Pulp Fiction cast: See where the stars of Quentin Tarantino’s cult classic are now

Samuel L. Jackson (Jules Winnfield)

Although he'd been working on and off as an actor since the early '70s, Samuel L. Jackson's career didn't really start to take off until the late '80s and early '90s. That's when he appeared in a series of supporting turns like chain-smoking scientist Arnold in Jurassic Park. But it was his role as repentant hitman Jules Winnfield in Pulp Fiction that made him a star.

Decades later, Jackson is one of the most prolific actors working today, with more than 200 projects on his IMDb profile. A number of those credits are from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, where he appears regularly as Nick Fury, the eyepatch-wearing founder of the Avengers. He's part of the Star Wars franchise too, starring in the prequel series as Jedi Master Mace Windu. But he's also appeared in a wide variety of films, from serious horror-dramas like Eve’s Bayou (1997) to outrageous action parodies like Snakes on a Plane (2006). Two of his favorite directors to work with are Spike Lee, who gave him an early break as radio DJ Mister Señor Love Daddy in Do the Right Thing (1989), and, of course, Quentin Tarantino. Jackson has appeared in all but two Tarantino movies since 1994, including Django Unchained (2012) and The Hateful Eight (2015).

Even after all those roles, Jackson still rates the diner scene in Pulp Fiction as among his favorites, telling Esquire in 2019, "Everybody loved the killing ones, but the diner scene, just because there’s so much going on when John [Travolta] and I are sitting there having that conversation prior to what happened, and the bullets not killing us, and he's making this decision about walking the earth just to see what's going on."

Jackson, whose only Oscar nomination is for Pulp Fiction (though he did receive an Honorary Oscar in 2022), has been married to actress LaTanya Richardson Jackson since 1980. Their daughter, Zoe Jackson, has become a senior producer for shows like Chopped, Top Chef, and more.

John Travolta (Vincent Vega)

Unlike Samuel L. Jackson, John Travolta had seen his name on marquees long before he took the role of Jules' wisecracking partner Vincent Vega in Pulp Fiction. Travolta rose to fame in the ’70s for his role as Vinnie Barbarino on Welcome Back, Kotter, and blew up as a heartthrob thanks to his starring roles in Saturday Night Fever (1977), Grease (1978), and Urban Cowboy (1980). By the early '90s, however, Travolta's star had started to fade. Fun fact: Tarantino had listed Travolta as a "strong, strong, strong second choice" if Michael Madsen, the actor for whom he wrote the role, wasn't available to play Vincent in Pulp Fiction.

“Look how much Quentin fought for me to be in Pulp Fiction," Travolta told PEOPLE in 2019. "This guy put his reputation, his career on the line to get me because he had that much confidence."

Following his Oscar-nominated work in Pulp Fiction, Travolta enjoyed a career refresh by starring in a diverse slate of films, from his role as the archangel in Nora Ephron’s comedy Michael (1996) to the pair of action films (1996's Broken Arrow and 1997's Face/Off) he made with director John Woo. (Interestingly, Michael wasn't the only superpowered character Travolta played in 1996, having also played a man with psychic powers in Phenomenon.) He returned to the wisecracking hitman type in Get Shorty (1995), a role he reprised in the sequel Be Cool (2005).

Travolta's other starring roles are too numerous to name here, but his work in commercials has been a highlight, seeing him channel some of his past beloved films like Saturday Night Fever and Grease.

Travolta was married to actress Kelly Preston, with whom he has three children, for nearly 30 years, until her death at the age of 57 in 2020.

Uma Thurman (Mia Wallace)

Uma Thurman wasn't on Tarantino's initial wish list for Pulp Fiction, but the pairing ended up being an advantageous one. Not only did the film nab Thurman her first (and, thus far, only) Oscar nomination, but between takes on the set, Thurman and Tarantino started talking through a story that would eventually become the epic Kill Bill — Vol. 1 (2003) and Kill Bill — Vol. 2 (2004). The Kill Bill saga was a huge success for both of them, albeit one that was soured by a near-fatal car crash on the set that created a rift between actor and director. (They have since reconciled.)

