"render ($user_profile)" in user-profile.tpl.php = no output
Try installing and enabling the devel module, then edit it so that it reads

&lt;div class="profile"&lt;?php print $attributes; ?&gt;&gt;
  &lt;?php krumo($user_profile); ?&gt;
  &lt;?php print render($user_profile); ?&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;


That will show you what the data actually looks like...