Julia Stiles has remembered Heath Ledger as being "very kind and generous" towards her.

The 43-year-old actress starred alongside tragic Heath - who died on 22 January 2008 at the age of 28 following an accidental overdose - in the 1999 comedy '10 Thing I Hate About You' and recalled how "comfortable" he made her feel in those early days of her Hollywood career.

She told E! News: "He was amazing.

"He was such a bright light. He just walked into a room and lit it up.

"He was very kind and generous to me. which you know, 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.

"The scene where I read the poem, I did not expect to start crying or tearing up or choking up, whatever. it just happened because it was the movie was coming to an end, the production was coming to an end. And I think I was just so moved by the whole experience."

The film - which also starred Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Larisa Oleynik and Andrew Keegan - is a modernisation of William Shakespeare's comedy 'The Taming of the Shrew'.

Julia previously noted that she was just "happy and thrilled" that the movie had lived on more than 20 years later.

She said: "I'm so happy and thrilled that people are still talking about that movie.

"It was really important to me as my first big role as an actress. It was a part that really spoke to me. And so, to know that audiences are still talking about it 25 years later is what you dream of as a performer."