After Pulp Fiction, Thurman starred in an eclectic series of Hollywood movies, including the rom-com The Truth about Cats & Dogs (1996), the sci-fi thriller Gattaca (1997), and the much-derided Batman & Robin (1997), which has since become a camp classic. She also starred as Emma Peel in a big-screen version of the British spy series The Avengers (1998). After the Kill Bill series, she transitioned to television with a role on the musical series Smash and has since appeared in a typically eccentric mix of art films, Broadway stage productions, and TV movies and series. In 2023, she played the president of the United States in Amazon Prime Video's Red, White and Royal Blue and reunited with Samuel L. Jackson in the 2023 comedy thriller The Kill Room.

One of Thurman's greatest legacies is her daughter Maya Hawke (whom she shares with ex-husband Ethan Hawke), who broke out as an actress after her role as Robin in the third season of Stranger Things. That same year, she appeared in a small role as "Flowerchild" in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood — written and directed by Tarantino. Previously, Thurman was also married to Gary Oldman.

Bruce Willis (Butch Coolidge)

Bruce Willis was already a well-known action hero (thanks to 1988's Die Hard) and a TV star (via Moonlighting) when he signed on to play Butch, the aging boxer who doesn’t have much more fight left in him, in Pulp Fiction. Like Travolta, however, Willis' star was on the decline when he took the role — and he took a pay cut to do it. The boost in indie cool and actorly respect was exactly what Willis needed at that time, and Pulp Fiction opened a new chapter in his career.

After Pulp Fiction, Willis took on a series of interesting leading-man turns, including 12 Monkeys (1995), The Sixth Sense (1999), and Rian Johnson's Looper (2012) while continuing to appear in Die Hard movies until 2013's A Good Day to Die Hard. He experimented with more dramatic roles alongside action-hero fare throughout the 2000s. Although he never appeared in another Tarantino film, he was in Planet Terror (2007), Robert Rodriguez’s companion film to Tarantino’s Death Proof (2007).

Two of Willis' last major roles were in the 2018 remake of Death Wish, directed by Eli Roth, and Glass (2019), which reunited him with director M. Night Shyamalan. In 2022, Willis’ family announced that he had been diagnosed with aphasia — a neurological disorder that makes communication and language difficult — and that he was retiring from acting. His condition has since progressed to frontotemporal dementia.

"Bruce and I became good friends when we shared 2 of our biggest hits together, Pulp Fiction and Look Who's Talking," Travolta wrote in an Instagram post following Willis' diagnosis. "Years later he said to me, 'John, I just want you to know that when something good happens to you I feel like it's happening to me.' That's how generous a soul he is. I love you Bruce."

Maria de Medeiros (Fabienne)

It might seem like Maria de Medeiros, who played Butch's sleepy, seductive girlfriend Fabienne in Pulp Fiction, dropped off the map shortly after its release. But that’s only true if you're not paying attention to European cinema.

Medeiros, who was born in Portugal and speaks six languages, is still a big star in France, where she's been living since 1984. She's acted in films by French, Spanish, and Italian directors, as well as European English-language movies like the 2017 biopic Pasolini, in which she appeared opposite Willem Dafoe. Adão e Eva (1995) and Midsummer Madness (2007) are two other notable films starring Medeiros.

Looking back on working with Tarantino on Pulp Fiction, Medeiros told Screen Anarchy in 2013, "He's a director that continues with an amazing creativity, surprising us and never repeating himself...He's more humanist. He loves the human being and while the violence in his films is always discussed, I think he loves his characters and when something happens to them we suffer more. He's a humanist director."

In addition to acting, she is also a director, having presented her first feature film, April Captains, at the Cannes Film Festival in 2000. Another directorial effort, Our Children (2019), played at film festivals worldwide.

Tim Roth (Pumpkin)

The role of Pumpkin, the lovestruck thief who holds up the diner in the segment that bookends Pulp Fiction, was written for Tim Roth. That's because Roth had already worked with Tarantino once before in his directorial debut Reservoir Dogs (1992).

One year after Pulp Fiction, Roth told EW how his life has been affected since starring in the indie breakout. "It's almost impossible for me to go into a diner," he said. "People look at me oddly. Then they send me a free beer to put me in a good mood."

A British actor notable for his accent work — so much so, that many people don’t realize he's British — Roth was part of the so-called "Brit pack" of young actors in the '80s that also included Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, and Daniel Day-Lewis.

