice has aged perfectly.

In 2025, while promoting her directorial debut Wish You Were Here, Julia kept the tributes coming. She told E! that “He was such a bright light,” and said he was kind and generous with her at a time when she was a young actress in her first big studio lead and needed to feel comfortable with her co-star.

Around the same time, she told Australia’s Daily Telegraph that “He was a very magnetic presence on set,” describing him as someone who was never checked out and always fully engaged with everyone around him.

Heath died in January 2008, aged 28. Speaking on Watch What Happens Live in 2025, Julia said “it’s really sad that he’s gone,” and she told the Daily Telegraph it was a shame audiences never got to see the incredible work he would have gone on to make.

Ahead of tonight, Julia admitted the tribute has hit her harder than she expected. “I was crying in rehearsals today,” she told Variety at the InStyle Imagemaker Awards last week. She explained that she thought enough time had passed for her to feel distanced from it, but that seeing clips and images from the film and hearing both of their voices has brought back a flood of memories. She added that his memory lives on because of how incredible his performance was, and that making people feel something is exactly what performers hope for.

She also told E! the routine will be “really special,” and during a TikTok livestream this week, she and Ezra promised viewers tears of joy alongside the sad ones.

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