Line #9 Creator/ThandiweNewton


1	[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Thandie_Newton_9_992.jpg]]
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3	Melanie Thandiwe (formerly credited as "Thandie") Newton OBE (born 6 November 1972 in Westminster, London) is a British actress of English and Zimbabwean descent.
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5	She's best known for such movies as ''Film/TheChroniclesOfRiddick'', ''Film/TheTruthAboutCharlie'', ''Film/TwoThousandTwelve'', ''Film/MissionImpossibleII'' and ''Film/RockNRolla''. She's plays as Maeve in the {{Creator/HBO}} series ''{{Series/Westworld}}''.
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7	Newton married English director Ol Parker in 1998 but they separated in 2022. They have three children together, daughters Ripley and [[Creator/NicoParker Nico]] along with a son, Booker Jombe, all of them delivered in home births. Since then Nico began acting herself in 2019 with the live action film of ''[[Film/Dumbo2019 Dumbo]]''. They appeared together later in the 2021 film ''Film/{{Reminiscence}}'' (the pair also have a very {{strong family resemblance}}, with many fans and news media calling Nico her "[[Film/AustinPowers Mini-Me]]").
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9	Initially she modified her name's spelling (Thandiwe means "beloved" in Shona, the African language of her mother's ethnic group), but restored the original from April 2021.
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11	Not to be confused with Creator/ZoeSaldana.
12	----
13	!!Filmography:
14	* ''Film/InterviewWithTheVampire'' (1994) as Yvette
15	* ''Literature/{{Beloved}}'' (1998) as Beloved
16	* ''Film/MissionImpossibleII'' (2000) as Nyah Nordoff-Hall
17	* ''Film/TheTruthAboutCharlie'' (2002) as Regina Lambert
18	* ''Film/{{Shade\|2003}}'' (2003) as Tiffany
19	* ''Series/{{ER}}'' (2003-05, 2009) as Makemba "Kem" Likasu
20	* ''Film/TheChroniclesOfRiddick'' (2004) as Dame Vaako
21	* ''Film/{{Crash}}'' (2004) as Christine Thayer
22	* ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'' (2006) as Makeva (voice)
23	* ''Film/ThePursuitOfHappyness'' (2006) as Linda Gardner
24	* ''Film/{{Norbit}}'' (2007) as Kate Thomas
25	* ''Film/RunFatboyRun'' (2007) as Libby Odell
26	* ''Film/RocknRolla'' (2008) as Stella
27	* ''Film/HowToLoseFriendsAndAlienatePeople'' (2008) AsHerself
28	* ''Film/{{W}}'' (2008) as Condoleezza Rice
29	* ''Film/TwoThousandTwelve'' (2009) as Laura Wilson
30	* ''Film/VanishingOn7thStreet'' (2010) as Rosemary
31	* ''Theatre/ForColoredGirls'' (2010) as Tangie Adrose / "Lady in Orange"
32	* ''Series/TheSlap'' (2015) as Aisha Apostolou
33	* ''Series/{{Westworld}}'' (2016-22) as Maeve Millay
34	* ''Series/LineOfDuty'' (2017) as DCI Roseanne "Roz" Huntley
35	* ''Film/{{Gringo}}'' (2018) as Bonnie Soyinka
36	* ''Film/{{Solo}}'' (2018) as Val
37	* ''WesternAnimation/BigMouth'' (2019-present) as Mona (voice)
38	** ''WesternAnimation/{{Human Resources\|2022}}'' (2022-present)
39	* ''Film/{{Reminiscence}}'' (2021) as Emily "Watts" Sanders
40	* ''Film/AllTheOldKnives'' (2022) as Celia Harrison
41	* ''WesternAnimation/ChickenRunDawnOfTheNugget'' (2023) as Ginger (voice)
42	* ''WesternAnimation/MufasaTheLionKing'' (2024)
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44	!!Tropes related to her work:
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46	* ActingInTheDark: The script for the sexual assault scene in ''Crash'' just said that the hand "goes up her skirt", and she assumed the "finger fuck your wife" line from the argument scene was the character being ironic. She didn't realise exactly what it would be about until it was time to be filmed (the argument was shot first).
47	* AwesomeDearBoy: She signed on to ''Norbit'' based on an early draft where it was much darker, and she found the humour interestingly twisted.
48	* CreatorBacklash:
49	** ''The Journey of August King'', which she only did because John Duigan bullied her into it. She found the character "simplistic" and got shouted at for questioning it.
50	** She called ''The Leading Man'' "fucking gross".
51	** While she enjoyed working on ''Jefferson In Paris'', she admits she would approach the material in a different way in light of the DNA tests that revealed how UsefulNotes/ThomasJefferson fathered at least one child with Sally Hemmings.
52	** Newton [[https://www.inverse.com/entertainment/thandiwe-newton-interview-reminiscence-star-wars-westworld was not happy about]] [[BlackDudeDiesFirst the death of her character Val]] in ''Film/{{Solo}}'', since the shooting script [[NeverFoundTheBody left her character's loss ambiguous enough for a return]] and she felt it was a waste for ''Star Wars'' to kill its first theatrical Black woman lead.
53	* DoingItForTheArt: "What's lovely is that I'll get sent a small movie, and by virtue of me being involved they get their money, and that's fantastic."
54	* FakeAmerican: She plays more Americans than her actual nationality, and many are surprised to find out she's actually British. But she gets to keep her accent on ''{{Series/Westworld}}'' in a prominent role, so that might change.
55	* MsFanservice: She's had many, many roles with her nude and/or in sex scenes, including full frontal, while also being quite attractive.
56	* StageName / MeaningfulRename: "Thandie" is the stage name, due to a typo in the credits of her first film. As of 2021, she has [[https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-56638260 reclaimed]] the original spelling of her name, ''Thandiwe''.
57	* StarMakingRole: ''Film/MissionImpossibleII'' got the ball rolling, but winning a BAFTA Award for ''{{Film/Crash}}'' got her a lot of attention.
58	* WagTheDirector: She refused to go topless for a scene in ''Rogue'', feeling it didn't serve the narrative.
59	* WhatCouldHaveBeen: She was nearly cast in ''Film/CharliesAngels2000'' but had to turn it down when ''Film/MissionImpossibleII'' ran over schedule, and Creator/LucyLiu ended up with the part. However, she later revealed that she walked from the film after a talk with Creator/AmyPascal, where the latter felt a black woman wasn't believable as a college-educated character and wanted her to play the role more stereotypical. Likewise, director [=McG=] made comments about a MaleGaze shot that made her feel uncomfortable.

Context Creator / ThandiweNewton