Julia Stiles Teases DWTS Tribute to Heath Ledger for Dedication Night

“It was really, really, really special, and we’re going to capture that in our performance,” Stiles recalled in a recent livestream reshared on TikTok. “It’s gonna be a lot. It’s a great song, and he was amazing in that scene. So, we’re gonna bring it for you guys.”

The Save the Last Dance actress—mom to kids Strummer, 8, Arlo, 4, and a 2-year-old with husband Preston Cook—emphasized that she and Sosa will be balancing the grief of Ledger’s 2008 death at age 28 with the beauty of that dance scene.

“It was important to me that, in the music and in the dance, that we have a somber tribute to him because obviously he’s passed away and he’s no longer with us,” she explained, “but also that scene brings so much joy to people.”

“His energy in it,” she continued, “I wanted to have musically and in terms of the choreography. We want to have the joyful celebration of when he was around.”

And the legacy modern William Shakespeare retelling—which also starred Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Gabrielle Union, Andrew Keegan and Larisa Oleynik—has continued to loom large for Stiles. Specifically, the ways she didn’t hate working with Ledger, not even close, not even a little bit, not even at all. 

“He was amazing,” she told E! News in January 2025. “He was such a bright light. He just walked into the room and lit it up.”

“He was very kind and generous to me,” Stiles explained, “when you’re an actress in your first leading role in a big studio movie, you need to feel comfortable with the other person. And he was very generous that way.”

As Stiles and Sosa lace up their dancing shoes for Dancing With the Stars‘ Dedication Night episode, keep reading for all the celebs competing for the Mirrorball Trophy.