Thandie Newton

About Thandie Newton

Thandiwe Adjewa "Thandie" Newton (born November 6, 1972) is a BAFTA and SAG Award-winning English actress.

Newton was born in Zambia, the daughter of Nyasha, a Zimbabwean health-care worker, and Nick Newton, an English laboratory technician and artist. The name "Thandiwe" means "beloved" in Ndebele, Zulu, Xhosa or Swazi and the name "Thandie" is pronounced TAN-dee. Newton played a character named "Beloved" in the film adaptation of the Toni Morrison novel Beloved in 1998. According to Newton, her mother is a Zimbabwean Shona Princess. She was raised in London and at Penzance, Cornwall, and educated at Downing College, Cambridge.

Newton made her film debut in Flirting (1991). This Australian movie was also a launch pad for a young Nicole Kidman, with whom she has remained friends. She gained international recognition opposite Nick Nolte in the Merchant-Ivory production of Jefferson in Paris as Sally Hemmings, which led to her being cast in Jonathan Demme's Beloved (1998), in which she played the title character and costarred with Danny Glover, Kimberly Elise, and Oprah Winfrey. She played the female lead Nyah Hall in the film Mission: Impossible II. When this film went over schedule, she had to pull out of the film Charlie's Angels, and her character ultimately went to Lucy Liu.