Julia Stiles feels 'emotional' about Heath Ledger tribute

Julia Stiles has been feeling "emotional" ahead of her tribute to Heath Ledger on Dancing with the Stars.

The 45-year-old actress starred alongside Heath - who died in January 2008, aged 28 - in 10 Things I Hate About You, the 1999 romcom, and Julia is preparing to honour him during Dedication Night on Dancing with the Stars.

The movie star - who will perform a contemporary routine to Frankie Valli’s Can’t Take My Eyes Off You - told People: "I’m actually surprised at how emotional it’s been.

"I know from watching the show how emotional Dedication Night is. It’s always very personal stories. But I thought, ‘Oh, I’m distanced enough from it. The movie was so many years ago'."

Meanwhile, 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 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?"