UMA THURMAN (Edie Athens) has proven herself to be one of the most versatile young actresses by playing a variety of compelling characters. The daughter of a psychologist and a college professor, Thurman was raised in Amherst, Massachusetts, and Woodstock, New York. She attended a preparatory school in New England, where at fifteen she was discovered by two New York agents. At sixteen she transferred to the Professional Children’s School in New York City in order to pursue an acting career.
Thurman’s entrance onto the mainstream film scene began with Johnny Be Good opposite Anthony Michael Hall, but it was her role as the goddess Venus in Terry Gillian’s 1988 fantasy The Adventures of Baron Munchausen which brought her international attention. This striking and versatile actress went on to receive critical acclaim for her portrayal of a virginal 18th century convent girl, Cecile de Volanges, seduced by John Malkovich in Stephen Frears’ Dangerous Liasons. The following year she starred opposite Fred Ward and Maria de Medeiros in Philip Kaufman’s Henry & June playing the neurotic and exotic bisexual spouse of Henry Miller. She then played Daphne McBain, one of a trio of Dabney Coleman’s spoiled children in the comedy Where the Heart Is, directed by John Boorman. In 1991, Thurman starred opposite Richard Gere and Kim Basinger as Diana, a conniving therapy patient in Phil Joanou’s thriller Final Analysis. She then reunited with Malkovich in the thriller Jennifer 8, playing Andy Garcia’s blind girlfriend, Helena. In Mad Dog and Glory, she played a barmaid who becomes an indentured servant to Robert De Niro for saving Bill Murray’s life. Her most eccentric movie to date is Gus Van Sant’s Even Cowgirls Get the Blues in which she played Sissy Hankshaw, a big-thumbed, bisexual hippie hitchhiker.
In 1996, Thurman received an Academy Award® nomination for Quentin Tarantino’s critically lauded Pulp Fiction in which she played Mia Wallace, a sexy and comedic mobster’s wife. Later that year she was seen in the period romance A Month by the Lake with Vanessa Redgrave and the contemporary romance Beautiful Girls directed by Ted Demme. Thurman next appeared in The Truth About Cats and Dogs, Batman & Robin, Gattacca opposite Ethan Hawke, Les Miserables with Liam Neeson, and The Avengers. In the spring of 1999, she made her stage debut in an updated version of Moliere’s “The Misanthrope” at the Classic Stage Company in New York.
Her most recent films include Woody Allen’s Sweet and Lowdown, opposite Sean Penn and Samantha Morton; Vatel, opposite Gerard Depardieu and Tim Roth; The Golden Bowl, with Nick Nolte, Angelica Huston and Jeremy Northam; and Tape with Ethan Hawke and Robert Sean Leonard, for which she was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award as Best Supporting Actress. She also starred in the first installment of Quentin Tarantino’s bloody action film Kill Bill and John Woo’s thriller Paycheck. Uma also starred in HBO’s Hysterical Blindness with Juliette Lewis and Gena Rowlands, which she also produced. She won the 2003 Golden Globe for Best Actress for her portrayal of Debby Miller and was nominated for a SAG Award.
Recently, Uma starred in Kill Bill: Volume 2, for which she was again nominated for a Golden Globe.
Uma has just begun production on the musical The Producers with Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane.
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