Thandiwe Adjewa Newton was born on November 6, 1972 in London, England. Her birthplace has been incorrectly reported to be Zambia in numerous online biographies, but she has confirmed in interviews that she was born in London, during a two week trip by her parents. Her mother, Nyasha, was a Zimbabwean health-care worker and her father, Nick Newton, was an English laboratory technician and artist. One of Thandie’s fondest memories growing up, was watching her mother get dressed in her traditional African garb, because it taught her black pride. Her family originally lived in Zambia until Thandie was 5 years old, the political unrest in the country caused them to move back to England – where she would grow up in the city of London – until the age of 11. Her family then relocated to Penzance, Cornwall and during that time Thandie enrolled in London’s Art Educational School, where she studied modern dance, before a back injury forced her to quit dancing.

Thandie then turned to acting, soon landing a role in the 1991 film “Flirting”.

To pursue her acting career, Thandie relocated to Los Angeles, California, USA. Her British accent limited the amount of work she was getting in Los Angeles, so Thandie returned to England. Thandie then enrolled at Downing College, Cambridge to study. Between semesters, she continued her acting and became noticed and in-demand for future film roles. Thandie received her degree in anthropology with 2:1 honours from Cambridge.

Thandie gained international recognition in the Merchant-Ivory production of “Jefferson in Paris” as Sally Hemings. This role helped her being cast in Jonathan Demme’s “Beloved” (co-starring opposite Oprah Winfrey), in which she played the title character. Soon after, Thandie played the female lead Nyah Hall in the film “Mission: Impossible II” (co-starring opposite Tom Cruise). More film roles began to roll in for Thandie and by 2004 she was starring on the hit US show “ER” as Makemba “Kem” Likasu (opposite Noah Wyle) and in the films “The Chronicles of Riddick” (opposite Vin Diesel). She also began to film a movie titled “Crash”.

In “Crash”, Thandie played Christine Thayer, a wealthy black woman who along with her husband (played by Terrence Howard) – finds herself the target of a racist policeman (played by Matt Dillon). Thandie was honoured with a BAFTA award and a Screen Actors Guild award for Best Supporting Actress in 2006 for her portrayal.

On July 11, 1998, Thandie married writer/director/producer Ol Parker. The couple have two daughters: Ripley, born in 2000, and Nico, born in 2004. Thandie has recently stated that she would love to give birth each year just for the experience of it – “Birth is very challenging in the best way possible. Every fiber of your being is alive”.

Thandie has continued to make a name for herself in Hollywood by delivering solid performances in any type of role she has chosen to do. Recently, Thandie has been seamlessly jumping between big budget films such as “W.”, “2012″ and “For Colored Girls” to independent features such as “Vanishing on 7th Street” and “Retreat”.

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 actor playing with many different selves.

During the fall of 2011, Thandie made her West End debut on stage in the play “Death and the Maiden”. In the play, Thandie played Paulina Salas, a torture victim, who is married to Gerardo, a human rights lawyer. One evening a stranger calls (he helped Gerardo with a broken-down car, offered a spare tire). Paulina believes she recognizes him as her former torturer and is determined to extract his confession and her revenge. The show closed on December 30, 2011 after 2 months of shows.

Written exclusively by Thandie Newton Web – http://www.thandie-newton.org
Updated: January 2012