Julia Stiles Fondly Remembers Heath Ledger From ’10 Things I Hate About You’

Julia Stiles shared her fond memories of working with Heath Ledger on the 1999 romantic comedy, 10 Things I Hate About You, noting how “gracious” the actor was. 10 Things I Hate About You was inspired by William Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew and helped make Ledger an international star. Stiles and Joseph Gordon-Levitt also had breakthrough roles in the film, set in Seattle.

During a recent episode of the PEOPLE in the ’90s podcast, Stiles, 40, remembered Ledger as a “gracious” actor during filming. “I appreciate this so much more now having worked more,” she said about the film’s famous scene when she recites her poem. “He wasn’t trying to compete with me. He stood back and he was like, this is your scene,” Stiles explained. “When they did his reaction shot, he didn’t well up. He didn’t go, ‘Okay, now I have to do something with my side of the camera.’ He was just like, ‘That was beautiful and this is your scene.’”

Stiles made sure to call out some of Ledger’s “amazing moments” in the film, like “the singing and dancing and running up and down those steps,” she said. “But he was confident enough, even just starting out, to be like, ‘I’m handing over the stage to you.’ And I learned way later in life that that doesn’t always happen.” 10 Things I Hate About You was directed by Gil Junger, and written by Karen McCullah and Kristen Smith. The film was a big hit and remains a beloved ’90s rom-com. It inspired a short-lived ABC Family sitcom of the same name in 2009 and 2010.

Elsewhere in her interview with PEOPLE, Stiles recalled how she once had a limousine pick her up at Columbia University to take her to the 2000 MTV Movie Awards. The limo pulled right up to her dorm to take her to the show. “I think very quickly, I was able to focus on school,” Stiles, who earned a degree in English Literature in 2005, said. “It would put things in perspective a lot. So my peers were all studying to become doctors, so that’s humbling.”

After 10 Things I Hate About You hit theaters, Ledger’s career skyrocketed with hits like The Patriot, A Knight’s Tale, and Brokeback Mountain. He died in 2008 at age 28 from an accidental overdose of sleeping pills. He won a posthumous Oscar for playing The Joker in The Dark Knight (2008). As for Stiles, she recently starred in Hustlers and the TV drama Riviera. She earned an Emmy nomination in 2011 for playing Lumen Ann Pierce on Showtime’s Dexter. She also plays Nicolette Parsons in the Jason Bourne movies.