Thandie Newton Biography

Thandiwe Nashita "Thandie" Newton (born 6 November 1972) is a British actress. She has appeared in a number of British and American films, including The Pursuit of Happyness, Mission: Impossible II, Crash, Run Fatboy Run, W., 2012, Norbit and For Colored Girls.

Early life

Newton was born in London, England, the daughter of Nyasha, a Zimbabwean health-care worker, and Nick Newton, a British laboratory technician and artist.

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 Swazi, and "Thandie" is pronounced 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." Brought up in London and Penzance, Cornwall, she studied dance at the Tring Park School for the Performing Arts and at sixteen, while recovering from a back injury, she successfully auditioned for her first film role. She then went on to study social anthropology at Downing College, Cambridge, from 1992 to 1995, where she achieved a 2:1.

Career

Newton made her film debut in Flirting (1991). She played the role of Brad Pitt's maid Yvette in Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles (1994).

She gained international recognition in the Merchant Ivory production of Jefferson in Paris as Sally Hemings, which led to her being cast in Jonathan Demme's Beloved (1998), in which she played the title character with co-stars Oprah Winfrey and Danny Glover. She played the female lead Nyah Hall in the film Mission: Impossible II. She was originally expected to play Alex Munday in the film Charlie's Angels, but turned it down to appear in the low-budget film It Was an Accident. Lucy Liu was ultimately given the part.

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. In the latter, she played Christine Thayer, a wealthy black woman who, along with her husband, finds herself the target of a racist policeman (played by Matt Dillon), who sexually assaults Thayer but then later saves her life after he is the first on the scene at a car crash. Newton was honoured with 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. In addition to her film and television credits she played the title role in a 2006 radio pantomime version of Cinderella.

In 2007, she starred with Eddie Murphy in the comedy Norbit as his love interest, and opposite Simon Pegg as his ex-girlfriend in the comedy Run Fat Boy 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. 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

She married English writer/director/producer Ol Parker in 1998. The couple have two daughters: Ripley, born in 2000, and Nico, born in 2004. Her daughters were named after the character Ellen Ripley in the Alien films and the singer Nico. On September 8, 2013, Newton's rep confirmed their third child was on the way. In 2006, she 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 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. Newton swapped her BMW X5 for a Toyota Prius after protesters bombarded the car with eggs at the gates of her daughters' school. She then wrote to her celebrity friends, asking them to join her in switching to more environmentally sound cars.

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

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1991	Flirting	Thandiwe Adjewa
1991	Pirate Prince	Becky Newton	Television film
1993	'	Rachael Stevens
1994	Loaded	Zita
1994	Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles	Yvette
1995	Jefferson in Paris	Sally Hemings
1995	The Journey of August King	Annalees
1996	'	Hilary Rule
1997	Gridlock'd	Barbara "Cookie" Cook
1997	In Your Dreams	Clare	Television film
1998	Besieged	Shandurai	Nominated " Black Reel Award for Best Actress
1998	Beloved	Beloved	Nominated " NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture Nominated " Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture
2000	Mission: Impossible II	Nyah Nordoff-Hall	Nominated " Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favourite Female - Newcomer Nominated " Empire Award for Best British Actress Nominated " NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture Nominated " Razzie Award for Worst Supporting Actress
2000	It Was an Accident	Noreen Hurlock
2002	'	Regina Lambert	Nominated " Black Reel Award for Best Actress Nominated " NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture
2003	Shade	Tiffany
2004	'	Dame Vaako
2004	Crash	Christine	BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role Black Reel Award for Best Ensemble Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Cast Empire Award for Best Actress Hollywood Film Festival Award for Ensemble of the Year London Film Critics Circle Award for British Supporting Actress of the Year Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Cast Satellite Award for Best Cast " Motion Picture Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Ensemble Cast Nominated " BET Award for Best Actress Nominated " Black Movie Award for Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role Nominated " Black Reel Award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated " Gotham Award for Best Ensemble Cast Nominated " NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture
2006	The Interrogation of Leo and Lisa	The Mona Lisa	Short film
2006	American Dad!	Makeva	"Camp Refoogee"
2006	'	Linda	Nominated " NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture
2007	Norbit	Kate Thomas
2007	Run Fatboy Run	Libby
2008	RocknRolla	Stella
2008	How to Lose Friends & Alienate People	Herself
2008	W.	Condoleezza Rice
2003"2009	ER	Makemba "Kem" Likasu
2009	2012	Laura Wilson
2010	Huge	Kris
2010	Vanishing on 7th Street	Rosemary
2010	For Colored Girls	Tangie	Black Reel Award for Best Ensemble Nominated " Black Reel Award for Best Actress
2011	Retreat	Kate
2012	Good Deeds	Lindsey Wakefield
2013	Rogue	Grace Travis	TV series
2013	Half of a Yellow Sun	Olanna	In production