Thandiwe Adjewa Newton aka Thandie biography

Real biography: Introduction

Her name Thandiwe means “beloved” in Ndebele, the language of Zimbabwe which is not spoken in Zambia where she was born. Fittingly, she was cast as “Beloved” in the movie Beloved (1998) in which you get to see her "naughty bits" (as they say in England).

Life Story

Born in Zambia, her mother was a Zimbabwean nurse and her father was an English lab technician, which as you know is a classic combination for beautiful children. Her family returned to England because of the political unrest in the African nation and she spent her formative years there. When she was 11 she enrolled in London's Art Educational School, where she studied modern dance. After a back injury ended her dance career she turned to acting and was cast in the Australian film Flirting (Nicole Kidman). She moved to Los Angeles to further her career, but that pesky British accent hindered her from getting the role she wanted so she returned to England, enrolled at Cambridge and earned a degree in anthropology.

Her acting career picked up again and soon she was cast as the title character in Beloved (Kimberly Elise). Her friend Nicole Kidman suggested her for a role in Mission Impossible II and she was originally slated to be in Charlie’s Angels (Drew Barrymore, Cameron Diaz) but she said, "I was going to do it for about 24 hours. But then I woke up and it just didn't feel right. It would have meant entering that virtual world of stardom, but I'd been away from home for nine months (filming Mission: Impossible II) and it would have meant another six months away." She was then replaced by Lucy Liu.But her career seems to be doing fine, with roles in the Chronicles of Riddick (Alexa Davalos) and Crash (Sandra Bullock, Jennifer Esposito) as well as a 13 episode story arc on ER (Maura Tierney, Parminder Nagra). Thandie will next take on the role of Condoleezza Rice in the Oliver Stone film W. (2008).