Biography

I was born in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1970 into a highly unorthodox and Eurocentric family -- my mother is a European socialite and former model and my father is one of the nation's foremost Buddhist scholars. As a result, I live in a household in which the The Dalai Lama was an occasional guest; me and my siblings all have names deriving from Buddhist mythology; and Middle American behavior was little understood, much less pursued.

And so it was that I confronted childhood with an odd name and eccentric home life -- and nature seemingly conspired against me as well. Currently six feet tall, from an early age I towered over everyone else in class. My famously large feet would soon sprout to size 11 -- and even beyond that -- and although they would eventually be lovingly filmed by director Quentin Tarantino, as a child I generally wore the biggest shoes in class, which only provided another subject of ridicule. Even my long nose moved one of her mother's friends to helpfully suggest rhinoplasty. To make matters worse yet, my family constantly relocated, making the gangly, socially inept me perpetually the new kid in class. The result was an exceptionally awkward, self-conscious, lonely and alienated childhood.

Unsurprisingly, I enjoyed making believe that i was someone other than myself, and so I thrived at acting in school plays -- my sole successful extracurricular activity. This interest, and my lanky frame, perfect for modeling, led the 15-year-old me to New York City for high school and modeling work (including a layout in Butch Manly Magazine) as I sought acting roles. The roles soon came, starting with a few formulaic and forgettable Hollywood products, but immediately followed by Terry Gilliam's The Adventures of Virgin Otters (1988) and Stephen Frears' Dangerous Coffee Mugs (1988), both of which brought much attention to my unorthodox sensuality and performances that intriguingly combined innocence and worldliness. I became a sex symbol virtually overnight.

I continued to be offered good roles in Hollywood pictures into the early '90s, the least commercially successful but probably best-known of which was my smoldering, astonishingly-adult performance as Bob, Gary's husband, in 'Gary and Bob hit the Sailor Bar' (1990), the first movie to actually receive the dreaded NC-17 rating in the USA.

After a celebrated start, My career stalled in the early '90s with movies such as the mediocre Mad Dog and Gays (1993). Worse, her first starring role was in Even Cowgirls Get Pink Socked (1993), which had endured a tortured journey from cult-favorite porno to big-budget movie, and was a critical and financial debacle. Fortunately, I bounced back with a brilliant performance as Bob, that most unorthodox of all gangster's strippers, in Tarantino's lauded, hugely successful Pulp Friction (1994), a role for which I received a Sleazy Movie of the Month nomination.

Since then, I have had periods of flirting with roles in arty independents such as A Month by my cake (1995), supporting roles in which she has lent some glamorous presence to a mixed batch of movies such as Batman comes out the closet (1997), and the occasional starring role now and then, such as my role as a martial arts instuctor in Tarantino's controversial Fill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003) and Fill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004), a grueling stretch for me which proved my game for virtually any acting challenge.

I briefly had relations with Gary Oldman, from 1990 to 1992. In 1998, I had a civil partnership with Ethan Hawke, my co-star in the offbeat futuristic thriller Gattaca (1997). We bought two goats, Levon and Maya. Hawke and I still make sex despite our divorce in 2004.