Uma Karuna Thurman, (born April 29, 1970) is an
American actress. She has performed predominantly in leading roles
in a variety of films, ranging from
romantic comedies and
dramas to
science
fiction and
action thriller. She is best known for her work
under the direction of
Quentin
Tarantino. Her most popular films include
Dangerous Liaisons (1988),
Pulp Fiction (1994),
Gattaca (1997) and
Kill Bill (2003–04).
Early life and family
Thurman's
mother, Nena Birgitte Caroline
von Schlebrügge, was a fashion
model born in Mexico City, Mexico
in 1941, to German
Friedrich Karl Johannes von Schlebrügge, and Birgit Holmquist, from
Trelleborg
, Sweden. In 1930, Birgit Holmquist, Thurman's
grandmother, modeled for a nude statue that
stands overlooking the harbor of Smygehuk
.
Thurman's father,
Robert Alexander Farrar
Thurman (b. 3 Aug 1941), was born in New York City to Elizabeth
Dean Farrar, a stage actress, and Beverly Reid Thurman, Jr., an
Associated Press editor and
U.N. translator. Thurman's mother was
introduced to LSD guru
Timothy Leary
by
Salvador Dalí; and married
Leary in 1964; then wed Thurman's father in 1967.
Thurman's father,
Robert, a scholar
and
professor at
Columbia University of
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 Dbuma Chenpo (in
Tibetan, the "db" is silent; from
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 time in Almora
, India,
during childhood, and the Dalai Lama sometimes visited
their home.
Thurman
grew up mostly in Amherst, Massachusetts
and Woodstock, New York
. She is described as having been an awkward
and introverted girl who was teased for her tall frame, angular
bone structure, and unusual name (sometimes using the name “Uma
Karen” instead of her birth name). When she was 10 years old, a
friend's mother suggested a
nose
job.
As a child, she suffered bouts of
body dysmorphic disorder, which she
discussed in an interview with
Talk magazine in
2001.
Thurman
attended Northfield
Mount Hermon
, a college
preparatory boarding school in
Northfield,
Massachusetts
, where she earned average grades, but excelled in
acting. Talent scouts noticed her performance as Abigail in
a production of
The Crucible,
and offered her the chance to act professionally. Thurman moved to
New York City to pursue acting and to attend the
Professional Children's
School, but she dropped out before graduating.
Career
Early works, 1987–1989
Thurman began her career as a fashion model at age 15. She signed
with the agency Click Models. Her modeling credits included Glamour
Magazine. In 1989, she appeared on the cover of
Rolling Stone magazine's annual
Hot
issue.
Thurman made her movie debut in 1988, appearing in four films that
year. Her first two were the high school comedy
Johnny Be Good and the teen thriller
Kiss Daddy Goodnight.
Thurman appeared in
The Adventures of Baron
Munchausen, playing the
goddess
Venus alongside
Oliver Reed’s
Vulcan. During her entrance Thurman
briefly appears
nude in a homage to
Botticelli’s
painting The Birth of Venus.
With a budget of $46 million and
box
office receipts of only $8 million, the film was a commercial
failure.
Her breakthrough came in her role as Cecile de Volanges in
Dangerous Liaisons.
Actresses
Glenn Close and
Michelle Pfeiffer earned
Oscar nominations for their performances. At
the time, she was insecure about her appearance, and fled to London
for almost a year, during which she wore only loose, baggy
clothing.
Soon after the release of
Dangerous Liaisons, the media
were eager to profile Thurman. She was praised by her co-star
John Malkovich, who 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.”
Major works, 1990–1993
In 1990, Thurman co-starred with
Fred Ward
in the sexually provocative drama
Henry & June, the first film to
receive an
NC-17 rating.
Because of the rating,
it never played in a wide release but critics embraced her;
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”.
Thurman’s first starring role in a major production was
Gus Van Sant's
1993 adaptation of
Tom Robbins'
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”. Thurman also starred opposite
Robert De Niro in the drama
Mad Dog and Glory, another box office
disappointment. Later that year, she auditioned for
Stanley Kubrick while he was casting a movie
to be called
Wartime Lies, which was never produced. Her
agent said she described working with him as a “really bad
experience”.
1994–1998
After
Mad Dog and Glory, Thurman auditioned for
Quentin Tarantino’s
Pulp Fiction, which 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, [and] is marvelous as a
zoned-out gangster’s girlfriend”.Desson Howe.
