Uma Thurman

Uma Karuna Thurman (born April 29, 1970)[1] is an American actress and model. She has performed in leading roles in a variety of films, ranging from romantic comedies and dramas to science fiction and action movies. Following early roles in films such as Dangerous Liaisons (1988), she rose to international prominence in 1994 following her role in Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction for which she was nominated for an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award and a Golden Globe Award. She starred in several more films throughout the 1990s such as The Truth About Cats & Dogs, Batman & Robin, Gattaca and Les Misérables.

She won a Golden Globe Award for the TV movie Hysterical Blindness (2002). Her career was somewhat revitalized when she reunited with director Quentin Tarantino to play the main role in both Kill Bill films (2003/2004) which brought her two additional Golden Globe Award nominations with a BAFTA Award nomination.

Contents 1 Early life 2 Career 2.1 1985–89: Early work 2.2 1990–93: Career prominence 2.3 1994–98: Continued success 2.4 1998–2002: Hiatus 2.5 2003–present 3 Personal life 3.1 Relationships 3.2 Activism and charity work 4 Filmography 5 Awards 6 References 7 Further reading 8 External links

Early life
Thurman was born in Boston, Massachusetts. Her forename Uma, Sanskrit उमा,[2] meaning "splendour, light", is a name of Parvati,[3] the Hindu goddess of love and fertility. Her father, Robert Alexander Farrar Thurman, is a professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies;[4] an academic and writer, he lived as an ordained Buddhist monk for three years. Her mother, Nena von Schlebrügge, was German nobility and a high-fashion model, discovered in Stockholm, who moved to New York at the age of 17 to join the Ford Modelling Agency. Thurman's mother was born in Mexico City, Mexico, of Swedish, German and Danish descent, while Thurman's father was born in New York, and has English, Scottish and Irish ancestry.[5] Thurman received a Buddhist upbringing, and spent altogether around two years in the Indo-Himalayan town of Almora.[6][7] She now considers herself to be an agnostic.[4] She grew up mostly in Amherst, Massachusetts, where she went to Amherst Regional Middle School, then moved to Woodstock, New York. She has three brothers, Ganden (b. 1967), Dechen (b. 1973), and Mipam (b. 1978), and a half-sister named Taya (b. 1961), from her father's previous marriage. Thurman's first cousin, once removed, is Swedish football player Max von Schlebrügge.[8]

Thurman is described as having been an awkward and introverted girl who was teased for her tall frame, angular bone structure, enormous feet and unusual name (sometimes using the name "Uma Karen" instead of her birth name).[citation needed] When Thurman was 10 years old, a friend's mother suggested a nose job.[6] As a child, she suffered bouts of body dysmorphic disorder.[9]

She attended Amherst Public Schools. In the eighth grade she discovered her love for acting. Talent scouts noticed her performance as Abigail in a production of The Crucible[10] and offered her the chance to act professionally. Thurman attended Northfield Mount Hermon School, a preparatory school in Massachusetts, before dropping out to pursue a career in acting.[6][11]

Career
1985–89: Early work

Thurman began her career as a fashion model at age 15,[12] and signed with the agency Click Models. Her early modeling credits included Glamour and the December 1985 and May 1986 covers of British Vogue.[13] She made her movie debut in 1988, appearing in four films that year. Her first two were the high school comedy Johnny Be Good and teen thriller Kiss Daddy Goodnight. She had a small role in The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, playing the goddess Venus alongside Oliver Reed's Vulcan; during her entrance she briefly appears nude, in an homage to Botticelli's The Birth of Venus. The most acclaimed of these first four films was Oscar-winning drama Dangerous Liaisons, in which Thurman's character of Cecile de Volanges is seduced by the manipulative Vicomte de Valmont (John Malkovich). At the time, insecure about her appearance, she spent roughly a year in London, during which she often wore loose, baggy clothing.[13] Malkovich said of her, "There is nothing twitchy teenager-ish about her, I haven’t met anyone like her at that age. Her intelligence and poise stand out. But there's something else. She's more than a little haunted."[14]

