It’s not unusual to hear of models making the crossover into acting. However, once in a while an actor with an established career adds spokesmodel to her resume. For the first time in history, Lancôme Cosmetics is introducing an American to their prestigious list of faces. Actress Uma Thurman is the newest model to promote Lancôme’s newest fragrance, Miracle.
This isn’t the first time the French cosmetic line has chosen an actress to promote their product. In the past, European actresses Juliette Binoche and Isabella Rossellini have graced advertisements for the company. Marc Menesguen, president of Lancôme International recently told Mr. Showbiz: "We are exceptionally pleased to be working with Ms. Thurman. [Her] unique beauty and the confidence she exudes as both a woman and an actress are qualities that are reflective of the message on which the Lancôme brand was built."
Before she was dancing with John Travolta as Ms. Mia Wallace in Pulp Fiction, Uma (the Hindu word for "bestower of blessings") was born to bohemian parents who shared the same social circle as the likes of Timothy Leary and the Dalai Lama. At the tender age of fifteen, Uma and headed to New York City after catching the acting bug.
It didn’t take long for the six-footer to get discovered. She made her debut in the low-budget Kiss Daddy Goodnight, where she played a teenage vixen that lures men from bars to rob them. She has gone on to build a career that consists of an eclectic mix of films.
It’s not unusual to imagine Uma in costume, since she has done her fair share of period pieces such as the critically acclaimed Danger Liaisons, Henry & June and her most recent work in the upcoming The Golden Bowl based on the Henry James novel. Uma has proved that good-looking women are more than skin deep in the comedies Beautiful Girls and The Truth About Cats and Dogs. She has also starred in bigger budget studio films like Batman and Robin, Mad Dog and Glory and Gattaca. In the former, she found her second husband (just out of her teens, she was briefly married to actor Gary Oldman) and father of her child in co-star Ethan Hawke.
Whether it is the career highs of being nominated for an Academy Award for her performance in Pulp Fiction or career lows like her role in Cheerleader Camp II, Thurman has proved that she is capable of an array of diverse characters. And perhaps another nomination will be in her future when she reunites with Quentin Tarantino for the upcoming Kill Bill. 
