Early life

Newton was born in London, England, the daughter of Nyasha, a Zimbabwean, and Nick Newton, an English 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 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 and studied dance at the Tring Park School for the Performing Arts. Newton grew up as an atheist. Between 1992 and 1995, Newton went to Downing College, Cambridge, where she studied social anthropology. She graduated with a 2:1.

At 16, she began a six-year relationship 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.

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, again opposite Cruise, in Mission: Impossible II. This was followed by a low-budget film, written by her scriptwriter husband Ol Parker, It Was an Accident.

Between 2003 and 2005, Newton played Makemba "Kem" Likasu, the love interest, and later on 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, she 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. 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. She left Rogue during the third season. In 2015, she starred in the U.S. miniseries The Slap.

Personal life

Newton married English writer, director and producer Ol 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. In 2013, Thandie led the One Billion Rising flash mob in London, for an end to violence, and for justice and gender equality.

David Schwimmer (who directed Run Fatboy Run) called the actress "the queen of practical jokes". Newton has expressed an affinity with Buddhism.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1991	Flirting	Thandiwe Adjewa
1991	Pirate Prince	Becky Newton	Television film
1993	Young Americans, TheThe Young Americans	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	Leading Man, TheThe Leading Man	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	Truth About Charlie, TheThe Truth About Charlie	Regina Lambert	Nominated - Black Reel Award for Best Actress Nominated - NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture
2003	Shade	Tiffany
2004	Chronicles of Riddick, TheThe Chronicles of Riddick	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	Episode: "Camp Refoogee"
2006	Pursuit of Happyness, TheThe Pursuit of Happyness	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
2003-09	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
2013-15	Rogue	Grace Travis	TV series
2013	Half of a Yellow Sun	Olanna
2015	The Slap	Aisha	TV series
2016	Westworld	Maeve Millay	TV series
2017	American Express		Filming

[ Source: Wikipedia ]