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UMA THURMAN
BIOGRAPHY
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Uma Thurman had to break from her family’s core values to join the
high school cheerleading squad. Her offbeat bohemian Buddhist
upbringing in India and all over the United States made her a bit of
an outcast among her all-American teen peers, and the cheerleading
helped bridge the gap. School plays, though, were her favorite way
to fit in, and she ultimately left her Massachusetts boarding school
at age 15 for a New York acting career.
The independent teen spent a year washing dishes and modeling to pay
the rent, until hired for a role in Kiss Daddy Goodnight (1987).
Critics liked Thurman far better than the movie, and casting
directors took note. Her exotic good looks served her well the next
year for the part of a goddess in The Adventures of Baron Munchausen,
and for the steamy Dangerous Liaisons.
At 18, Thurman moved to England to escape Hollywood typecasting --
the actor was more interested in a serious career than sex-symbol
fame and her growing over-obsessive fan base. In 1990, at age 20,
Thurman married fellow actor Gary Oldman. The couple divorced two
years later. In 1990, too, she was cast in Where The Heart Is, and
the intelligent (but steamy) Henry and June. She came solidly back
to mainstream Hollywood, with a few independents thrown in, with
Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (TV - 1991), Final Analysis (1992),
Jennifer 8 (1992), Mad Dog and Glory (1993), and Even Cowgirls Get
The Blues (1994). A role in the risky Pulp Fiction (1994) turned out
to be a smart career choice, for Thurman earned an Oscar nomination,
a Golden Globe nomination and an MTV movie award for her stellar
performance.
She continued to mix sure commercial successes with less-sure art
films, going on to star in A Month By The Lake (1995), Beautiful
Girls (1996), The Truth About Cats and Dogs (1996), Batman and Robin
(1997), Gattaca (1997), Les Miserables (1998), and The Avengers
(1998 - “winning” a Razzie Worst Actress nomination and
disappointing critics). She was busy off-camera in 1998 -- first
marrying actor Ethan Hawke then giving birth to daughter, Maya Ray.
Thurman went off-Broadway the next year with The Misanthrope, and
then back to film with Sweet and Lowdown.
Coming up for the actor are roles in a further varied mix of movies
-- Last Word on Paradise, The Custom of Country, The Lord of the
Rings: The Two Towers and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the
King.
Thurman is often compared to the legendary leading ladies of old
Hollywood, and, at 30, is becoming a legend in her own right. It
seems not only beauty, but on-screen sophistication, talent and
intelligence, still count for something in show business circles.
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