biography

Uma Karuna Thurman was born on April 29th, 1970 in Boston, Massachusetts. Her mother Nena von Schleebrugge, was a Swedish model and psychotherapist and her father Robert A.F. Thurman was the first American to be ordained a Tibetan Buddhist monk and was also a personal friend to the Dalai Lama. Uma along with her three brothers were raised in the Buddhist faith. This would explain her unusual name, “Uma” which translates into “Bestower of Blessings” or “The Bright One.” Uma described herself as a gangly and awkward child who was mercilessly teased for her peculiar name as well as ugly and weird. She would even make up names like Kelly and Linda in an attempt to be accepted. The family lived for extended periods in India, Amherst and Woodstock, New York while the children were growing up.

Uma was drawn to acting at an early age and by age fifteen she had developed the itch to act. She moved to New York to study at he professional Children’s School. For income, while waiting for her big break, she worked as a dishwasher and a model. In 1987 she landed her first leading role as a young vamp that seduces men to rob them in the low-budget thriller “Kiss Daddy Good Night.” The following year she landed a role as a convent-sheltered nanf seduced out of her corset by John Malkovich in “Dangerous Liasons.” Although she ignited a media frenzy with her bodice-ripping performance, Uma fled to England and rejected a flood of offers because she didn’t want to be the next sexual flavor of the month.

Her next project came the biopic “Henry and June,” which was based on the steamy diaries of Anais Nin, and she gave a wonderful performance as June, the bisexual wife of novelist Henry Miller. She began to get worried that the media’s play on her choices of sexually themed roles threatened her reputation so she decided to make some main stream choices to rectify her image. She landed parts in such films as “Final Analysis,” “Jennifer 8,” and “Mad Dog and Glory.” Although Thurman didn’t become one of the Hollywood A-List, she did become respected with her performances.

She hit the big time when Quentin Tarantino brilliantly cast her in “Pulp Fiction” as the coke-snorting, sock-hopping Mia Wallace opposite John Travolta. The chemistry between Travolta and Thurman was explosive and the scenes that the two share in the film are some of the best and most important in what is considered in all circles to be an excellent movie.

Thurman has also worked in comedy recently with great success. Such films include “Beautiful Girls,” “The Truth About Cats and Dogs,” and “A Month by the Lake.” She also appeared with Ethan Hawke in “Gattaca” before making Gotham itchy as Poison Ivy in “Batman and Robin.” She has also appeared in “Les Miserables” with Liam Neeson and in “The Avengers” with Clare Danes.

Despite attempts to guard her privacy, Uma’s love life has been anything but private. She wed actor Gary Olman in September of 1990, but they divorced the in 1992 amid rumors of his excessive drinking. Following a set romance with her “Beautiful Girls” co-star Timothy Hutton, in 1995, she started a relationship with “Gattaca” co-star Ethan Hawke during filming in 1997. The pair wed in May of 1998 and Uma gave birth to his daughter, Maya Ray, in July.