Thandiwe Newton

Melanie Thandiwe Newton ( ; born 6 November 1972), formerly credited as Thandie Newton , is a British actress. She has received various awards, including a Primetime Emmy and a BAFTA, as well as nominations for two Golden Globes. She was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2019 New Year Honours for services to film and charity.

Newton made her film debut in Flirting (1991) and had a supporting role in Interview with the Vampire (1994), before achieving wider recognition with her portrayal of the title character in Beloved (1998). Subsequent credits include Mission: Impossible 2 (2000), The Chronicles of Riddick (2004), The Pursuit of Happyness (2006), Norbit, Run Fatboy Run (both 2007), RocknRolla, W. (both 2008), 2012 (2009), For Colored Girls (2010), and Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018). For her performance in Crash (2004), she won the BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actress.

On television, Newton played Maeve Millay in Westworld (2016–2022), winning the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in 2018. Her other credits include ER (2003–2009), Rogue (2013–2015), The Slap (2015), and Line of Duty (2017). She also voiced Mona in the animated sitcom Big Mouth (2019–2025) and its spinoff, Human Resources (2021–2023).

Early life and education Melanie Thandiwe Newton was born in the Westminster area of London on 6 November 1972, the daughter of a Zimbabwean mother and an English father. Her mother was a member of a Shona chieftaincy family, Her parents lived in Zambia, and she was born whilst they were in England to visit relatives; they then returned to Zambia, where her younger brother was later born. This has led her birthplace to be incorrectly reported as Zambia in some sources, but she has confirmed in interviews that she was born in Westminster. "Thandiwe" is a name of Nguni origin and means "beloved".

When Newton was three years old, she returned with her family to England, where they settled in Penzance so her father could help run his family's antique business. She attended St Mary's Roman Catholic Primary School. She later said of her upbringing, "From about the age of five, 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." She began dropping the letter "w" from her middle name, making it "Thandie" (pronounced ).

Career 1991–1999: Early roles and breakthrough

Newton made her film debut in the coming of age comedy-drama Flirting (1991), filmed in 1989 but shelved for two years. She was credited as "Thandie Newton", a screen name she would continue to use for the next 30 years.

2000–2015: Crash and other roles

Between 2003 and 2005, Newton played Makemba "Kem" Likasu, love interest of John Carter on the American television series ER. She reprised the role for the series finale in 2009. She took a supporting role as Dame Vaako in The Chronicles of Riddick (2004). She acted in the ensemble drama Crash acting opposite Terrence Howard, playing a woman who was groped by a police officer played by Matt Dillon. Her performance earned widespread acclaim earning her the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role as well as a nomination with the cast for a Screen Actors Guild Award. She played Chris Gardner's wife, Linda Gardner, in The Pursuit of Happyness opposite Will Smith. Also in 2006, Newton performed on radio in a pantomime version of Cinderella.

In 2007, Newton co-starred with Eddie Murphy as his love interest in the comedy Norbit. She played opposite Simon Pegg as his ex-girlfriend in the 2007 comedy Run Fatboy Run. She next portrayed Condoleezza Rice, US National Security Advisor and then Secretary of State in W., Oliver Stone's biography of President George W. Bush. The film was released in 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 former US Vice President Al Gore to the concert, but he was delayed, leaving Newton to tell jokes in an attempt to entertain the audience. Newton next portrayed fictional US 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." She discussed finding her "otherness" as a child growing up in two distinct cultures, and as an actress playing many different selves. She acted in Tyler Perry's movie For Colored Girls (2010), adapted from Ntozake Shange's 1975 original choreopoem for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf.

In 2012, she starred opposite Tyler Perry in his romantic drama film Good Deeds, the film was a moderate financial success but received negative reviews. That same year she made her West End debut playing Paulina Salas in the revival of the Ariel Dorfman play Death and the Maiden at the Harold Pinter Theatre. Kate Kellaway of The Guardian wrote of her performance, "She has been completely miscast. She looks and sounds too immaculate. And the trouble is that, with a less than brilliant lead, the play's contrivance starts to show through." In 2013, Newton 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 US miniseries The Slap.

2016–present: Westworld and acclaim From 2016 to 2022, Newton portrayed Maeve Millay in HBO science fiction drama series Westworld, for which she garnered universal acclaim. She received several accolades, including a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series (out of three nominations), two Critics’ Choice Awards, and nominations for a Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award. James White for Empire lauded Newton's performance, saying: "Thandie Newton is killing these emotional moments, giving Maeve a twitchy, panicked air without ever overplaying it and really helping us to feel for her." William Goodman for Complex wrote: "Westworld becomes the Thandie Newton show, which benefits everyone involved; she’s consistently electric, and the series gives her no shortage of fun things to do."

In 2017, she served as a narrator for the documentary entitled Bill Cosby: Fall of an American Icon, an exposé on the sexual assault charges laid against Cosby, which aired on BBC One. In the same year, Newton played DCI Roseanne "Roz" Huntley in the fourth season of BBC One's Line of Duty, a role for which she received a BAFTA TV Award nomination for Best Actress.

