Uma Thurman is best known for her grungy, cult-status work with Quentin Tarantino, first on Pulp Fiction (1994) as the defiant, chain-smoking sex symbol Mia Wallace, then the revenge-hungry Bride in 2003’s Kill Bill. Her new film, Burnt, released in cinemas today, sees Thurman return as feisty restaurant critic Simone Forth, alongside a decent cast of Hollywood household names including Bradley Cooper, Sienna Miller and Emma Thompson. Here’s our rundown of her five best movie moments.
Pulp Fiction
Though a recently leaked original cast list reveals that Thurman and Travolta were not the first choice for characters Mia Wallace and Vincent Vega, the pair were the standout actors in the cult classic. The dance scene alone provides enough material to enshrine Thurman’s performance in film history.
Kill Bill (Volumes I and II)
Thurman plays the revenge-bent, terrifying and sexy The Bride (real name: Beatrix Kiddo), determined to unleash her deadly skills on everyone who contributed to the murder of her unborn child.
Batman and Robin
In the same vein as The Bride, Thurman again plays a character who is almost killed by those who are meant to care for her the most. As Dr Pamela Isley, she is thrown into a vat of chemicals by her boss Dr Jason Woodrue. She survives, of course, and becomes the formidable enemy of Batman: Poison Ivy. Ivy is an eco-terrorist with a personal vendetta, which takes up a significant amount of the narrative of this poorly received blockbuster.
The Avengers
Thurman takes on the role of Emma Peel alongside Ralph Fiennes’s John Steed as secret agents attempting to thwart a diabolical plot to rule the world through a weather-control machine, created by arch-villain Sir August de Wynter (Sean Connery).
Bel Ami
In her most recent work prior to Burnt, Thurman plays the wealthy love
interest of Georges Duroy (Robert Pattinson), which sees her
rolling around in perfumed boudoirs in her underwear, according to the Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw. Not a triumphantly feminist role like that of Mia or The Bride, but in playing Madeleine Forestier, she reminds us of her charismatic combination of beauty and grit.
