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Uma Thurman had to break from her family’s core values to join the high school cheerleading squad. Her offbeat bohemian Buddhist upbringing in India and all over the United States made her a bit of an outcast among her all-American teen peers, and the cheerleading helped bridge the gap. School plays, though, were her favorite way to fit in, and she ultimately left her Massachusetts boarding school at age 15 for a New York acting career. The independent teen spent a year washing dishes and modeling to pay the rent, until hired for a role in Kiss Daddy Goodnight (1987). Critics liked Thurman far better than the movie, and casting directors took note. Her exotic good looks served her well the next year for the part of a goddess in The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, and for the steamy Dangerous Liaisons.

At 18, Thurman moved to England to escape Hollywood typecasting -- the actor was more interested in a serious career than sex-symbol fame and her growing over-obsessive fan base. In 1990, at age 20, Thurman married fellow actor Gary Oldman. The couple divorced two years later. In 1990, too, she was cast in Where The Heart Is, and the intelligent (but steamy) Henry and June. She came solidly back to mainstream Hollywood, with a few independents thrown in, with Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (TV - 1991), Final Analysis (1992), Jennifer 8 (1992), Mad Dog and Glory (1993), and Even Cowgirls Get The Blues (1994). A role in the risky Pulp Fiction (1994) turned out to be a smart career choice, for Thurman earned an Oscar nomination, a Golden Globe nomination and an MTV movie award for her stellar performance.

She continued to mix sure commercial successes with less-sure art films, going on to star in A Month By The Lake (1995), Beautiful Girls (1996), The Truth About Cats and Dogs (1996), Batman and Robin (1997), Gattaca (1997), Les Miserables (1998), and The Avengers (1998 - “winning” a Razzie Worst Actress nomination and disappointing critics). She was busy off-camera in 1998 first marrying actor Ethan Hawke then giving birth to daughter, Maya Ray. Thurman went off-Broadway the next year with The Misanthrope, and then back to film with Sweet and Lowdown.