Who

The daughter of Robert Thurman, ex-wife of Ethan Hawke, and muse of Quentin Tarantino, Uma is a gangly actress and in-demand pitchwoman.

Backstory

The daughter of Buddhist scholar Robert Thurman and Nena von Schlebrugge, a Swedish model who was once married to Timothy Leary, Uma was raised in Amherst, Mass. and Woodstock, NY. She was 15 when she dropped out of high school to move to New York, using her height (she's 6 feet) to land a series of modeling gigs before breaking into films with a role in Kiss Daddy Goodnight (with Steve Buscemi). Most of Uma's early parts capitalized on her looks—she appeared in various states of undress in The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, Dangerous Liaisons, and Henry & June. In 1994, she was tapped by Quentin Tarantino to play Mia in Pulp Fiction, which garnered her an Oscar nod and remains one of her most successful films. Alas, she squandered some of that cred in the ensuing years with appearances in the mediocre rom-com The Truth About Cats and Dogs, sci-fi thriller Gattaca, and despicable action flicks like Batman & Robin and The Avengers. (As for the latter, one critic said she failed to give a "detectable performance.") She fared better in indies like Woody Allen's 1999 Sweet and Lowdown and Mira Nair's made-for-TV movie Hysterical Blindness. Following some time off to have her second child, she proved herself as, weirdly, an action heroine, wielding a samurai sword in Quentin Tarantino's 2003 epic two-parter Kill Bill, in a role he wrote specifically for her.

While her days as an on-screen sex symbol may be on the wane (and her recent movies, like My Super Ex-Girlfriend, have hardly impressed), Uma doesn't have to worry about her bank balance. Her numerous lucrative endorsements have included campaigns for Tag Heuer, Lancôme, and Louis Vuitton, and in 2007 she inked a $36 million deal to appear as the face of Virgin Media in the U.K. 

Family ties

Uma's father is Robert A.F. Thurman, one of the most prominent Buddhists in the United States. (Uma's name is Hindi for "bestower of blessings.") Her dad co-founded the Tibet House with Richard Gere and is host to the Dalai Lama when he's in town. Thurman's half-sister is Taya Snow, mother to downtown bad boy/artist Dash Snow.

Drama

In late 2005, a schizophrenic named Jack Jordan started stalking Thurman, sending bizarre notes to both the actress and her father, showing up at her townhouse, and even appearing outside her trailer on the set of My Super Ex-Girlfriend. Jordan was convicted of stalking and aggravated assault in May 2008.

Personal

Thurman married actor Gary Oldman at age 20; the union lasted two years but Uma has said the marriage "doesn't count" because of how young she was at the time. She met her second husband, Ethan Hawke, on the set of Gattica. They married in 1998 and had two children, Maya Ray and Levon Roan, before divorcing in 2004 after Hawke confessed to dalliances with 22-year-old Canadian model Jen Perzow. (Hawke also reportedly suspected that his wife was messing around with Quentin Tarantino.) Uma dated hotelier Andre Balazs on and off for three years, and is now engaged to Swiss financier Arpad "Arki" Busson. She lives in the West Village and also owns a home in Fire Island Pines.

No joke

Strangely, Thurman once said she suffered from body dysmorphic disorder, a chronic self-perception of ugliness, when she was younger. That never bothered Tarantino: a well-known foot fetishist, he featured her size 11 feet in both Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill Vol. II.