Roth received an Oscar nomination for his role as the villain in Rob Roy (1995). Since then, he's followed sort of a "one for you, one for me" model, alternating blockbusters like Planet of the Apes (2001) and The Incredible Hulk (2008) with movies from auteur filmmakers like Michael Haneke (Funny Games), Werner Herzog (Invincible), and Mia Hansen-Løve (Bergman Island). In 2015, he appeared in The Hateful Eight alongside his Pulp Fiction costar Samuel L. Jackson.

In 2022, he appeared in projects that reflect the two sides of his career: the MCU series She-Hulk: Attorney at Law and the audacious psychological thriller Resurrection with Rebecca Hall.

Roth has been married to his wife, Nikki Butler, since 1983.

Amanda Plummer (Honey Bunny)

The daughter of actor Christopher Plummer, Amanda Plummer started working in the film industry in 1980. She appeared throughout the '80s and early '90s in films like The World According to Garp (1982) and Joe Versus the Volcano (1990), but it was her second film with Robin Williams, The Fisher King (1991), that took her career to the next level.

Her small but memorable role in Pulp Fiction was another triumph, and Plummer has worked consistently onstage and onscreen ever since, winning three Emmys for her TV work. In 2012, she notably starred in the sci-fi drama Abigail Harm. Millennials might recognize her from her role as former "tribute" Wiress in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013), while Ryan Murphy fans will remember her as motel owner Louise on Ratched (2020). She also played the villainous Captain Vadic in the third season of Star Trek: Picard, further showing her range as an actress.

Harvey Keitel (The Wolf)

Harvey Keitel played a huge role in getting Quentin Tarantino's career off the ground. Tarantino's producer, Lawrence Bender, knew a guy whose wife knew Keitel, whom Tarantino said was his favorite actor since he was 16. So the friend of a friend passed Tarantino's script for Reservoir Dogs (1992) on to Keitel, who read it and agreed to be in the film, and the rest is history. (That same year, Keitel also notably starred in Bad Lieutenant.)

Pulp Fiction marked the second time Keitel and Tarantino (and Keitel and Roth) would work together; they teamed up twice more in 1996's From Dusk Till Dawn and for a small, uncredited voice role in Inglourious Basterds (2009). (In one of the stranger chapters in both men's careers, they also appeared together in the Adam Sandler movie Little Nicky.)

As for why Keitel hasn't collaborated with Tarantino since Inglourious Basterds, the actor indicated in a 2021 interview with Business Insider that their professional relationship had stalled. However, Keitel offered, "The story is not over because what we did when we met can't be over. It just can't be over in my mind and in my heart. Even if we never work together again we'll always be working together in my own mind and heart."

In the meantime, Keitel has continued working with old friends like Martin Scorsese and Jane Campion, as well as forging a new relationship with writer-director Wes Anderson, who cast Keitel in Moonrise Kingdom (2012), The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014), and Isle of Dogs (2018).

A respected elder statesman in Hollywood, Keitel served as co-president of the Actors Studio — the prestigious school that introduced method acting in the U.S. — from 1995 to 2017.

Christopher Walken (Captain Koons)

Christopher Walken only appears in one scene in Pulp Fiction, but his piercing blue eyes and outrageous dialogue — his monologue about hiding a watch "up my a-- for two years" in a Vietnamese prison camp is both funny and kind of horrifying — made quite an impression. Walken is known for intense, often unstable characters, and he's been playing this type ever since he won an Oscar in 1979 for The Deer Hunter.

Right after Pulp Fiction, Walken starred in the crime drama The Prophecy (1995). In the 21st century, Walken started to play a little more with his onscreen image, lending his unblinking stare and deadpan delivery to silly comedies like Joe Dirt (2001) and The War With Grandpa (2020) as well as edgier films like Seven Psychopaths (2012). He also appeared alongside Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks in Catch Me If You Can (2002), for which he scored another Oscar nomination, and in Hairspray (2007) as Wilbur Turnblad. (One of his most unusual roles of the 21st century has to be when he played Captain Hook in the NBC musical Peter Pan Live in 2014.)

