Uma Karuna Thurman (born April 29, 1970) is an American actress, producer and fashion model. Prolific in film and television productions encompassing a variety of genres, she had her breakthrough in Dangerous Liaisons (1988), following appearances on the December 1985 and May 1986 covers of British Vogue. Thurman rose to international prominence with her role as Mia Wallace in Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction (1994), for which she was nominated for the Academy Award, the BAFTA Award, and the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress. Hailed as Tarantino’s muse, she reunited with the director to play The Bride in Kill Bill: Volume 1 and 2 (2003 and 2004), which brought her two additional Golden Globe Award nominations.Established as a Hollywood actress, Thurman’s other notable films include Henry & June (1990), The Truth About Cats & Dogs (1996), Batman & Robin (1997), Gattaca (1997), Les Misérables (1998), Paycheck (2003), The Producers (2005), My Super Ex-Girlfriend (2006), Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief (2010), and Lars von Trier’s Nymphomaniac (2013) and The House That Jack Built (2018). In 2011, she was a member of the jury for the main competition at the 64th Cannes Film Festival, and in 2017, she was named president of the 70th edition’s “Un Certain Regard” jury. Thurman made her Broadway debut in The Parisian Woman (2017–2018).
Thurman won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Television Film for her performance in the made-for-HBO film Hysterical Blindness (2002) and received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series for her five-episode role in the NBC musical series Smash (2012). She has also starred in the miniseries The Slap (2015) and the series Imposters (2017–2018), Chambers (2019) and Super Pumped (2022).