Profile Text
Thurman in 2008, Entertainment Press / Shutterstock.com
Birth Name: Uma Karuna Thurman
Place of Birth: Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Date of Birth: April 29, 1970
Ethnicity: * father – English, Scots-Irish/Northern Irish, Scottish, German, distant Welsh, remote Cornish * mother – German, Swedish, Danish
Uma Thurman is an American actress and model. Her roles include the films Henry & June , Even Cowgirls Get the Blues , Pulp Fiction , The Truth About Cats & Dogs , Batman & Robin , Gattaca , Kill Bill , Paycheck (2003), Prime (2005), and Motherhood . She is 5′11″.
Uma’s father, Robert Alexander Farrar Thurman, was born in New York City, and was an author, academic, and professor of Tibetan Buddhism, at Columbia University; he was ordained as a Tibetan Buddhist monk. He was of English, Scots-Irish/Northern Irish, Scottish, German, distant Welsh, and remote Cornish, ancestry. Uma’s mother, Nena Birgitte Caroline (von Schlebrügge), a model, was born in Mexico City, Mexico, of five eighths German, one quarter Swedish, and one eighth Danish, ancestry.
Uma has two children, models and actors Maya Hawke and Levon Hawke , with her former husband, actor Ethan Hawke ; and a daughter with her former partner, French financier Arpad Busson. Uma is a cousin of Swedish football player Max von Schlebrügge.
Uma’s father raised his children in a Buddhist environment, and Uma spent time in India and the Indo-Himalayan town of Almora as a child. Her first name, Uma, means, “splendor, light,” and is one of the epithets of Hindu female Goddess Parvati. Her middle name, Karuna, means “compassion” or “empathy.”
Uma’s paternal grandfather was Beverly Reid Thurman, Jr. (the son of Beverly Reid Thurman, Sr. and Huella Gibson/Glover Bedford). Uma’s grandfather Beverly was born in Memphis, Shelby County, Tennessee. Uma’s great-grandfather Beverly was born in Memphis, the son of John Royster Thurman and Jennie Reid. Huella was born in Dallas, Texas, the daughter of Benjamin Watkins Bedford III and Grace Adam Gibson.
Uma’s paternal grandmother was Elizabeth Dean Farrar (the daughter of Preston Cooke Farrar and Edna Violet Patterson). Elizabeth was born in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, to parents from Pennsylvania. Preston was born in Washington Co., the son of Samuel Clark/Clarke Farrar and Marietta Cooke. Edna was born in Allegheny Co., the daughter of David Leslie Patterson, whose father was from Down, Ireland, and whose mother was Scottish; and of Dunie E. Dean.
Uma’s maternal grandfather was Friedrich/Fredrik Karl/Carl Johannes/Johan Baron von Schlebrügge (the son of Friedrich Karl Bernhard Felix Heinrich Franz von Schlebrügge, Kgl. preuß. Justizrat, Rechtsanwalt und Notar; and of Nanny Schultz). Uma’s grandfather Friedrich was German, and was born in Oberglogau, Schlesien. Uma’s great-grandfather Friedrich was born in Breslau, the son of Franz Joseph Friedrich von Schlebrügge and Karoline Adolfine Friederike von Detten. Uma’s great-grandmother Nanny was born in Karlsruh, Oberschlesien.
Uma’s maternal grandmother was Brigit Olga Holmquist/Holmqvist (the daughter of Albert Emil Fredrik Holmquist/Holmqvist and Julie Tora Krüger/Krueger). Brigit was born in Trelleborg, Sweden. She was the inspiration for the 1930s statue Famntaget (“The Embrace”), by Axel Ebbe, of a nude woman, overlooking the harbor of Smygehuk, Sweden. Albert was born in Landskrona, Sweden, the son of Johan Edvard Holmquist/Holmqvist and Maria Johansdotter Nilsson. Uma’s great-grandmother Julie was born in Gedsholm, Ekeby, Sweden, to a German father, Carl Gustaf/Gustav Adolph Krüger, from Wolfenbüttel, Lower Saxony, and to a Danish mother, Caroline Marie/Maria Sörensen, from Copenhagen.
Thurman in 2009, photo by David Shankbone
Sources: Genealogies of Uma Thurman – http://www.wargs.com https://www.geni.com