Thandie Newton

Thandie Newton Biography

 Date of Birth
6 November 1972, London, England, UK
Birth Name
Thandiwe Ajdewa Newton
Height
5' 3" (1.60 m)
Mini Biography
Thandie Newton is the daughter of a Rhodesian (now Zimbabwean) mother from the Shona people and a British father. She lived in Zambia until political unrest caused her family to move back to the UK. She then lived in Cornwall in the southwest of Britain until the age of 11. At that time she enrolled in London's Art Educational School, where she studied modern dance. However, a back injury forced her to quit dancing. This led to her auditioning for films and receiving her first role in John Duigan's Flirting (1991). She then moved to Los Angeles, California, to pursue acting and her then-boyfriend. However, her British accent limited the amount of work she was getting, and she returned to Britain, where she went to Cambridge University to study, eventually receiving a degree in anthropology. Between semesters, she continued her acting and became noticed and in-demand for future film roles.

Spouse
Ol Parker (11 July 1998 - present) 2 children

Trivia
She has a Zimbabwean mother and a British father.

Her full name, Thandiwe, means "beloved."

Daughter, Ripley, born in London. [17 September 2000]

Voted by the readers of Black Men Magazine as one of "The 10 Sexiest Women of the Year." [2000]

A delayed shoot for Mission: Impossible II (2000) caused Thandie to turn down one of the lead roles in Charlie's Angels (2000). Lucy Liu was cast instead.

One of her fondest memories is watching her mother get dressed in her traditional African garb because it taught her black pride.

Raised in Penzance, Cornwall, England.

Ranked #48 in Stuff magazine's "102 Sexiest Women in the World" (2002)

Born on the same day as actress/model Rebecca Romijn.

Daughter Nico born mid December, 2004

Graduated with a 2:1 (otherwise known as "an undergraduate degree with 2nd Class Honours, Upper Division")in Anthropology from Cambridge University.

She named her daughter Ripley after the character played by Sigourney Weaver in Alien (1979).

Her younger daughter was named for German-born singer Nico, member of the legendary rock group The Velvet Underground.

Her full first name is pronounced tan-DEE-way.

Delivered both of her daughters naturally via a birthing pool.

In July 2011, in a speech at the TEDGlobal 2011 Conference, Newton disclosed that earlier in her career, she struggled with the eating disorder bulimia.


Personal Quotes
It was hysterical. We wanted to make it naughty and fun. When the camera stopped rolling, it was hard to stop laughing. - about her love scene with Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible II (2000).

I use the film industry as a pleasure for work and that kind of thing and it's not a pursuit to make me feel happy in my life.

Having children is life-changing, to state the obvious. It's a gigantic shift in your life and I welcomed it. Not to put too fine a point on it, there's something about the shame that goes with sexual exploitation, deviance, whatever. As a woman, having a baby psychologically erases it all from your body. And that, for me, was incredibly important.

I don't put the pressure on myself to be a very successful movie star. I want to enjoy being an actor and I want to be challenged by the roles I take. What is lovely is that I'll get sent a small movie, and you know that by virtue of me being involved they get their money and that's fantastic.

God, yeah, I'm good at playing the emotionally strangled person. The woman who is in the worst place in her life. That's me!

Ten years ago, I probably would have bemoaned the fact that I started out [in the film business] so young - but now I'm grateful - truly grateful. [September 2008]

When I am out and about I feel watched. It's become second nature. The only time I get to be private is in my work. That is when I liberate the ego. The blessed-out sensation of liberating the ego.

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Thandie Newton Interview - Good Deeds