In 2005, Hannah won a Saturn Award for her role as one-eyed assassin Elle Driver in Quentin Tarantino's martial arts action film Kill Bill: Vol.

[5] Hannah later attended the progressive Francis W. Parker School in Chicago before enrolling at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, where she studied ballet and acting.

[13] Hannah played the acrobatic and violent replicant Pris in Ridley Scott's science fiction classic Blade Runner (1982), in which she performed some of her own gymnastic stunts.

Hannah's other roles during the 1980s included the film version of the best seller The Clan of the Cave Bear (1986) and Legal Eagles (1986) starring Robert Redford and Debra Winger.

[14] Hannah starred in the title role of Fred Schepisi's film Roxanne (1987), a modern retelling of Edmond Rostand's play Cyrano de Bergerac.

[15] She also starred in High Spirits (1988) opposite Peter O'Toole and ended the decade with Woody Allen's Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989) and Steel Magnolias featuring Sally Field, Shirley MacLaine and Julia Roberts (1989).

Her performance in this film and her appearances in Speedway Junky (1999), Dancing at the Blue Iguana (2000), A Walk to Remember (2002), Northfork (2003), Casa de los Babys (2003) and Silver City (2004), have been described by some reviewers as a comeback.

She directed, produced, and was cinematographer for the documentary Strip Notes, which was broadcast on Channel 4 in the UK and on HBO and documented the research Hannah did for her role as a stripper in Dancing at the Blue Iguana.

[34][35][failed verification] On December 4, 2008, Hannah joined Sea Shepherd Conservation Society's crew aboard the MY Steve Irwin as part of Operation Musashi.

[36] On June 13, 2006, Hannah was arrested, along with actor Taran Noah Smith, for her involvement with over 350 farmers, their families and supporters, confronting authorities trying to bulldoze the largest urban farm in the U.S., located in South Central Los Angeles.

[39] Hannah was among 31 people arrested on June 23, 2009, in a protest against mountaintop removal in southern West Virginia, part of a wider campaign to stop the practice in the region.

The protesters, who also included NASA climate scientist James E. Hansen, were charged with obstructing officers and impeding traffic after they sat in the middle of State Route 3 outside Massey Energy's Goals Coal preparation plant, The Charleston Gazette reported.

[41] Hannah was arrested on August 30, 2011, in front of the White House as part of a sit-in to protest against the proposed Keystone oil pipeline from Alberta to the U.S. Gulf Coast.

[42] In a Huffington Post piece co-authored with Phil Radford, Hannah explained that the purpose of her action was to "shine the light" on the President's decision on the pipeline for "millions of voters" to see.

[45] In September 2012, Hannah signed environmental activist Tom Weis' open letter calling on President Barack Obama and Governor Mitt Romney to withdraw their support for the construction of the southern leg of the Keystone XL pipeline, that would transport oil sands from Montana to Texas.

Other signatories included climate scientist James Hansen and actors Sheryl Lee, Mariel Hemingway, and Ed Begley Jr.[46] On October 4, 2012, Hannah was arrested and jailed in Wood County, Texas, for criminal trespassing.

She and a local landowner, 78-year-old Eleanor Fairchild, were arrested while protesting against the TransCanada Keystone XL oil sands pipeline by attempting to block heavy construction equipment.

[48] On April 26, 2014, in Washington, Hannah and Neil Young led a march by the "Cowboy and Indian Alliance" group against the Obama administration to reject the proposed Keystone Pipeline.

In a part of Ronan Farrow's 2017 exposé, Hannah claimed that Weinstein sexually harassed her multiple times during the production of Kill Bill and that he once tried to break into her hotel room.