The daugher of noted professor of Buddhism Roger Thurman, Uma Thurman spent the part of her childhood years in India while her parents were on a spiritual sabbatical. Back in the States, she attended Professional Children's School, becoming a professional model at 16 and a film actress at 17. In 1988, Thurman began her ascent to stardom in Stephen Frears' Dangerous Liaisons (1988), playing Cecile, the impressionable young virgin who is slowly corrupted by smirking nobleman John Malkovich. Thereafter, Thurman all but cornered the market in offbeat exotic heroines. She played Venus-on-the-Halfshell in Terry Gilliam's The Adventures of Baron Munchhausen, the wife of novelist Henry Miller in Henry and June (1990), and Sissy Hankshaw in Gus van Sant's Even Cowgirls Get the Blues (1994). In 1995, Thurman was nominated for an Oscar for her portrayal of Mia, the Louise Brooks-coifed, cokehead dancer partner of hit man John Travolta, in Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction. From 1990 to 1992, Uma Thurman was married to actor Gary Oldman.