Uma Thurman

Following an unorthodox childhood spent being raised a Buddhist and modeling in New York at a young age, striking actress Uma Thurman jumped into feature films at 16 years old and never looked back. After mature performances in two independent films, Thurman broke through as an ingénue in the erotic drama "Dangerous Liaisons" (1988). From there, she developed a talent for playing alluring young women with ulterior motives, culminating in a head-turning performance in "Henry and June" (1990), the first movie to ever be rated NC-17, and her affecting performance as an indentured servant in "Mad Dog and Glory" (1993). But it was her modern take on the classic femme fatale in "Pulp Fiction" (1994) that made her a star and an Academy Award nominee, leading to a series of roles in high-profile studio films like "Beautiful Girls" (1996), "Batman & Robin" (1997) and "The Avengers" (1998). While generating headlines for her marriage to actor Ethan Hawke, Thurman's career took a pseudo-hiatus so she could raise the couple's two children. After their divorce in 2003, Thurman returned to the screen with a vengeance in her admiring director Quentin Tarantino's ultra-violent magnum opus, "Kill Bill, Vol. 1" (2003) and "Kill Bill, Vol. 2" (2004), which happily reminded audiences of the actress' ability to tackle unconventional material with both passion and skill.