Uma Thurman biography

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Named for a Hindu deity, Uma Thurman made her film debut in Kiss Daddy Goodnight (1987), a low budget thriller. Her first well-known role was as Venus in Terry Gilliams's The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988). Wearing only hair extensions in her brief performance as the Roman goddess of love, the alluring young actress went on to take a number of sexually charged roles over the next few years.

At age 18, she bared all in Dangerous Liasons (1988), a big-budget period piece starring John Malkovich and Glenn Close, and in 1989 starred in Henry and June, the first film to be released with an NC-17 (No Children Under 17) rating.

After appearing in a number of marginally successful Hollywood movies, she stepped off the beaten track to appear in Pulp Fiction (1994), the second movie by acclaimed independent director Quentin Tarantino. For her nuanced performance as a glamorous underworld moll, she was nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award.

Thurman capitalized on the popular success of Pulp Fiction by appearing in a series of big-budget productions including Gattaca (1997), Batman and Robin (1997), Les Miserables (1998), and The Avengers (1998).

After a series of big budget projects, Thurman took a more "independent" tack, favoring a series of riskier projects including Woody Allen's Sweet and Lowdown(1999), a Merchant/Ivory production of Henry James' The Golden Bowl (2000), and Chelsea Walls (2001), directed by then-husband Ethan Hawke.

In 2003, she starred in Quentin Tarantino's two-volume epic Kill Bill as a vengeful sword slashing assassin. The actress will also starred with Ben Affleck in the sci-fi thriller Paycheck. With 2005's The Producers, Thurman took on musical comedy with Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick. But her humor missed its mark with My Super Ex-Girlfriend (2006), which proved to be a commercial and critical disappointment. Directed by Griffin Dunne, 2008's The Accidental Husband also explored love and revenge. It featured Thurman as a radio talk show host who convinces a woman to break up with her boyfriend.

In recent years, Thurman has taken on a variety of roles, from playing a mythic monster in Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief (2010) to a powerful Parisian woman in Bel Ami (2012). In Bel Ami, Thurman plays one of Robert Patterson's love interests. She also had a recurring television role around this time, appearing on the musical drama Smash.

Uma Thurman married British actor Gary Oldman in 1990. They divorced in 1992. In 1998, she married Gattaca co-star Ethan Hawke, and in the