[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/movies/videos/pulpfictionrhowe_a01b66.htm
Pulp Fiction review] Washington Post. October 14, 1994. Retrieved
February 7, 2006. Thurman was nominated for the [[Academy Award for
Best Supporting Actress|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 [Thurman] can claim that her performance gave the
audience fits”.Spingarn, Jed. “Uma Thurman: her piercing role in
‘Pulp’ is not for the fainthearted”. Entertainment Weekly nSPEISS
(March 1995 nSPEISS) Thurman also became one of Tarantino’s
favorite actresses to cast, stating in a 2003 issue of ''[[Time
(magazine)|Time]]'': “[Thurman]’s up there with [[Greta
Garbo|Garbo]] and [[Marlene Dietrich|Dietrich]] in goddess
territory”.[[Josh Tyrangiel]]
[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1101030929-488846,00.html
Time Magazine] ''The Tao of Uma''. Retrieved January 5, 2006. She
starred opposite [[Janeane Garofalo]] in the moderately successful
1996 [[romantic comedy]] ''[[The Truth About Cats & Dogs]]'' as
a ditzy blonde [[supermodel]]. In 1997, she starred opposite her
future husband [[Ethan Hawke]] in the [[dystopian]] [[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,[http://crazy4cinema.com/Review/FilmsG/f_gattaca.html
''Gattaca'']. Crazy for Cinema. Retrieved April 6, 2006. some
critics were not as impressed with Thurman, such as the ''[[Los
Angeles Times]]'' which stated she was “as emotionally uninvolved
as ever”.Jack Mathews.
[http://www.calendarlive.com/movies/reviews/cl-movie971111-26,0,7913577.story
Cautionary Tale in Genetically Pure “Gattaca”]. The Los Angeles
Times. October 24, 1997. Retrieved April 8, 2006. Her next role was
[[Poison Ivy (comics)|Poison Ivy]] in ''[[Batman & Robin
(film)|Batman & Robin]]'', the fourth film of the popular
[[film franchise|franchise]]. ''Batman & Robin'' became one of
the largest [[Films considered the worst ever|critical flops]] in
history, though it did garner nearly $100 million over its
production budget in box office receipts making it a financial
success. {{Citation needed|date=July 2009}} Thurman’s performance
in the [[camp]]y film received mixed reviews, and critics compared
her with actress [[Mae West]]. ''[[The New York Times]]'' wrote,
“like Mae West, she mixes true femininity with the winking
womanliness of a [[drag queen]]”.Janet Maslin.
[http://www.nytimes.com/library/film/batman-film-review.html New
York Times review, ''Batman and Robin'']. June 20, 1997. Retrieved
February 7, 2006. A similar 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 [[List of Who Framed
Roger Rabbit characters#Jessica Rabbit|Jessica Rabbit]]”.Jeff
Millar.
[http://www.chron.com/cgi-bin/auth/story/content/chronicle/features/97/06/20/batman-1.0-1.html
If you like them busy, this “Batman” is for you]. Houston
Chronicle. June 19, 1997. Retrieved April 6, 2006. The next year
brought ''[[The Avengers (film)|The Avengers]]'', another major
financial and critical flop. [[CNN]] described Thurman as, “so
distanced you feel like you’re watching her through the wrong end
of a telescope”.Paul Tatara.
[http://www.cnn.com/SHOWBIZ/Movies/9808/21/review.avengers/index.html
CNN]. “Review: ‘The Avengers’ is retro-boring” August 21, 1998.
Retrieved February 20, 2006. She received Razzie Award nominations
for both films. She closed out 1998 with ''[[Les Misérables (1998
film)|Les Misérables]]'', a film version of [[Victor Hugo]]’s [[Les
Miserables|novel of the same name]], directed by [[Bille August]],
in which she played Fantine. === Hiatus, 1998–2002 === [[File:Uma
Thurman - Cannes 2000.jpg|thumb|Thurman at the [[Cannes Film
Festival]] in 2000.]] After the birth of her first baby in 1998,
Thurman took a rest from major roles to concentrate on motherhood.
