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Born on Apr 29, 1970 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. Reportedly 5' 11".
One of the most ignored rules about fame is this: whatever you first become famous for, for the rest of your days that will be the only acceptable way for you to stay famous. For actresses, this means that if you become famous for flashing your tits, chances are you'll never be able find work in anything that doesn't involve flashing your tits — and if you do, no one will be especially interested in seeing it.
But getting naked per se doesn't doom an actress to working in films that will only ever be seen on late night cable; it's how and where an actress gets naked. On the one hand, Marilyn Monroe let it all hang out in the first issue of Playboy, and while her fame is unequaled in Hollywood history, she was never taken seriously enough as an actress to get the more "respectable" roles she wanted. Certainly this has been the path most traveled by the teeming throngs of Hollywood hopefuls. Like begets like, and nude work in low profile or lowbrow movies usually results in more nude work in more nudie flicks. But nude work in a high profile, highbrow movie — say Dangerous Liaisons — can be the very shortcut to fame and respectability that most actresses seem to think they're on when they whip off their tops in movies featuring the word “bikini” in the title.
So it was with Uma Thurman, an un-famous model who became a famous actress after her nude scene with John Malkovich in the clever, “literary” Dangerous Liaisons. A few quips from Malkovich and an interview later, Uma was universally toasted as the “thinking man's pinup”. Her other early high profile roles also featured her nude (or close to it), but were also “literary” and highbrow: The Adventures of Baron Munchausen and Henry & June. Of course, highbrow or low, Uma's growing popularity was still nursed primarily by her nude chest, but at least now she was getting offers for “respectable” roles along with all the sexploitation parts. And for someone who became famous for being beautiful (and being naked), this was as good as anyone could hope for.
But like most actresses who become famous for their physique, Uma wanted to be taken more seriously for her acting talents and less for her cup size. (“This movie's not about my tits!” she protested while being interviewed about Dangerous Liaisons.) So for the next couple of films she kept her clothes on. Both films tanked. Then she got nude again in Mad Dog and Glory with Robert DeNiro. Nothing. No one cared. After that, she put her clothes back on and hasn't taken them off since. But with the exception of Pulp Fiction, that career decision hasn't exactly been paying off. And the public, meanwhile, has found new young girlfriends like Heather Graham and Denise Richards who don't seem to have issues putting out for the camera.
Is there hope for Uma? Probably not. By the time she made Batman & Robin and The Avengers she had finally given up worrying about being perceived primarily as a sex icon, but these days a mere catsuit is a poor way to compete with the ever-rising tide of T&A washing up from Hollywood's new batch of nude nymphets. Time for Uma to bare her money-makers in another highbrow film, and quickly, too, before she gets much older or has another kid. She's looking a little matronly in those Lancôme ads, but it still might not be too late for her.
Also sprach Golem.
(More recent commentary below)
Academy Awards
March 24, 2002
Uma's looks have had their ups and downs over the years, but they were certainly looking up at the 2002 Academy Awards, where her chest incidentally appeared bigger than it's ever been. Not for nothing, but if she'd show as much cleavage in her films as she does at awards shows, she'd probably be in more films.
Kill Bill
October 10, 2003
I’ve often said that it would take either another Quentin Tarantino movie of Pulp Fiction caliber or another good nude scene in a wide-release movie to put Uma Thurman back on the map (her acting alone would never cut it), two events that didn’t seem likely given Quentin’s work since Pulp Fiction and the state of Uma’s chest since her second kid. But after seeing Kill Bill today, I have to confess that not only is she in a fantastic movie (this one, like most Tarantino flicks, being about itself), but Uma herself is pretty damned good in it. (Granted, the role is mostly a physical one, but she performs it with aplomb.) I was smugly sure that both Uma and Quentin were done as major players some years ago, but couldn’t be more gushingly happy to be proven so completely wrong.
My Super Ex-Girlfriend
July 21, 2006
The new comedy from Ivan Reitman starring Uma Thurman and Luke Wilson opens to the sound of crickets today. Not that anyone in the public would know — I’ve yet to see a single TV ad or any other form of promotion for the film other than being contacted by the studio on account of my running this site. Which is not a good sign that the studio itself has any confidence in this movie. (Happily, this won’t likely become too much of an embarrassment for Uma, as most of her sans-Tarantino projects tend to come and go with nary a blip on the public’s radar.)
UMA THURMAN’S FILMOGRAPHY
* Titles in red feature Uma in the raw *
Film
- The Accidental Husband (2008) .... Dr. Emma Lloyd
- The Life Before Her Eyes (2007) .... Diana McFee
- My Super Ex-Girlfriend (2006) .... Jenny Johnson/G-Girl
- Be Cool (2005) .... Edie Athens
- Prime (2005) .... Rafi Gardet
- The Producers (2005) .... Ulla
- Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004) .... The Bride (a.k.a. Black Mamba)
- Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003) .... The Bride (a.k.a. Black Mamba)
- Paycheck (2003) .... Rachel
- Chelsea Walls (2001) .... Grace
- Tape (2001) .... Amy Randall
- The Golden Bowl (2000) .... Charlotte
- Sweet and Lowdown (1999) .... Blanche
- Vatel (1999)
- The Avengers (1998) .... Emma Peel
- Batman & Robin (1997) .... Poison Ivy/Dr. Pamela Isley
- Gattaca (1997) .... Irene Cassini
- Les Misérables (1997) .... Fantine
- Beautiful Girls (1996) .... Andera
- The Truth About Cats & Dogs (1996) .... Noelle Slusarsky
- Duke of Groove (1995) .... Maya
- A Month by the Lake (1995) .... Miss Beaumont
- Even Cowgirls Get the Blues (1994) .... Sissy Hankshaw
- Pulp Fiction (1994) .... Mia Wallace
- Mad Dog and Glory (1993) .... Glory
- Final Analysis (1992) .... Diana Baylor
- Jennifer 8 (1992) .... Helena [nudity by body double]
- Henry & June (1990) .... June Miller
- Where the Heart Is (1990) .... Daphne McBain
- The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1989; British/German) .... Venus/Rose
- Dangerous Liaisons (1988) .... Cécile de Volanges
- Johnny Be Good (1988) .... Georgia Elkans
- Kiss Daddy Goodnight (1987) .... Laura
Made for Cable Movies
- Hysterical Blindness (2002; HBO) .... Debby
Made for Television Movies/Specials
- Without Lying Down: Frances Marion and the Power of Women in Hollywood (2000) .... Narrator
- Robin Hood (1991) .... Maid Marian
Television
- VH1/Vogue Fashion Awards (2000) .... Herself
UMA THURMAN-RELATED ARTICLES
- Charge dropped in Thurman stalking case
Associated Press (Jan 9, 2008)
A judge threw out a felony charge against a former mental patient accused of stalking Uma Thurman.
- Thurman, Jones to host Nobel Peace concert
Associated Press (Nov 14, 2007)
Uma Thurman will join Tommy Lee Jones as co-host of the Nobel Peace Concert honoring former Vice President Al Gore and the U.N.’s climate change panel, organizers announced Wednesday.
- Accused Uma Thurman stalker indicted
Associated Press (Oct 12, 2007)
A former psychiatric patient accused of writing to Uma Thurman and threatening to kill himself if he saw the actress with another man was indicted Thursday on stalking charges, prosecutors said.
- Re-Made in China
Vogue (Nov 2003)
After the birth of her second child, the cerebral star transformed herself into an action heroine. Uma Thurman tells Michael Specter about grueling eight-hour workouts, family matters, and the year of killing Bill that has changed her life completely.
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