- Primary Subject: Julia Stiles' Dancing with the Stars Season 35 "Dedication Night" performance
- Key Update: Stiles reunited with the full main cast of 10 Things I Hate About You on stage after performing a tribute dance for late co-star Heath Ledger.
- Status: Confirmed
- Last Verified: October 21, 2026
- Quick Answer: Julia Stiles honored late co-star Heath Ledger on DWTS with a 10 Things I Hate About You dance, joined on stage by her original castmates.
Julia Stiles paid tribute to her late 10 Things I Hate About You co-star Heath Ledger in her recent performance on Dancing with the Stars.
The 45-year-old actress has been one of the standout contestants in the current season of the hit reality competition series. She took her participation to another level as she decided to pay homage to one of her iconic films and the late actor that she shared the screen with.
Julia Stiles' Heath Ledger Tribute in Dancing with the Stars Season 35
For her performance in "Dedication Night" in Week 6 of Dancing with the Stars season 35, Julia Stiles decided to pay tribute to Heath Ledger, her late co-star in the iconic romantic comedy 10 Things I Hate About You.
The actress and her professional partner, Ezra Sosa, performed a contemporary dance of "Can't Take My Eyes Off You," a homage to the iconic scene in the film where Ledger's character serenaded Stiles' character in the bleachers.
At the end of the performance, Stiles was joined by her other 10 Things I Hate About You co-stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Gabrielle Union, Larisa Oleynik, Andrew Keegan, and Susan May Pratt on stage to also pay tribute to Ledger.
In a post-performance interview with Variety, Stiles shared that she begged her co-stars to show up in the performance and, fortunately, they all agreed.
"I said, if we had to have someone with us on stage representing Heath’s legacy or the film, I said it had to be the whole cast. I begged them, each and every one of them, and they all rallied. They really did," she said.
"At 17 years old, I never would have thought that I’d be here at 45, celebrating my body, dancing on the show that I absolutely love and that fans are still interested in this movie and still moved and touched by this movie."
Why Julia Stiles Decided to Pay Tribute to Heath Ledger
In an interview days before the performance, Julia Stiles opened up about her rehearsals and shared the story behind centering her "Dedication Night" on Heath Ledger.
"I know that Dedication Night is emotional, but I thought I was distanced from it enough. Like, oh, it was so many years ago. Something about seeing clips from that movie and images and hearing my voice and hearing his voice is bringing back so many memories. It’s a lot," she said.
"One of the things that I’m taking away from this dedication is one of the things that we really hope to do as performers is to make people feel something and have people care about the work that you do, and his memory lives on because it was such an incredible performance."
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