1990–93: Career prominence

In 1990, Thurman appeared with Fred Ward and Maria de Medeiros in the sexually provocative drama Henry & June, the first film to receive an NC-17 rating. Partly because many American newspapers refused to advertise films with the new rating, it did not get wide release in the United States, but the film won her some good notices. The New York Times wrote: "Thurman, as the Brooklyn-accented June, takes a larger-than-life character and makes her even bigger, though the performance is often as curious as it is commanding."[15]

In 1993, she was for the first time the main star in Gus Van Sant's 1993 adaptation of Tom Robbins' novel Even Cowgirls Get the Blues. It was a critical and financial disappointment; Thurman was nominated for a Worst Actress Razzie. The Washington Post described her acting as shallow, writing that, "Thurman's strangely passive characterization doesn't go much deeper than drawling and flexing her prosthetic thumbs".[16] She also starred opposite Robert De Niro in the drama Mad Dog and Glory, a box office disappointment that received positive reviews. Later that year, Thurman auditioned for Stanley Kubrick while she was casting for his eventually unrealized project Wartime Lies.[17]

1994–98: Continued success

After Mad Dog and Glory, Thurman auditioned for the Quentin Tarantino movie Pulp Fiction, which grossed over $107 million on a budget of only $8 million.[18] The Washington Post wrote that Thurman was "serenely unrecognizable in a black wig, [and] is marvelous as a zoned-out gangster's girlfriend."[19] Thurman was nominated for the Best Supporting Actress Oscar the following year. She became one of Tarantino's favorite actresses to cast; he told Time magazine in 2003 that she was "up there with Garbo and Dietrich in goddess territory."[20]

1996 would see Thurman in two moderately successful films, the first of which was Beautiful Girls, where she played the female lead and love interest of Timothy Hutton and was supported with a high-profile cast of Mira Sorvino, Martha Plimpton, and Natalie Portman. The film was well received by the critics for the script and acting, particularly that of Hutton and Portman. It performed moderately well at the box office. Thurman also starred opposite Janeane Garofalo in the moderately successful 1996 romantic comedy The Truth About Cats & Dogs as a ditzy blonde model. In 1997, she starred opposite her future husband Ethan Hawke in the science fiction film Gattaca. Although Gattaca was not a success at the box office, it drew many positive reviews and became successful on the home video market.[21] Some critics were not as impressed with Thurman, such as The Los Angeles Times, which wrote that she was "as emotionally uninvolved as ever."[22]

Her next role was Poison Ivy in Batman & Robin, the fourth of the series. Thurman’s performance in the campy film received some critical acclaim, and in which some fans regarded her as the only reason to watch the film. The New York Times wrote in a positive review, “like Mae West, she mixes true femininity with the winking womanliness of a drag queen”. A similar positive comparison was made by the Houston Chronicle: “Thurman, to arrive at a ’40s femme fatale, sometimes seems to be doing Mae West by way of Jessica Rabbit”. In addition, the San Francisco Chronicle points out “Poison Ivy is the film's best creation. She's a radical environmentalist who gets bitten by snakes and buried in vines only to rise up, gorgeous and redheaded, like Botticelli's Venus. Like America's original femme fatale, Beatrice in Hawthorne's ‘Rappaccini's Daughter,’ Ivy has a poisonous kiss. Like Dietrich in ‘Blonde Venus,’ she shows up at a ritzy affair in a gorilla suit.” She has won a Blockbuster Entertainment Award for 'Best Actress - Sci-Fi' in her role as Poison Ivy, and was also nominated for Favourite Movie Actress in the Kids' Choice Awards, only to have lost to her co-star Alicia Silverstone as Batgirl[23] The next year brought The Avengers, another major financial and critical flop. CNN described her as "so distanced you feel like you’re watching her through the wrong end of a telescope."[24] She received Razzie Award nominations for both films. She closed out 1998 with Les Misérables, a film version of Victor Hugo's novel of the same name, directed by Bille August, in which she played Fantine. On his review of the film, Roger Ebert said that "Thurman's performance is the best element of the movie."

1998–2002: Hiatus

After the birth of her first child in 1998, Thurman took a break from acting to concentrate on motherhood. She appeared in Woody Allen's Sweet and Lowdown, and a Merchant/Ivory production The Golden Bowl.[25] Her next roles were in low-budget and television films, including Vatel, Tape, in which she appeared with then husband Ethan Hawke and for which she was nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Female, and Chelsea Walls, directed by Hawke. She would win a Golden Globe award for her acting in HBO cable movie Hysterical Blindness; she was also one of the executive producers. Thurman played a New Jersey woman in the 1980s searching for romance. The San Francisco Chronicle review said, "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."[26]

In 2000, she narrated the John Moran opera Book of the Dead (2nd Avenue) at New York's Public Theater.

