Uma Thurman began her career not in the movie industry but as a fashion model at the tender age of fifteen, following in the footsteps of her mother.Before long she caught the eye of movie producers and she made her big screen debut in Johnny Be Good in 1988.Twenty years later she has become one of the most successful and recognisable actresses in the industry. FemaleFirst looks back over her career to find her top five performances.
1. Pulp Fiction
Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction took the world by storm when it was released in 1994, Grossing over $107 million at the U.S box office it became the most successful cult hit of all time and the first indie film to gross over $100 million. And the film was made for just $8 million.The film interweaves three tales, told in a circular, fractured manner, which only fully connect by the time the final credits roll. The first story focuses on Vincent Vega (John Travolta) and Jules Winnfield (Samuel L. Jackson), two hit men on duty for "the big boss," Marsellus Wallace (Ving Rhames), whose gorgeous wife, Mia (Uma Thurman), takes a liking to Vincent.
In the second, a down-and-out pugilist (Bruce Willis), who is ordered to take a fall, decides that theres more money in doing the opposite.
The final chapter follows a pair of lovers (Amanda Plummer and Tim Roth) as they prepare to hold up a diner.
Uma Thurman was almost unrecognisable in her black wig as Mia Wallace. Her performance earnt her an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress, but she lost out to Diane Lane.
It was also nominated for Best Picture and Tarantino and Roger Avary won Best Original Screenplay.
2. Dangerous Liaisons
Dangerous Liaisons was Thurman's breakthrough role, bringing her to the attention of the movie watching public and the rest of the movie industry.
In order to get revenge on a man who jilted her, the wicked Marquise de Merteuil (Glenn Close) persuades a former lover, the rakish Vicomte de Valmont (John Malkovich), to deflower the man's virginal young fiancee (Uma Thurman).
Valmont agrees, but presents the Marquise with his own challenge: if he succeeds in seducing a virtuous young wife known for her unshakable fidelity, Madame de Tourvel (Michele Pfieffer), the Marquise must grant Valmont a night in bed.
The cold-blooded twosome proceed gleefully with their heartless scheme against the stunning backdrop of aristocratic France, displaying high stakes sexual gamesmanship and deceitful cunning.
When the Valmont succeeds in seducing the virtuous Madame de Tourvel, the pair unexpectedly realize they have fallen in love, tragically defying the rules of the inhuman game, much to the horror of the cruel Marquise de Merteuil.
The film and it's cast were met well critically and the film went on to earn a Best Picture Oscar nomination.
3. Kill Bill Volume I/II
After a few box office failures and taking time out to raise her children her collaboration with Quentin Tarantino re launched her career.
A female assassin, referred to as "The Bride" (Uma Thurman), is attacked on her wedding day.
Dead are her soon-to-be husband and unborn child. However, she doesn't die. Four years later, she wakes up from a coma looking for revenge.
Although her ultimate target is her former boss, Bill (David Carradine), it's quite clear that The Bride is saving the best for last.
And before she can track him down, she must methodically take out the minions who ruined her life.
Volume 2 picks up where the first film left off, as The Bride (Uma Thurman) resumes her quest to track down her former mentor, Bill (David Carradine), and exact revenge.
But before she gets to Bill, she must first take out the remaining minions who helped to slaughter her best friends and fiancé.
First up is Budd (Michael Madsen), a quiet but dangerous country boy who lives in a trailer. Next is Elle Driver (Darryl Hannah), a one-eyed vixen who doesn't appear to have a heart--or a conscience.
As The Bride makes her way closer to Bill, scenes from her past are revisited, including her training with the angry and brutal Pai Mei (Gordon Liu). Finally, The Bride locates her man.
The Kill Bill were highly anticipated after director Tarantino took a six year hiatus from filmmaking.
Like Pulp Fiction before it the film gained cult status as well as doing well critically. After spending months mastering martial arts, swordsmanship, and Japanese Thurman was rewarded with Golden Globe nominations for both movies.
4. Henry and June
Despite it's restricted release Thurman's role in this sexually provocative film only drew more attention to her career.
Henry And June portrays the love triangle that developed in the 1930s between Nin (Maria de Medeiros), expatriate writer Henry Miller (Fred Ward), and Miller's wife (Uma Thurman).
At the height of the bohemian expatriate influx in Paris, brash American author Henry Miller meets Anaïs Nin, a French writer struggling to finish her first book on noted novelist D.H. Lawrence.
Nin is sexually adventurous and looking for fulfillment that her sweet yet mild-mannered husband, Hugo (Richard E.Grant), cannot provide. Nin's initial attraction to the brooding and sexually virile author leads to a steady infatuation with Miller's enigmatic and hauntingly beautiful wife, June.
June is an American actress who visits her husband in Paris and leaves both of her new lovers dissatisfied and ultimately unfulfilled.
However, her sexual presence awakens a desire in Nin that leads to a deeper understanding and acceptance of her own sexuality.
Nin's sexual awakening is a voyage of self-discovery, faithfully noted in her diaries, that are filled with erotic and exotic fantasies.
After June's departure from Paris, Nin succumbs to a passionate love affair with Miller while taking other lovers to satisfy her new sexual appetite.
In their search for new truths, Miller and Nin were a tantalizing match, creating some of the most highly regarded fiction of bohemian Paris with unbounded creative and sexual energy.
5. Hysterical Blindness
Thurman's venture into television was met with great success as she won a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a TV or Mini Series for the HBO film.
Directed by Mira Nair Hysterical Blindness follows a pair of Jersey girls wander through the singles bar scene of the New York City suburb of Bayonne.
As they seek lasting relationships amidst the smoky dive bars and Springsteen songs, Debby (Uma Thurman) and Beth (Juliette Lewis) begin to understand that love isn't like the pop songs that are played on the jukeboxes.
The men these two women find are interested in shorter term commitments.
The Accidental Husband is released 29 February.
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw
View the Uma Thurman Movies gallery.
Tagged in Uma Thurman