Uma Thurman

Birth Date:
April 29, 1970

Height:
6 ft

Measurements:
35-24-35

Occupation:
Actress

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Uma Karuna Thurman was born in Boston, Massachusetts. Her eccentric, multi-cultural upbringing (her mother Nena is a former psychotherapist while her father Robert A.F. Thurman is a Tibetan Buddhist monk, and a University of Columbia professor) could explain the unique names of the Thurman siblings, Dechen, Ganden and Mipam.

It is practically tradition in today's beautiful actresses, but Uma (who was named after a Hindu deity and means "bestower of blessings") did not fit in as a schoolgirl. As if her name wasn't different enough, she was lanky and awkward as a child. Rather than the typically all-American extra-curricular activities such as cheerleading, Uma had better things to do: act.

After receiving a standing ovation while involved in an elementary school theatre production, Uma caught the acting bug and knew this was what she wanted to do with her life. So she packed up and like most aspiring models and actors, she headed for New York, not even sticking around long enough to become a high school graduate.

While in New York, Uma was forced to work odd jobs in order to pay the bills, such as being a dish washer and a model, a more glamorous day job. It didn't take long for Uma to trade in her dishwashing gloves for scripts, as she finally landed her first feature film role.

After her role as a vampire in 1987's Kiss Daddy Goodnight, Uma was cast in Johnny Be Good and The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, which raised eyebrows and garnered her critical praise. But it was after her role in 1988's Dangerous Liaisons that her image became even more erotic. Her role in 1990s Henry & June showcased Uma with sexuality streaming out of her pores, as she portrayed a bisexual in the film.

Although she starred in films such as Final Analysis, Jennifer 8, Mad Dog and Glory, and Even Cowgirls Get The Blues, it was her role as the offbeat, cocaine-junkie Mia Wallace in Pulp Fiction that garnered Uma an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting actress. With a departure from alternative, more dramatic films, to the commercial comedies Beautiful Girls and The Truth Behind Cats and Dogs, Uma proved that she can also provide some laughs.

Next up for the beautiful actress were roles in the sci-fi Gattaca; Batman & Robin as Poison Ivy; the film adaptation of Les Miserables; and her starring role as Emma Peel in the adaptation of The Avengers.

Uma went on a brief hiatus to marry Gattaca co-star Ethan Hawke and welcome their baby Maya Ray to the world. Uma was previously married to actor Gary Oldman, from 1990 to 1991, and her dating record includes Timothy Hutton and Robert De Niro.

After the birth of her first child in 1998, she took a rest from major roles to concentrate on motherhood. Her next roles were in low budget and television films, including Sweet and Lowdown, Tape, Vatel, and Hysterical Blindness. Thurman won a Golden Globe award for Hysterical Blindness, a film for which she also served as executive producer. In the film she played an excitable New Jersey woman in the 1980s searching for romance. The San Francisco Chronicle review wrote, “Thurman so commits herself to the role, eyes blazing and body akimbo, that you start to believe that such a creature could exist — an exquisite looking woman so spastic and needy that she repulses regular Joes. Thurman has bent the role to her will”.

After a five year hiatus from any major film roles, Thurman returned in 2003 in John Woo’s film Paycheck, and her next collaboration with Quentin Tarantino, Kill Bill. Paycheck was only moderately successful with critics and at the box office, but Kill Bill relaunched her career.

In Kill Bill she played one of the world’s top assassins, out on a revenge quest against her former lover. She was offered the role on her 30th birthday from Tarantino, who wrote the part specifically for her. He also cited Thurman as his muse while writing the film, and also gave her a formal joint credit for the character of Beatrix Kiddo, whom the two conceived on the set of Pulp Fiction from the sole image of a bride covered in blood.

Production was delayed for several months after Thurman became pregnant, and her part was considered for recasting, but Tarantino decided against recasting and delayed the film’s production. The film reportedly took nine months to shoot, and was filmed on location in five different countries. The role was also her most demanding to date, and she spent three months training in martial arts, swordsmanship, and Japanese language. The two-part action epic became an instant cult classic (although neither was a huge box office success) and scored highly with critics. The film series earned Thurman Golden Globe nominations for both entries, and three MTV Movie Awards for Best Female Performance and twice for Best Fight. Rolling Stone likened Thurman to “an avenging angel out of a 1940s Hollywood melodrama”.

The main inspirations for “The Bride” were several B-movie action heroines. Thurman’s main inspirations for the role were the title character of Coffy (played by Pam Grier) and the character of Gloria Swenson from Gloria (played by Gena Rowlands). She said that the two characters are “two of the only women I’ve ever seen be truly women [while] holding a weapon”. Coffy was screened for Thurman by Tarantino prior to beginning production on the film, to help her model the character.

By 2005, Thurman had become one of Hollywood’s highest paid actresses, commanding a salary of $12.5 million per film. Her first film of the year was Be Cool, the sequel to 1995’s Get Shorty, which reunited her with her Pulp Fiction castmate John Travolta. In the film she played the widow of a deceased music business executive. Later in 2005 she starred in the film Prime with Meryl Streep, playing a woman in her late thirties romancing a man in his early twenties. Thurman’s last film of the year was a remake of The Producers in which she played Ulla, a Swedish stage actress hoping to win a part in a new Broadway musical. Originally, the producers of the film planned to have another singer dub in Thurman’s musical numbers, but she was eager to do her own vocals. She is credited for her songs in the credits.

With a successful film career, Thurman once again became a desired model. Cosmetics company Lancôme selected her as a spokesmodel. The company named several lipstick shades after her, but they were only sold in Asia. In 2005, she became a spokeswoman for the French fashion house Louis Vuitton.

On February 7, 2006, Thurman was named as a knight of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres of France, an award for outstanding achievement in the field of art and literature.