2003–present

In 2003 Thurman co-starred in John Woo's Paycheck, which was only moderately successful with critics and at the box office.

At the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival It would be Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill which relaunched her career. She played assassin Beatrix Kiddo, out for revenge against her former lover. Tarantino wrote the part specifically for her. He cited Thurman as his muse while writing the film, and gave her joint credit for the character, 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 Tarantino refused to recast the part.[27] The film took nine months to shoot, and was filmed in five different countries. The role was also her most demanding, and she spent three months training in martial arts, swordsmanship, and Japanese.[28] It was originally set to be released as one film. However, due to its over 4-hour running time, it was ultimately released in two parts and subsequently became a cult film [29] and scored highly with critics. Thurman was nominated for a Golden Globe for both entries, plus three MTV Movie Awards for Best Female Performance and two for Best Fight. Rolling Stone likened her to "an avenging angel out of a 1940s Hollywood melodrama".[30] The inspirations for The Bride were several B-movie action heroines. Thurman's main inspiration for the role was 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".[31] Coffy was screened for Thurman by Tarantino prior to beginning production on the film, to help her model the character.[27]

Thurman in 2011 at Cannes Film Festival By 2005, Thurman was 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. The film received poor reviews, and came in below expectations at the box office. In 2005, she starred in the flop 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.[32] She is credited for her songs in the credits. The film was considered a bomb at the box office, but some critics 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."[33]

Around this time Thurman once again became a model, with the cosmetics company Lancôme selecting her as its spokeswoman. It also named several shades of lipstick after her, though they were sold only in Asia. In 2005, Thurman became a spokeswoman for the French fashion house Louis Vuitton. On February 7, 2006, she was also named a knight of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres of France for outstanding achievement in the field of art and literature.[34][35]

In May 2006, Thurman bought the film rights to the Frank Schätzing novel The Swarm, which is in development and due for release in 2015.[36] When the film remake The Women was in pre-production in 2006, Thurman was cast as Crystal Allen, alongside Annette Bening, Julia Roberts, Meg Ryan, Sandra Bullock, Ashley Judd, Lisa Kudrow and Anne Hathaway, being directed by James L. Brooks, but the director was changed and Thurman was no longer part of the cast. In July 2006, she starred opposite Luke Wilson in My Super Ex-Girlfriend. Thurman portrayed a superhero named "G-Girl" who is dumped by her boyfriend and then takes her revenge upon him. She received $14 million for the role,[citation needed] but the film flopped with critics and audiences.

In February 2008, she starred opposite Colin Firth and Jeffrey Dean Morgan in The Accidental Husband, a romantic comedy about a woman who finds herself married while engaged to another man. It seems like archetypal Hollywood contrivance, but according to Thurman, a similar situation happened in New York.[37] Also in 2008, she starred as Elsa in the British film My Zinc Bed, in which she plays a cocaine addict, starring opposite Paddy Considine and Jonathan Pryce. In 2010, her movie Motherhood garnered just £88 on 11 tickets on its opening weekend.[38] In the United States it earned $93,388 in three weeks of release.[39]

In 2011, Thurman was a member of the jury for the main competition at the Cannes Film Festival.[40] In December 2011, James Hibberd of Entertainment Weekly reported Thurman had joined the cast of NBC's Smash as Rebecca Duvall.[41] Thurman appeared in five episodes of the drama series.[41] Her performance as Duvall received mostly positive reviews and she was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series.