Her next roles were in low-budget and television films, including
''[[Tape (film)|Tape]]'', ''[[Vatel]]'', and ''[[Hysterical
Blindness]]''. She also starred in ''[[Chelsea Walls]]'', a movie
directed by then-husband Ethan Hawke. In 2000 she narrated a
theatrical work by composer [[John Moran]] entitled ''Book of the
Dead (2nd Avenue)'' at [[The Public Theater]]. She won a [[Golden
Globe]] award for ''[[Hysterical Blindness]]'', a film for which
she also served as executive producer. In the film she played a
[[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
(philosophy)|will]]”.[http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2002/08/23/DD7591.DTL
A repulsive beauty in ’80s Jersey Thurman’s histrionics fit
“Hysterical Blindness” well]. San Francisco Chronicle. August 23,
2002. Retrieved February 13, 2006. === 2003–present === After a
five-year hiatus, Thurman returned in 2003 in [[John Woo]]'s film
''[[Paycheck (film)|Paycheck]]'', which was only moderately
successful with critics and at the box office. Her next film was
Tarantino's ''[[Kill Bill]]'', which relaunched her career. In
''Kill Bill'' she played assassin [[Beatrix Kiddo]], out for
revenge against her former lover. Tarantino wrote the part
specifically for her. He also cited Thurman as his [[muse]] while
writing the film, and also 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]], as Tarantino
refused to recast the part.Kill Bill Vol. 1 DVD bonus featurette
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.Jamie Malanowski.
[http://www.usaweekend.com/03_issues/031005/031005uma_thurman.html
Catching up with Uma Thurman]. USA Today. October 5, 2003.
Retrieved February 7, 2006. The two-part action epic became an
instant cult
classic[http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=killbill.htm Kill
Bill box office] and scored highly with critics. The film series
earned Thurman [[Golden Globe]] nominations for both entries, and
three [[MTV Movie Award]]s for Best Female Performance and twice
for Best Fight. ''[[Rolling Stone]]'' likened Thurman to “an
avenging angel out of a 1940s Hollywood melodrama”.{{cite web | url
=
http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/movie/_/id/5948643?pageid=rs.ReviewsMovieArchive&pageregion=mainRegion&afl=imdb
| title = Kill Bill Vol. 2 review | year = 2004 | accessdate =
2006-02-07}} 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
(film)|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 was 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. The film received
poor reviews, and came in below expectations at the box office. In
2005 she starred in
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. The film was 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."
With a successful film career, Thurman once again became a desired
model. Cosmetics company
Lancôme
selected her as their spokeswoman, and named several shades of
lipstick after her, though they were sold only in Asia. In 2005,
she became a spokeswoman for the French fashion house
Louis Vuitton.
On February 7, 2006, Thurman was named a knight of the
Ordre des Arts et des Lettres
of France for outstanding achievement in the field of art and
literature.
In May 2006 Thurman bought the film rights to the
Frank Schätzing novel
The Swarm, which is in development
and due for release in 2011.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 Thurman starred opposite
Luke
Wilson in
My Super
Ex-Girlfriend. Thurman portrayed a super-heroine named
"G-Girl" who is dumped by her boyfriend and then takes her revenge
upon him. Thurman received a reported $14 million for the role, but
the film flopped. Once again Thurman was well-received, yet the
film was not.
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.
Thurman starred as "Elsa" in the British telefilm
My Zinc Bed, in which she plays
a cocaine addict, starring opposite
Paddy Considine and
Jonathan Pryce.
She finished filming
Motherhood, an indie comedy, about
the challenges faced by a mother preparing for her daughter's
birthday.
She will star in the film version of the 1950s books
Eloise In Paris, playing the role of
Nanny, this film is to be directed by
Charles Shyer.
Thurman also agreed to star in the new Muppets movie, playing a
ticket clerk.
Bollywood director
Vishal Bharadwaj has announced his interest
in Thurman to star in his latest film venture opposite
Hrithik Roshan, in a biographical film of the
life of actress
Nadira. The film is still in
its pre-production stage.Uma Thurman has shown interest in playing
either
Marlene Dietrich or
Greta Garbo.
Activism and charity work
Thurman supports the
United States Democratic
Party, and has given money to the campaigns of
John Kerry,
Hillary
Clinton, and
Joseph R.
Driscoll. She supports
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
a member of the board of the New York- and Boston
-based
organization Room to Grow, a charitable organization providing aid
to families and children born into poverty. She serves on the board of the
Tibet House.
In 2007,
Thurman hosted the Nobel Peace Prize Concert
in Oslo
, Norway with
actor Kevin Spacey.
Personal life
Thurman
owns a townhouse in New York's Greenwich Village
,but lives in Hyde Park, New York
. Raised as a
Buddhist, she considers herself
agnostic.
Thurman
is engaged to marry London based Franco
-Swiss
financier Arpad Busson,
whom she began dating in late 2007. Prior to becoming
engaged to Busson, Thurman dated
Andre
Balazs from 2004 to 2006.
People magazine confirmed on June 27,
2008 that Thurman and Busson are engaged.
