Julia Stiles explains why she feels 'more comfortable'

Julia Stiles feels "more comfortable" in herself than she did at the height of her acting fame.

The 45-year-old actress rose to prominence in the late 90s and early 2000s with leading roles in various teen films - such as 10 Things I Hate About You, Down to You, and Save the Last Dance - but Julia feels more confident now than she did back then.

The actress - who is currently competing on Dancing with the Stars, the long-running TV dance competition - told People: "Little Julia back then, I wish that she could have known that like years later she would be here, making that dance even better.

"Like, I’m a grown woman now, and I’m so much more comfortable in who I am and how I look and all that, that I wish that she had known that at the time. But it feels really nice."

Ezra Sosa, Julia's professional partner, was also full of praise for the actress.

He said: "Right before we went out and danced, I just saw the look in her eyes and her energy and her aura. I was like, ‘Oh, she’s locked in.'"

Julia recently recalled being told that she was "too serious" as a young actress.

The movie star started acting at age 11, performing with New York's La MaMa Theatre Company, and she enjoyed huge success around the turn of the century - but one piece of advice always stuck with Julia.

Speaking during an Instagram video, Julia shared: "I remember being an auditioning actress as a teenager, and every single audition that I went to, they'd be like, 'You need to smile more. Just smile, be more bubbly and effervescent. Because you're so serious. You're too serious'.

"And that just made me angry, but luckily I found the role of Kat Stratford in 10 Things I Hate About You."

The 1999 romcom proved to be one of the biggest successes of Julia's career and she relished playing the role of Kat Stratford, having been preferred for the part over the likes of Eliza Dushku and Katie Holmes.

Julia - who has also starred on TV shows and on Broadway - said: "It was just so much fun playing her because she wasn't driven by everybody else's judgement of her. How awesome that, like 25 years later, different generations of ladies are still responding to her and that movie?"