Her first acting job was to star as Lisa, the lead actress in the controversial 2004 British film 9 Songs, directed by Michael Winterbottom.

[2] Her second credit solidified her standing in Great Britain's indie film scene, when she starred in the satirical comedy Nathan Barley directed by Chris Morris for British television.

Stilley has since appeared in 19 American and British productions, including How to Lose Friends & Alienate People, with Simon Pegg and Jeff Bridges, and Agatha Christie's Marple (Murder Is Easy), with Benedict Cumberbatch, and has worked again with Winterbottom on a BBC Two comedy The Trip, with Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon.

[6] She appeared as a model in feature articles in Vogue, In Style UK, The Face, Harper's Bazaar, Black Book Magazine and Elle.

In 2009, she travelled on her own to Johannesburg and the greater Gauteng province in South Africa to teach drama in some of the country's most challenged communities for three months.

[12] Stilley officially converted to Judaism in 2015 "because of its strong sense of family and of history, and its belief that humans were formed in the image of God and are inherently divine".