Uma Thurman

Presently at the peak of her career following her towering performance in Kill Bill Volumes 1 and 2, Uma Thurman is an intriguing paradox: the beautiful muse of Quentin Tarantino whose struggle with body dysmorphic disorder has often rendered her crippled with insecurity. The daughter of a Buddhist professor and a model, Uma enjoyed a bohemian upbringing. After leaving school at fifteen to pursue an acting career, she first gained recognition playing a vulnerable ingenue opposite John Malkovich in 1988's Dangerous Liaisons. But her most memorable role was as a reckless gangster's moll in Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction, one of the most talked-about films of the 1990s. Accomplished biographers Bryony Sutherland and Lucy Ellis tell the whole story: the ups and downs of Uma's acting career; her two marriages, to fellow actors Gary Oldman and Ethan Hawke; embracing a new role as devoted mother to daughter Maya and son Roan; and her triumphant return to form as the wronged bride on a rampage of revenge in Kill Bill.