Uma Thurman - Biography

Uma Thurman was born on 29 April, 1970 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. The most interesting thing about Uma is that she is named after a Hindu goddess. Her father Robert Thurman is a Tibetan Buddhist monk, and a University of Columbia professor, while mother, Nena Thurman is a former model now turned to as psychotherapist. Uma has three brothers Dechen, Ganden and Mipam, all the names were culled from Buddhist theology. She has one half-sister Taya from her father's previous marriage. Uma Thurman has spent extended amounts of time in India as children. As her father was teaching at different universities, her family was often relocated. Uma grew up mostly in Amherst, Massachusetts and Woodstock, New York.

Uma attended Northfield Mount Hermon, a college preparatory boarding school in Massachusetts. She received her first acting experiences in school plays. She was not a good athlete but excelled in acting. At the young age she decided to make career in acting. At the age of 15, she left her school and moved to New York, to pursue her acting career. In New York she attended the Professional Children's School, but dropped out before graduating.

At New York she was forced to do odd jobs, she earned a living by washing dishes and modeling. At New York her mother introducing her to various modeling agencies, she was quickly signed by Click.

Finally at 16, Uma landed her debut film as vampire in "Kiss Daddy Goodnight" in 1987. Later she was starred in "Johnny Be Good" and in an eye-catching appearance in the Terry Gilliam's "The Adventures of Baron Munchausen".

Her breakthrough performance comes up with Stephen Frears' "Dangerous Liaisons" in 1988, where Uma Thurman first gained recognition. Uma's powerful performance in Philip Kaufman's "Henry and June" (1990), in the role of the controlling wife of Henry Miller, gives her good reviews about her acting.

She gave another strong performance in Bruce Robinson's dark "Jennifer 8" (1992) as a blind woman targeted by a serial killer. In 1993, she played a role of an indentured servant to cop Robert De Niro and gangster Bill Murray in "Mad Dog and Glory". In 1994 "Even Cowgirls Get the Blues", which was the adaptation of the popular Tom Robbins novel doesn't make any success, but the later movie in the same year "Pulp Fiction" made a big hit. In "Pulp Fiction" she played a role of a drug-addicted gangster's wife. For this film she was rewarded with a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination.

Later she starred in three romantic comedies "A Month by the Lake" (1995), "The Truth About Cats & Dogs" (1996), and the "Beautiful Girls" (1996). In 1997, Uma get starred in "Gattaca" with co-star Ethan Hawke, which was her future husband. The couple gets married in May of 1998. They have one daughter Maya, born in 1998, and son Levon was born in 2002. But the couple gets divorced in 2004. Thurman had been married once before, to Gary Oldman.

Year 1998 comes up with two flops for Thurman. "Batman & Robin" and "The Avengers" and "Les Miserables" becomes the major flops of her career. In 1999, she appeared in Woody Allen's "The Sweet and the Lowdown" and in 2001 in her husband Hawke's film "Chelsea Walls". She got small roles in both the films but both have given the good reviews.

In 2002, she got good reviews for her HBO film "Hysterical Blindness", where she played insecure working-class girl of New Jersey, spending her nights patrolling the local bar for love and some kind of direction.

In 2003, she returns with the film "Paycheck", and next her collaboration with Quentin Tarantino, "Kill Bill". Kill Bill helped to boost her career again. For this film Uma Thurman had taken three months training in martial arts, swordsmanship, and Japanese language. By this film Uma had received Golden Globe nominations for both Kill Bill, and three MTV Movie Awards for Best Female Performance and twice for Best Fight.

With year 2005, Thurman becomes one of the highest paid actresses in the Hollywood, commanding a salary of $12.5 million USD. Her 2005 projects includes "Be Cool", "Prime" and a remake of "The Producers".

After the successful acting career, Thurman again become a model. She is selected as spokesmodel for cosmetics company Lancôme and 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, which is an award for outstanding achievement in the field of art and literature.