It was announced that Thurman would star in Bravo's original series My So Called Wife.[42]

Personal life
Relationships

Thurman with Quentin Tarantino attending Pulp Fiction's 20th anniversary tribute at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival Thurman met actor Gary Oldman on the set of State of Grace; they married in 1990 and divorced two years later.[43]

On May 1, 1998, she married actor Ethan Hawke, whom she met on the set of their 1997 film Gattaca. Hawke's novel Ash Wednesday is dedicated to "Karuna", Thurman's middle name.[44] She acknowledged that they had married because she was pregnant – seven months at their wedding.[45] The marriage produced two children: daughter Maya Ray, born in 1998, and son Levon, born in 2002. The couple separated in 2003,[46] and the divorce was finalized in August 2005.[47]

When asked on The Oprah Winfrey Show whether the break-up involved betrayal, she said, "There was some stuff like that at the end. We were having a difficult time, and you know how the axe comes down and how people behave and how people express their unhappiness."[47]

Thurman began dating London-based French financier Arpad Busson in 2007, and they announced their engagement in June 2008.[48] In late 2009, they called off their engagement,[49] but reconciled soon after.[50] Thurman and Busson have a daughter together, Rosalind Arusha Arkadina Altalune Florence Thurman-Busson (nickname Luna), born in 2012.[51] The couple reportedly called off the engagement for the second time in April 2014.[52]

In a 2004 Rolling Stone cover story, Thurman and director Quentin Tarantino denied having had a romantic relationship, despite Tarantino once having told a reporter, "I'm not saying that we haven’t, and I'm not saying that we have."[53] Rumours of their relationship were rekindled after they appeared together at the Pulp Fiction 20th anniversary tribute at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival.[54][55]

Thurman dated hotelier André Balazs from 2004-2007.[56] They rekindled their relationship in 2015.[57]

Activism and charity work

Thurman has been involved in various philanthropic and activist causes. She supports the United States Democratic Party, and has given money to the campaigns of John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, and Joseph R. Driscoll.[58] She supports gun control laws, and in 2000, she participated in Marie Claire’s “End Gun Violence Now” campaign.[59] She is a member of the board of Room to Grow, a charitable organization providing aid to families and children born into poverty.[60] She serves on the board of the Tibet House.[61] In 2007, she hosted the Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Oslo, Norway with actor Kevin Spacey.[62]

In 2011, Thurman was one of a few celebrities attached to USAID and Ad Council's FWD campaign, an awareness initiative tied to that year's East Africa drought. She joined Geena Davis, Chanel Iman and Josh Hartnett in TV and internet ads to "forward the facts" about the crisis.[63]

Filmography
Year

Title

Role

Notes

1987 Kiss Daddy Goodnight Laura 1988 Johnny Be Good Georgia Elkans 1988 The Adventures of Baron Munchausen Venus/Rose 1988 Dangerous Liaisons Cécile de Volanges 1990 Where the Heart Is Daphne McBain 1990 Henry & June June Miller 1991 Robin Hood Maid Marian 1992 Final Analysis Diana Baylor 1992 Jennifer 8 Helena Robertson 1993 Mad Dog and Glory Glory 1994 Even Cowgirls Get the Blues Sissy Hankshaw 1994 Pulp Fiction Mia Wallace 1995 A Month by the Lake Miss Beaumont 1996 Beautiful Girls Andera 1996 The Truth About Cats & Dogs Noelle Sluarsky 1996 Duke of Groove Maya Short film 1997 Batman & Robin Dr. Pamela Isley/Poison Ivy 1997 Gattaca Irene Cassini 1998 Les Misérables Fantine 1998 The Avengers Emma Peel 1999 Sweet and Lowdown Blanche 2000 Vatel Anne de Montausier 2000 The Golden Bowl Charlotte Stant 2000 Great Books Narrator TV series; episode: "Les Miserables" 2001 Tape Amy Randall 2001 Chelsea Walls Grace 2002 Hysterical Blindness Debby Miller Television film; also executive producer 2003 Kill Bill: Volume 1 The Bride 2003 Paycheck Dr. Rachel Porter 2004 Kill Bill: Volume 2 Beatrix Kiddo/The Bride 2005 Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind Kushana (voice) English version 2005 Be Cool Edie Athens 2005 Prime Rafi Gardet 2005 The Naked Brothers Band: The Movie Herself 2005 The Producers Ulla 2006 My Super Ex-Girlfriend Jenny Johnson/G-Girl 2007 The Life Before Her Eyes Diana McFee (adult) 2008 The Accidental Husband Emma Lloyd Also producer 2008 My Zinc Bed Elsa Quinn Television film 2008 A Muppets Christmas: Letters to Santa Joy Television film 2009 Motherhood Eliza Welsh 2010 Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief Medusa 2010 Ceremony Zoe 2012 Bel Ami Madeleine Forestier 2012 Smash Rebecca Duvall TV series; 5 episodes 2012 Playing for Keeps Patti King 2013 Movie 43 Lois Lane Segment "Super Hero Speed Dating" 2013 Nymphomaniac Mrs. H 2014 Jump! Wendy Short film 2014 American Dad! Gwen Ling (voice) TV series; episode: "Now and Gwen" 2015 The Slap Anouk Latham TV series; 6 episodes 2015 Burnt Simone 2016 The Brits Are Coming Harriet Fox Filming

