An alternate title to this edition of this Sort the Stars is “Blonde Actresses of a Certain Age” (my age, for the record). Both Uma Thurman and Charlize Theron have been in the Hollywood spotlight for years, but at times I still have to do a double take before knowing who I’m looking at.
Uma Thurman is a 6′ tall Gen Xer. She’s stared in thrillers such as Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill, dramas such as Beautiful Girls, and action movies such as Batman & Robin and the Avengers (1998). She was married to Gary Oldman briefly, then had two children with second husband Ethan Hawke (they divorced in 2004).
Charlize Theron is just a hair shorter than Uma, but at 5’9 1/2″, she’s still one of the tall blondes of Hollywood. She’s a little younger than Thurman, but the resemblance is still strong. Theron’s starred in The Cider House Rules, Monster, Hancock and The Italian Job.
How do you know who’s who? As far as I can tell, Charlize has never done a Quentin Tarentino film. She’s aslo never been in a super hero film. So if you are watching a tall actress of a certain age in either one of those categories, it’s probably Uma.
12 replies on “Sort the Stars: Uma Thurman and Charlize Theron”
I think Uma’s nose is more distinctive than Charlize’s.
Thank you! Tarantino/superhero vs not; I think I can remember that. :)
I was just telling my sister this wknd that I mix up Uma Thurman and Gwyneth Paltrow. Â I know who each of them are but sometimes they look similar to me. Â Charlize is in a league of her own for me.
I actually get Uma Thurman and Emma Thompson confused a lot. Something about their names was too similar to me, so I couldn’t keep it straight…
Hancock was a superhero film? I’ve not seen it, but I was under the impression that it was about a superhero.
Also, I have suggestion for you if you are willing to do music stuff. Boston and Chicago (the bands, not the cities).
It was sort of a superhero movie? Will Smith played a superhero, but that was sort of lost as the movie went on. It was a terrible movie, whatever the genre.
That it was a bad movie was also an impression that I got about Hancock…
The initial premise was along the lines of a) not all superheroes are Steve Rogers in their personal life, and some drink and are lazy and whatever, and b) these ridiculous stunts we see superheroes do in movies that save lives but cost millions and millions of dollars in property damage may not realistically be as widely and praised as we’ve been led to believe. (It isn’t lost on me, either, that it’s a black superhero who people focused on the damage he left in his wake rather than the good he did.)
Anyway, that was the undercurrent of the story, but Selena is right, it did get kind of lost along the way. I remember thinking that it seemed like three different movies smushed together. Later I read that there had been a director change midstream and that the studio had a really heavy hand in shaping the ending, and that made a lot of sense. There was so much promise to the movie, but it didn’t do what the trailers advertised or what you really thought it was going to do based on the first third or so of the movie.
/off-topic rambling
I never confuse these two, to be honest, probably because I’ve seen them both in a lot of films. Charlize is South African (though her American accent is flawless to my ears), has a son who she adopted this year,  and was also in Arrested Development.
I could be wrong but I think she has a lot more awards than Uma. If you’re in her bathroom and there are lots of golden men and golden globes, it’s probably Charlize…
To me, there’s a vast difference between the two, namely 1) my cousin looks exactly like Uma Thurman, grrrrr, and 2) ♥ GIRL CRUSH ♥. Just look at Charlize in this Brandon Flowers video…
I also have a cousin that resembles Uma, or more accurately, a mix of Uma and Batman-era Michelle Pfeiffer. If she wasn’t so awesome, I’d be so jealous.
I’ve never warmed up to Charlize, but I keep trying.
It took me a while. She gives off more of a ‘cool blonde’ vibe than Uma does. But Charlize has rapidly become one of my favorite actresses. Her interviews are great, she seems to be a feminist, and I really liked her in North Country.