Uma Thurman, Prime

Uma Thurman began her spectacular career posing nude as Botticelli's Venus for Terry Gilliam's The Adventures of Baron Munchausen. She was 15. In the 20 years since then, this Boston-born daughter of college professors has established herself as a world-class beauty and first-rate actress. From Pulp Fiction to Kill Bill to the Merchant Ivory Golden Bowl and Richard Linklater's Tape, Thurman has consistently exhibited a range that belies her extraordinary facade. Check out a personal favorite: her devastatingly accurate portrayal of sad but valiant Debby Miller, a New Jersey girl facing a lot of Mr. Wrongs, in Mira Nair's Hysterical Blindness, an HBO movie for which she won a Golden Globe. She discusses doing glam comedy with a soulful side in Prime, in which she spars with Meryl Streep, and talks about the end of the road with co-star Ethan Hawke.

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