Julia Stiles is finally putting on her DWTS ballroom shoes, but it took more than a little convincing.
When the official Season 35 cast of the ABC competition series was unveiled on GMA, the 45-year-old actress was introduced as one of the celebrity competitors this fall, She’s paired with fan-favorite pro Pasha Pashkov. But during post-reveal interviews, the actress candidly admitted that producers had been calling her for years, and she turned them down every single time until now.
Julia Stiles Explains Why She Said Yes to DWTS
In an interview with People Magazine, Julia Stiles admitted that she had been asked to join DWTS for years, but always turned producers of the long-running competition series down. She shared her reasons why.
“It’s taken a couple of years,” Stiles said. “They’ve asked me in previous years [and] every year I say, ‘Oh my God, I love the show, and I would love to go on, but I just can’t do it. I just can’t do it.’ ”
“For a number of reasons, the first one being my own fear,” the actress continued. “This year I was like, ‘I’m scared I might say yes.’ The timing just felt right, and I was like, ‘You only live once.’”
She concluded that when she met her pro partner, Ezra Sosa for the first time, “I was so nervous. I was shaking. I was literally shaking.”
“And I was like, ‘Wait a minute. I have spent a career in front of cameras. I’ve done live theater. Why am I shaking?’ [But it was] because this is so special,'” she concluded.
Pro Ezra Sosa Was ‘Starstruck’ Upon Meeting the ’90s Superstar
In the People Magazine interview with Julia Stiles, her dance partner, Ezra Sosa, revealed how he felt upon meeting her for the first time.
Sosa said, “It’s surreal when you have Julia Stiles walk in the door and she’s your partner, and the first thing she says is, ‘I’m so starstruck.’ I collapsed to the floor.”
“It was weird because I felt like we were both equally nervous. And you were shaking; I was shaking too, like very much so,” he continued.
The dance pro concluded, “I’m very impressed by her. I am very impressed by her work ethic, her drive, and just to see her growth in the two weeks.”
“It makes me super excited to see her growth and her journey on the show. Especially with her being a fan of the show, it makes me just so excited. I just see her, and I see the journey that she’s going to have, and it just makes me so happy.”
Season 35 of DWTS features 16 celebrity couples. This ties it with Season 9 and Season 31 for the largest cast in the show’s history.
Stiles joins Jenna Dewan, Harry Shum Jr., Taylor Hanson, Tatyana Ali, Amber Glen, Ezra French, Tyler Cameron and Giada de Laurentiis. Additional contestants include Sarah Jane Nader, Conner Leavitt, Connor Wood, Ciara Miller, Maura Higgins, Jackson Olson, and Guillermo Rodriguez.
DWTS stars airs beginning Tuesday, Sept. 15, and continuing Wednesday, Sept. 16, at 8 p.m. ET on ABC and Disney+.