Awards
Year

Award

Category

Work

Result

1993 Cognac Festival du Film Policier Jury "Coup de Chapeau" Jennifer 8 Won 1995 Razzie Awards Worst Actress Even Cowgirls Get the Blues Nominated 1995 Academy Awards Best Supporting Actress Pulp Fiction Nominated 1995 BAFTA Awards Best Actress in a Leading Role Pulp Fiction Nominated 1995 Golden Globe Awards Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture Pulp Fiction Nominated 1995 MTV Movie Awards Best Performance Pulp Fiction Nominated 1995 Screen Actors Guild Awards Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role Pulp Fiction Nominated 1995 Dallas–Fort Worth Film Critics Association Best Supporting Actress Pulp Fiction Nominated 1995 Chicago Film Critics Association Best Supporting Actress Pulp Fiction Nominated 1998 Kids' Choice Awards Favorite Movie Actress Batman & Robin Nominated 1998 Razzie Awards Worst Supporting Actress Batman & Robin Nominated 1999 Razzie Awards Worst Actress The Avengers Nominated 1999 Razzie Awards Worst Screen Couple (with Ralph Fiennes) The Avengers Nominated 2001 Gotham Awards Best Actress Won 2002 Independent Spirit Awards Best Supporting Female Tape Nominated 2003 Golden Globe Awards Best Actress - Miniseries or Television Film Hysterical Blindness Won 2003 Screen Actors Guild Awards Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie Hysterical Blindness Nominated 2004 Saturn Awards Best Actress Kill Bill: Volume 1 Won 2004 BAFTA Awards Best Actress in a Leading Role Kill Bill: Volume 1 Nominated 2004 Empire Awards Best Actress Kill Bill: Volume 1 Won 2004 Golden Globe Awards Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama Kill Bill: Volume 1 Nominated 2004 International Cinephile Society Award Best Actress Kill Bill: Volume 1 Won 2004 MTV Movie Awards Best Performance Kill Bill: Volume 1 Won 2004 Online Film Critics Society Awards Best Actress Kill Bill: Volume 1 Nominated 2004 Irish Film and Television Awards Audience Award for Best International Actress Kill Bill: Volume 2 Nominated 2004 Teen Choice Awards Choice Movie Actress – Drama/Action Adventure Kill Bill: Volume 2 Nominated 2005 Saturn Awards Best Actress Kill Bill: Volume 2 Nominated 2005 Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards Critics Choice Award for Best Actress Kill Bill: Volume 2 Nominated 2005 Empire Awards Best Actress Kill Bill: Volume 2 Nominated 2005 Golden Globe Awards Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama Kill Bill: Volume 2 Nominated 2005 MTV Movie Awards Best Performance Kill Bill: Volume 2 Nominated 2005 Online Film Critics Society Awards Best Actress Kill Bill: Volume 2 Nominated 2005 Satellite Awards Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama Kill Bill: Volume 2 Nominated 2005 Italian Online Movie Awards Best Ensemble Cast Kill Bill: Volume 2 Won 2005 People's Choice Awards Favorite Female Action Movie Star Nominated 2007 People's Choice Awards Favorite Female Action Movie Star Nominated 2012 Primetime Emmy Awards Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series Smash Nominated 2014 Bodil Awards Best Supporting Actress Nymphomaniac Nominated 2014 Bambi Award Best International Actress Won 2015 Robert Award Best Actress in a Supporting Role Nymphomaniac Nominated 2015 CineEuphoria Award Best Supporting Actress - International Nymphomaniac Nominated 2015 Jupiter Film Award Best International Actress Nymphomaniac Nominated