Actors - Uma Thurman

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	Actors - Uma Thurman

Uma Karuna Thurman (born April 29, 1970) is an American model and Oscar-nominated film actress. Thurman began her career as a model and modeled professionally throughout the late 1980s before moving to acting in 1988.

Thurman performs predominantly in leading roles in a variety of low-budget and major studio films, ranging from romantic comedies and drama to science fiction and action thrillers. She is best known for her films released in the 1990s and 2000s, specifically those with director Quentin Tarantino. Her most popular films include Dangerous Liaisons
(1988), Pulp Fiction
(1994), Gattaca
(1997), and Kill Bill
(2003, 2004). Thurman's style of acting has been likened to actors from the Golden Age of Hollywood such as Mae West, Greta Garbo, and Marlene Dietrich.

Early life and education

Thurman was born in Boston, Massachusetts. Her half-Swedish, half-German mother Nena von Schlebrugg (b. 1941) was briefly married in 1964 to Timothy Leary after the two were introduced by Salvador Dalí. The marriage ended in divorce less than a year later, and in 1967 she married Thurman's father Robert Thurman (b. 1941).

Robert Thurman, a professor at Columbia University of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist studies, gave his children a Buddhist upbringing. She is named after a Hindu goddess. She has three brothers, also with names originating in Tibet: Ganden (b. 1971), Dechen (b. 1973) and Mipam (b. 1978), and one half-sister named Taya from her father's previous marriage. She and her siblings also spent extended amounts of time in India as children, and the Dalai Lama would sometimes visit their home.

Due to her father frequently teaching at different universities, her family often relocated when she was a child. She grew up mostly in Amherst, Massachusetts and Woodstock, New York. Thurman is described as having been an awkward and introverted young girl who was frequently teased as a child for her large frame, unique angular bone structure, unusual name, and size 11 feet (Thurman's famously large feet would later be lovingly filmed by Quentin Tarantino in the films he would make with her, to general public amusement). She was unathletic and earned average grades in school, but excelled in acting at a young age.

Thurman attended Northfield Mount Hermon, a college preparatory boarding school in Massachusetts, and received her first acting experiences in school plays. It was after performing in a production of The Crucible that she was noticed by talent scouts, and was convinced to act professionally. Thurman left her high school to pursue an acting career in New York City and to attend the Professional Children's School, but dropped out before graduating.

Thurman made her film debut in 1988 with four films. Her first were the high school comedy Johnny Be Good and the teen thriller Kiss Daddy Goodnight at the age of seventeen, but both films were only marginally successful and failed to gain her notice. Thurman's next role was a part in the film The Adventures of Baron Munchausen
. With a budget of $46 million USD and box office receipts of only $8 million, the film was a commercial failure. Her third role as Cecile de Volanges in Dangerous Liaisons
was her breakthrough role, which brought Thurman to the attention of the film industry.

Soon after the release of Dangerous Liaisons, magazines and other media outlets were eager to profile the actress, and new roles were available for her. Thurman also received praise from her co-stars of the film for her professionalism with the role. Co-star John Malkovich 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."

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Actors - Uma Thurman

Early life and education

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