Newton appeared as Val in the Star Wars film Solo: A Star Wars Story, which was released in May 2018 to generally favorable reviews but bombed at the box office with a worldwide gross of $393.2 million. Newton became the first black woman to have a major non-alien role in a Star Wars film; however, she expressed disappointment in the role as the fate of the character was changed during filming and found it to be a mistake for the franchise in the sense of what it meant for black women in the franchise. Additionally, Scott Mendelson for Forbes felt that Newton was "underutilized" and David Edelstein for Vulture wrote in praise of her performance: "The only thing wrong with Thandie Newton’s performance is that there’s not enough of it."

In a 2021 interview, Newton announced that she would be changing her screen name to "Thandiwe Newton", and would be credited as such beginning with Reminiscence (2021). Of the change, she said, "That's my name. It's always been my name. I'm taking back what's mine."

Charity work 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 wrote about her childhood memories of growing up in Cornwall, and the way in which its cultural heritage made it easy for her to "enrich every situation with layers of magic and meaning".

In 2008, Newton visited the poverty-stricken village of Nampasso in Mali, describing it as a "humbling experience".

In 2013, Newton led the One Billion Rising flash mob in London for justice, gender equality, and an end to violence.

Personal life Marriage and relationships From age 16 to 20, Newton was in a relationship with her Flirting director John Duigan. They have two daughters, Ripley and Nico, and a son born in 2014. All three were home births. Nico is also an actress and Ripley is a writer. Newton has been close friends with Nicole Kidman since 1989. She and Parker separated in 2022. Newton is currently in a relationship with American musician Elijah Dias.

Activism and politics Newton is a vegan and was named PETA's "Sexiest Vegan of 2014" in the UK. In 2007, after Greenpeace members put a sticker that said "this gas-guzzling 4x4 is causing climate change" on the BMW X5 she had only recently purchased, she sold the car and bought a Toyota Prius. She has expressed an affinity for Buddhism. David Schwimmer, who directed Run Fatboy Run, called her "the queen of practical jokes" for her behaviour on film sets.

In 2016, Newton stated she had been the victim of a director who repeatedly showed his friends a video of her in a sexually graphic audition she had made as a teenager. She cited this experience as part of why she had taken the Westworld role, which involved substantial nudity and reflected experiences of survivors of sexual abuse while also asking moral questions about what it means to be human.

Newton was ranked one of the best-dressed women in 2018 by fashion website Net-a-Porter. Later that year, she was named as one of the 100 most influential black British people in the Powerlist. In 2020, Newton was one of a number of celebrities and MPs who signed a letter opposing the deportation of 50 convicted offenders from the UK to Jamaica.

Acting credits Film Year Title Role Notes 1991 Flirting Thandiwe Adjewa 1993 Rachael Stevens 1994 Loaded Zita Interview with the Vampire Yvette 1995 Jefferson in Paris Sally Hemings The Journey of August King Annalees Williamsburg 1996 The Leading Man Hilary Rule 1997 Gridlock'd Barbara "Cookie" Cook 1998 Besieged Shandurai Beloved Beloved 2000 Mission: Impossible 2 Nyah Nordoff-Hall It Was an Accident Noreen Hurlock 2002 The Truth About Charlie Regina Lambert 2003 Shade Tiffany 2004 The Chronicles of Riddick Dame Vaako Crash Christine Thayer 2006 The Pursuit of Happyness Linda 2007 Norbit Kate Thomas Run Fatboy Run Libby 2008 RocknRolla Stella How to Lose Friends & Alienate People Herself W. Condoleezza Rice 2009 2012 Laura Wilson 2010 Huge Kris Vanishing on 7th Street Rosemary For Colored Girls Tangie Adrose 2011 Retreat Kate Kennedy 2012 Good Deeds Lindsey Wakefield 2013 Half of a Yellow Sun Olanna 2018 Gringo Bonnie Soyinka Solo: A Star Wars Story Val Beckett The Death & Life of John F. Donovan Audrey Newhouse 2021 Reminiscence Emily "Watts" Sanders 2022 God's Country Sandra Guidry All the Old Knives Celia Harrison 2023 Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget Ginger (voice) Replacing Julia Sawalha 2024 Mufasa: The Lion King Eshe (voice) 2025 Anaconda Claire Simons TBA Marianna Treschi Post-production

Television Year Title Role Notes 1991 Pirate Prince Becky Newton Television film 1997 In Your Dreams Clare 2003–2009 ER Makemba "Kem" Likasu Recurring role; 14 episodes 2006 American Dad! Makeva (voice) Episode: "Camp Refoogee" 2013–2015 Rogue Grace Travis Main role; 24 episodes 2015 The Slap Aisha Main role; 8 episodes 2016–2022 Westworld Maeve Millay Main role; 36 episodes 2017 Line of Duty DCI Roseanne "Roz" Huntley Main role; 6 episodes 2018 The Big Narstie Show Herself Season 1, Episode 2 2019–2025 Big Mouth Mona the Hormone Monstress (voice) Recurring role; 36 episodes 2020 RuPaul's Drag Race Herself / Guest judge 2 episodes: "You Don't Know Me" / "Grand Finale" 2022–2023 Human Resources Mona the Hormone Monstress (voice) Recurring role 2025 Wednesday Dr. Fairburn Season 2; guest role TBA Ernest Filming

Theatre Year Title Role Venue 2011–2012 Death and the Maiden Paulina Salas Harold Pinter Theatre, West End

Music video YearSongArtist2017"Family Feud"Jay-Z feat. Beyoncé

Awards and nominations