Uma Thurman

Uma is the new-age Vamp.

She was born in 1970. Her father, Robert, is a professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies at Columbia University School of Religion. He was the first westerner to become a Tibetan Buddhist monk. Uma was named for a Hindu goddess. Her mother is a Swedish model-turned-psychotherapist Nena, who was discovered at 16 in Stockholm by photographer Norman Parkinson. A nude statue of Nena's mother, Brigit Holmquist, a famous beauty and later baroness, stands in the port town of Trelleborg. Salvador Dali, introduced Nena to her first husband, Timothy Leary. She is the granddaughter of Baron Karl von Schlebrugg. Uma's middle name, Karuna, is one of the four sublime abodes in Buddhism. It means "compassion." The other 3 sublime abodes are Metta (Loving kindness), Mudita (Sympathetic joy), and Upekkha (Equanimity). She has size 11 shoes! (big socks then...)

I first noticed her in Dangerous Liaisons in 1988 which was her first of many critically acclaimed films. Unfortunately (for her that is...) she is mostly remembered for the fact that she got them out and the fact the she had to play opposite the grossly miscast Keanu Reeves. But she pulled it off with the grace and elegance that only Uma has.

Her next big part was as Mia Wallace in one of the best films of the 90s, possibly ever, Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction. She was the face on all the posters and was in the most memorable scenes in the movie. The first is the dance with John Travolta in Jack Rabbit Slim's which will undoubtedly stay in everyone mind for a long time to come. The other is the overdose scene which is truly disturbing and completely crazy. She got and Oscar nomination.

She has done some dodgy stuff too. The Avengers was absolute shite but she did have that leather catsuit thing. In Batman and Robin, she played Poison Ivy and was the only decent thing in the whole film.

She has a habit of disappearing off the face of the planet for ages and then reappearing in a blaze of publicity as if she had never been away. She also has the ability to act in the smallest arthouse movies and the biggest Hollywood blockbuster.

Most recently she played The Bride in Kill Bill Volume One. She basically kicked everyone's arse all over the screen for an hour and a half with a very sharp Japanese sword in a yellow jumpsuit. Of course, she is sublimely cool in this movies as well. (and for a bit of the old ultra-geek, someone has created an RPG character for The Bride.)

She describes herself as a "Tall, sandy blonde, with sort of blue eyes, skinny in places, fat in others. An average gal." I'd still do her and yes, I'll admit it, I fantasize about getting beaten up by her :)

I'll be posting the third of my current top five ladies soon.