Uma Thurman on Letterman (October 16, 2009)

Posted on 19. Oct, 2009 by h0ausagi in Actors

Uma Thurman promoting ‘Motherhood’ on David Letterman.

About Uma Thurman

Uma Karuna Thurman (born April 29, 1970)is an American actress. She has performed predominantly in leading roles in a variety of films, ranging from romantic comedies and dramas to science fiction and action thrillers. She is best known for her work under the direction of Quentin Tarantino. Her most popular films include Dangerous Liaisons (1988), Pulp Fiction (1994), Gattaca (1997) and Kill Bill (2003–04).

Career

Thurman began her career as a fashion model at age 15. She signed with the agency Click Models. Her modeling credits included Glamour Magazine. In 1989, she appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine’s annual Hot issue.

Thurman made her movie debut in 1988, appearing in four films that year. Her first two were the high school comedy Johnny Be Good and the teen thriller Kiss Daddy Goodnight. Thurman appeared in The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, playing the goddess Venus alongside Oliver Reed’s Vulcan. During her entrance Thurman briefly appears nude in a homage to Botticelli’s painting The Birth of Venus. With a budget of $46 million and box office receipts of only $8 million, the film was a commercial failure.

Activism and charity work

Thurman supports the United States Democratic Party, and has given money to the campaigns of John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, and Joseph Driscoll. She supports gun control laws, and in 2000, she participated in Marie Claire’s “End Gun Violence Now” campaign. She also participated in Planned Parenthood’s “March for Women’s Lives” to support the legality of abortion. Thurman is a member of the board of the New York- and Boston-based organization Room to Grow, a charitable organization providing aid to families and children born into poverty. She serves on the board of the Tibet House.

In 2007, Thurman hosted the Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Oslo, Norway with actor Kevin Spacey.

Personal life

Thurman owns a townhouse in New York’s Greenwich Village, but lives in Hyde Park, New York. Raised as a Buddhist, she considers herself agnostic.

Thurman is engaged to marry London based Franco-Swiss financier Arpad Busson, whom she began dating in late 2007. Prior to becoming engaged to Busson, Thurman dated Andre Balazs from 2004 -2006.magazine confirmed on June 27, 2008 that Thurman and Busson are engaged.

While living in London after shooting Dangerous Liaisons, she began dating director Phil Joanou. On the set of State Of Grace, she met English actor Gary Oldman. They were married in 1990, but the marriage ended in 1992.

On May 1, 1998, she married actor Ethan Hawke, whom she met on the set of Gattaca; his novel Ash Wednesday is dedicated to “Karuna”, Thurman’s middle name. Thurman acknowledged that they had married because she was pregnant; at their wedding she was seven months along. The marriage produced two children, daughter Maya Ray Thurman-Hawke (b. July 8, 1998) and son Levon Roan Thurman-Hawke (b. January 15, 2002).

In 2003, Thurman and Hawke separated, and in 2004 they filed for divorce.When asked on The Oprah Winfrey Show if there was “betrayal of some kind” during the marriage, Thurman said, “There was some stuff like that at the end. We were having a difficult time, and you know how the axe comes down and how people behave and how people express their unhappiness”. Director Quentin Tarantino has described Thurman as his “muse.” However, in a 2004 Rolling Stone cover story, Thurman and Tarantino denied having had a romantic relationship, despite Tarantino once having told a reporter, “I’m not saying that we haven’t, and I’m not saying that we have”.