Thandiwe "Thandie" Newton (born 6 November 1972) is an English actress. She has appeared in several British and American films, and is known for roles such as Linda in The Pursuit of Happyness, Nyah Nordoff-Hall in Mission: Impossible II and Christine in Crash, for which she received a number of awards, including a BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role.
Early life
Newton was born in London, England, the daughter of Nyasha, a Zimbabwean health-care worker, and Nick Newton, an English laboratory technician and artist. Newton grew up as an atheist.
Her birthplace has been incorrectly reported to be Zambia in some biographies, but she has confirmed in interviews that she was born in London. The name "Thandiwe" means "beloved" in Ndebele, Zulu, Xhosa or siSwati, and "Thandie" is pronounced /ˈtændi/ in English. According to Newton, her mother is a Shona princess.
Regarding her childhood, Newton remarked at a TED conference: "From about the age of 5, I was aware that I didn't fit. I was the black, atheist kid in the all-white, Catholic school run by nuns. I was an anomaly." Newton was brought up in London and Penzance, Cornwall, she studied dance at the Tring Park School for the Performing Arts.
At 16, she began a six year affair with the Australian film director John Duigan, who subsequently cast her in the film Flirting, a sequel to Duigan's 1987 film The Year My Voice Broke, starring Noah Taylor.
Between 1992 and 1995, Newton went to Downing College, Cambridge, where she studied social anthropology. She graduated with a 2:1.
Career
After the film Flirting (1991), Newton played a maid in the Brad Pitt film Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles (1994), which also starred Tom Cruise. Next, Newton appeared in the Merchant Ivory production of Jefferson in Paris as Sally Hemings, this was followed by Jonathan Demme's horror drama Beloved (1998), in which she played the title character, a mentally handicapped young woman. The film starred Oprah Winfrey and Danny Glover. Newton then played the character Nyah Hall in Mission: Impossible II. This was followed by a low-budget film, written by her scriptwriter husband Oliver Parker, It Was an Accident.
Between 2003 and 2005, Newton played Makemba "Kem" Likasu, the love interest, and later wife of Dr. John Carter on the American television series ER. She reprised the role once more for the series finale in 2009. In 2004 also appeared in The Chronicles of Riddick and Crash. Newton won a BAFTA award for Best Supporting Actress in 2006 for her role in Crash. She also played Chris Gardner's wife, Linda Gardner, in The Pursuit of Happyness. Also in 2006, Newton appeared on the radio in a pantomime version of Cinderella.
In 2007, Newton co-starred with Eddie Murphy in the comedy Norbit, as his love interest, and then opposite Simon Pegg as his ex-girlfriend in the 2008 comedy Run Fatboy Run. Newton next portrayed U.S. National Security Advisor-turned Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, in W., Oliver Stone's film biography of President George W. Bush. The film was released 17 October 2008.
Newton was an introducer at Wembley Stadium on 7 July 2007 for the UK leg of Live Earth. She was due to introduce Al Gore to the concert, but he was delayed, leaving Newton to tell jokes in an attempt to entertain the audience. Newton next portrayed the United States President's First Daughter Laura Wilson in 2012, a disaster film directed by Roland Emmerich and released 13 November 2009.
In July 2011, Newton delivered a TED Talk on "Embracing otherness, embracing myself". In it, she discussed finding her "otherness" as a child growing up in two distinct cultures, and as an actress playing with many different selves.She was also in the movie, "For Colored Girls" In 2012, she starred alongside Tyler Perry in the romantic drama film Good Deeds. In 2013, Thandie starred in Rogue, the first original drama series for DirecTV's Audience Network.
Personal life
Newton married English writer, director, and producer Oliver Parker in 1998. They have three children: daughters Ripley (born in 2000) and Nico (born in 2004), and son Booker Jombe (born in 2014). Her daughters were named after the character Ellen Ripley in the Alien films and the singer Nico. Newton had home births with all three of her children. She is vegan and was named PETA's "Sexiest Vegan of 2014" in the UK.
In 2006, Newton contributed a foreword to We Wish: Hopes and Dreams of Cornwall's Children, a book of children's writing published in aid of the NSPCC. In it, she writes vividly about her childhood memories of growing up in Cornwall and the way in which the county's vibrant cultural heritage made it easy for her to "enrich every situation with layers of magic and meaning".
In 2007, Newton sold her near-new BMW X5 and replaced it with a Toyota Prius after Greenpeace stuck a "This gas-guzzling 4x4 is causing climate change" sticker on her BMW.
In 2008, Newton visited poverty-stricken Mali, describing it as a "humbling experience". She visited the village of Nampasso in the Ségou Region of the country.
David Schwimmer (who directed Run Fatboy Run) called the actress "the queen of practical jokes". Newton has expressed an affinity with Buddhism.
In 2013, Thandie led the One Billion Rising flash mob in London, for an end to violence, and for justice and gender equality.
Filmography
References
External links
- Thandie Newton at the Internet Movie Database
