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| Birth Name(s) : Uma Karuna Thurman |
Date of Birth: April 29, 1970 |
| Status:
Married
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Partner:
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| Profession:
Actor |
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Full Uma Thurman Biography
Her placid face bears the wide eyes and full lips of a classic vamp. These (and other) physical attributes, combined with an air of youthful sophistication, make Thurman the thinking filmgoer's dream date. She made her film debut in Kiss Daddy Goodnight (1987), but neither it nor Johnny Be Good (1988), a sub-John Hughes-type teen comedy, held much promise for this model and cover girl. Dangerous Liaisons (also 1988), however, changed people's perception of Thurman, and her erotically charged performance won her critical praise. Henry & June (1990) gave her a leading role as Henry Miller's wife in the controversial (but little-seen) film based on Anaďs Nin's diaries; another 1990 film, John Boorman's Where the Heart Is also failed to win much of an audience.
But Thurman acquitted herself nicely in those parts, and in subsequent roles as well: Kim Basinger's emotionally disturbed sister in Final Analysis (1992), a blind woman stalked by a serial killer in Jennifer 8 (also 1992), the unwilling pawn of gangster Bill Murray who falls in love with Robert De Niro in Mad Dog and Glory (1993), and the leading characters in the long-awaited Even Cowgirls Get the Blues (1994) and Pulp Fiction (also 1994, for which she received an Oscar nomination). She was formerly married to actor Gary Oldman. |
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Additional Uma Thurman Biography
Uma Karuna Thurman (born April 29, 1970) is an Academy Award-nominated American actress. She performs predominantly in leading roles in a variety of films, ranging from romantic comedies and dramas to science fiction and action thrillers. She is best known for her films directed by Quentin Tarantino. Her most popular films include Dangerous Liaisons (1988), Pulp Fiction (1994), Gattaca (1997) and the two Kill Bill movies (2003–04).
Thurman's father, who would later become a recognized scholar and professor at Columbia University of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist studies, was the first westerner to be ordained as a Tibetan Buddhist monk. He gave his children a Buddhist upbringing: Uma is named after an Uma Chenpo (in Tibetan; Mahamadhyamaka in Sanskrit, meaning “Great Middle Way”). She has three brothers, Ganden (b. 1971), Dechen (b. 1973) and Mipam (b. 1978), and a half-sister named Taya (b. 1960) from her father's previous marriage. She and her siblings spent extended amounts of time in Almora, India as children, and the Dalai Lama would sometimes visit their home.
Her fourth role, as Cecile de Volanges in Dangerous Liaisons, was her breakthrough role, which brought Thurman to the attention of the film industry and the general public. Actresses Glenn Close and Michelle Pfeiffer earned Oscar nominations for their performances, and Thurman drew an inordinate amount of attention for a topless scene in which she appeared. Garnering the lion’s share of attention proved too much for the shy, insecure 19-year-old who thought she was funny-looking, and she fled to London for almost a year, during which she wore only loose, baggy clothing.
After Mad Dog and Glory, Thurman auditioned for Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction. Tarantino originally had no intention of casting her, after seeing her performance in Glory, but ultimately decided to cast her after having dinner with her: “And Uma and I were doing that scene. We were living the movie, all right? I left thinking… God, she could be Mia!” Pulp Fiction would become one of the most successful cult hits of all time when it grossed over $107 million on a budget of only $8 million USD. The Washington Post wrote that Thurman was “serenely unrecognizable in a black wig, is marvelous as a zoned-out gangster’s girlfriend”. Thurman was also nominated for the Best Supporting Actress Oscar the following year. Entertainment Weekly claimed that, “of the five women nominated in the Best Supporting Actress category this year, only can claim that her performance gave the audience fits”. Thurman also became one of Tarantino’s favorite actors to cast, whom he described in a 2003 issue of Time: “’s up there with Garbo and Dietrich in goddess territory”.
After a five-year hiatus from any major film roles, Thurman returned in 2003 in John Woo's film Paycheck, followed by 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.
By 2005, Thurman had become one of Hollywood's highest paid actresses, commanding a salary of $12.5 million USD 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. The film received poor reviews, and came in below expectations at the box office. 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, however it has not been confirmed if she performs all of the vocals in the film. She is credited for her songs in the credits. The film was widely considered a bomb at the box office, but many praised Thurman's efforts, including A.O. Scott of the New York Times who said: "Uma Thurman as a would-be actress is the one bit of genuine radiance in this aggressively and pointlessly shiny, noisy spectacle."
Thurman dedicates herself to a variety of political and social causes and interests. She is a supporter of the United States Democratic Party, and has made donations to the campaigns of John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, and Joseph Driscoll. She is a strong supporter of gun control laws, and in 2000, she participated in Marie Claire’s “End Gun Violence Now” campaign. She also participated in Planned Parenthood’s “March for Women’s Lives” to support the legality of abortion. Thurman is also a board member of the New York- and Boston-based organization Room to Grow, a charitable organization providing aid to families and children born into poverty. She currently serves on the Board of Trustees of the Tibet House. |
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Uma Thurman Quote(s)
| Desperation is the perfume of the young actor. It's so satisfying to have gotten rid of it. If you keep smelling it, it can drive you crazy. In this business a lot of people go nuts, go eccentric, even end up dead from it. Not my plan. |
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