While living in London after shooting
Dangerous Liaisons,
she began dating director
Phil Joanou.
On the set of
State Of Grace, she met English actor
Gary Oldman. They were married in 1990,
but the marriage ended in 1992.
On May 1, 1998, she married actor
Ethan
Hawke, whom she met on the set of
Gattaca; his novel
Ash Wednesday is
dedicated to "Karuna", Thurman's middle name. Thurman acknowledged
that they had married because she was pregnant; at their wedding
she was seven months along. The marriage produced two children,
daughter Maya Ray Thurman-Hawke (b. July 8, 1998) and son Levon
Roan Thurman-Hawke (b. January 15, 2002).
In 2003, Thurman and Hawke separated, and in 2004 they filed for
divorce. When asked on
The Oprah Winfrey Show if there
was “betrayal of some kind” during the marriage, Thurman 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”.Director
Quentin Tarantino has described Thurman as
his "
muse." However, in a 2004
Rolling Stone cover story, Thurman and
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”.
Filmography
Awards
References
- Uma Thurmans mormor staty i Trelleborg,
Sydsvenskan, July 30, 2006.
- Ancestry of Uma Thurman
- Tiscali Tiscali Film and TV Uma Thurman
biography. Retrieved January 5, 2006.
- Sherry Kahn. Talk. Golden Girl Uma admits to having Body
Dysmorphic Disorder. May 15, 2001. Retrieved February 16,
2006.
- Rolling Stone cover archive. Rolling Stone.
Retrieved April 6, 2006.
- IMDb business data for The Adventures of Baron
Munchausen. Retrieved April 6, 2006.
- [1] allmovieportal: About Uma Thurman
- “Dangerous Liaisons’ violated beauty, Uma Thurman, 18, is a
little risky herself”. People Weekly 31.n5 (Feb 6, 1989)
- Janet Maslin. “A Writer’s Awakening to the Erotic”. The New
York Times. October 5, 1990.
- Joe Brown. Even Cowgirls Get the Blues. The Washington
Post. May 20, 1994. Retrieved February 13, 2006.
- Erik Hedegaard Rolling Stone magazine A Magnificent
Obsession. April 2004. Retrieved April 6, 2006.
- Pulp Fiction box office information.
Box Office Mojo. Retrieved April 6, 2006.
- What Made Kill Bill. MTV News. June 10, 2004.
Retrieved February 7, 2006.
- Uma Thurman IMDb salary report. Retrieved April 6,
2006.
- WENN daily news, April 1, 2005. Retrieved
2006-04-06.
- The
Swarm (2011)
- Uma Thurman video interview, February 2008
- Uma Thurman’s Federal Campaign Contribution
Report. News Meat. Retrieved April 6, 2006.
- All-star Celebrity Coalition to March for Women’s
Lives in Washington, DC. April 12, 2004. Retrieved April 6,
2006.
- Room
To Grow board and staff page, retrieved 2006-11-06.
- Uma off the market (thelondonpaper)
- Uma Thurman Engaged to Multimillionaire - Engagements, Uma
Thurman : People.com
- WENN, August 29, 2001. Retrieved April 6,
2006.
- Sarah Hall. E! Online. “Ethan Hawke: Why We Split” March 5, 2004.
Retrieved February 17, 2006.
- Stephen M. Silverman People.com. “Uma Calls Split from Ethan
‘Excruciating’” October 7, 2005. Retrieved March 3, 2006.
Further reading
- Bina, Roxanna. "Interview with Uma Thurman." Independent
Film Quarterly. December 8, 2003. Retrieved January 5,
2006.
- Brett, Anwar. Uma Thurman interview — Kill Bill Vol.
2. April 2004. Retrieved January 5,
2006.
- Chavel, Sean. "Uma Thurman interview." UGO. October
2003. Retrieved January 6, 2006.
- Fischer, Paul. "For Ms. Thurman, Life is More than Just a
Paycheck." Film Monthly. September 22, 2003. Retrieved
January 5, 2006.
- Hedegaard, Erik. "A Magnificent Obsession." Rolling
Stone. April 29, 2004. Retrieved January 6, 2005.
- Russell, Jamie. Uma Thurman interview — Kill Bill Vol.
1. October 2003. Retrieved January 5,
2006.
- "Uma Thurman: Pulp friction." Independent
Online. Retrieved January 5, 2006.
- Biography Uma Thurman biography. Retrieved
January 5, 2006.
- Bryon Sutherland & Lucy Ellis, "uma trurman, the
biography", 2004 Aurum Press
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