Walken, who has been married to former casting director Georgianne Thon since 1969, has also appeared on two television series: as a career con man busted for a bad check on The Office co-creator Stephen Merchant's series The Outlaws, and as an office worker whose memories are surgically divided on Apple TV+'s Severance. But Y2K kids will always remember him best for dancing (and floating) around in an empty hotel lobby in Fatboy Slim's 2000 music video for "Weapon of Choice."

Ving Rhames (Marsellus Wallace)

Known for his deep voice and muscular physique, Ving Rhames is another actor who got his big break by appearing in Pulp Fiction. As ultra-serious gangster boss Marsellus Wallace, Rhames had one of the wildest (and bloodiest) storylines in the film. He also introduced the phrase "going medieval" to the popular lexicon, one of several Tarantino-isms the writer-director has invented over the years.

After Pulp Fiction, Rhames' career skyrocketed. In 1996, he played hacker Luther Stickell in Mission: Impossible, a role he would reprise in the sequels. Another career highlight for Rhames was winning a Golden Globe for his performance as boxing promoter Don King in Don King: Only in America (1997), an award he selflessly (and somewhat controversially) gave to fellow nominee Jack Lemmon live on stage. He also notably appeared in the Nicolas Cage film Bringing Out the Dead (1999).

Rhames did voice work in the stop-motion animated film Wendell & Wild (2022) and leads the TV crime miniseries Legacy. He's also found great success as the voice behind "Arby's: We have the meats" for the company's various commercials.

The actor has been married to his wife, Deborah Reed, since 2000.

Angela Jones (Esmarelda Villalobos)

Angela Jones stole hearts with little screen time as an enigmatic cab driver named Esmarelda Villalobos in Pulp Fiction. She tended to have that effect on people: Tarantino was so impressed with her role in the short film Curdled (1991) that he not only cast her as Esmarelda, but he co-wrote and produced a feature-length version that came out in 1996. She also caught the eye of Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash, and the two had a brief relationship during the filming of Curdled. The song "Obsession Confession," from the film's soundtrack, is about her.

Jones appeared in supporting roles in a handful of films like Gang Land (1998), Children of the Corn V: Fields of Terror (1998), and Man on the Moon (1999) before taking a break from acting in the early 2000s. Since then, she's popped up in small roles in indie horror movies like Chillerama (2011), Butt Boy (2019), and Landfill (2020) while making appearances at fan conventions.

Eric Stoltz (Lance)

A classic character actor with more than a hundred credits to his name, Eric Stoltz was already a familiar face when he joined the Pulp Fiction cast as Lance, the drug dealer who helps save Mia Wallace's life. Stoltz's first film role was playing a stoner in Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982), and he was nominated for a Golden Globe for playing a teenager living with a facial deformity in Mask (1985). One of his more famous roles of the '80s was as a romantic outcast in John Hughes' Some Kind of Wonderful (1987). Stoltz was also nominated for a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play for Our Town in 1989.

After Pulp Fiction, Stoltz continued to act, alternating between indie films (like The Butterfly Effect in 2004), TV sitcoms and dramas (he famously played one of Helen Hunt's love interests on Mad About You), and stage roles on and off Broadway. Since the turn of the millennium, he's primarily worked as a TV director, helming episodes of Boston Legal, Grey’s Anatomy, Californication, and Glee, among others. He held directing jobs on the political dramas Madam Secretary and Bull while also appearing on both shows as an actor.

Stoltz dated Bridget Fonda through most of the '90s, ending their relationship in 1998. He married musician Bernadette Moley in 2005.

Phil LaMarr (Marvin)

Phil LaMarr's role in Pulp Fiction is small but memorable as Marvin, the hostage whom Vincent accidentally(?) shoots in the back of Jules' car. (LaMarr has since called the film "the coolest, most easygoing, fun set I’ve ever been on.") Memorable parts were something of a specialty for LaMarr: Shortly after Pulp Fiction, he joined the cast of MADtv, appearing in 115 episodes.

But fans are most likely to recognize LaMarr's voice: He's been a prolific voice-over actor since the late-'90s. Most famously, he portrayed the title character on Samurai Jack, as well as Hermes Conrad, Planet Express' Jamaican accountant, on Futurama. He's made appearances on dozens of other popular animated shows, from Family Guy and Robot Chicken to Star Trek: Lower Decks and Young Justice. Not bad for a guy who spent most of his breakout role with his brains splattered all over the back of a car.