30 Thrilling Facts About Thandiwe Newton You Probably Didn’t Know

Thandiwe Newton, one of the most highly-talented actresses in the Hollywood, has been having heads turning with her unique roles in different movies and TV series. With her role in the “Westworld” series, she has won several accolades including a Primetime Emmy Award. Having been a victim of sexual exploitation, she has been actively involved in initiatives against rape and sexual violence against women. Here are some really interesting facts about the actress that will make you love her more:

Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
1.  She was awarded the OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) in the 2019 Queen's New Years Honours List for her serves to Film and Charity.
2.  In the year 2000, Newton was voted as one of “The 10 Sexiest Women of the Year” by the readers of Black Men Magazine.
3.  Even before the filming of “Norbit” commenced, she started following a strict diet, as according to the script, her character of Kate Thomas was described to be much thinner than a common girl.
4.  Director Biyi Bandele of the 2013 “Half of a Yellow Sun” claimed that right from the start, from the time he started working on the script, he had only wanted Thandiwe to play the part of Olanna.
5.  For the role of Christine in the 2004 movie “Crash,” she was the first choice for the director / writer Paul Haggis, who could not imagine any other actress playing the role.
6.  Melanie Thandiwe Newton was born on November 6, 1972 to Nick Newton and Nyasha Newton in Westminster, London, England. She has a younger brother.
7.  Her father is an English laboratory technician and artist, while her mother is a Zimbabwean member of a Shona chiefly family. Her named Thandiwe is a name of Nguni origin meaning "beloved."
8.  In some of her biographies available online, her birthplace has been incorrectly reported as Zambia. She has often confirmed in several interviews that she was born in London.
9.  When she was just 3 years old, her family moved to Penzance, Cornwall, so her father could help run the family antiques business.
10.  She attended St Mary's Roman Catholic Primary School, and later attended The School of Clare, a private school in the town.


Georges Biard, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

11.  Being brought up in London and Penzance, she studied dance at the Tring Park School for the Performing Arts, right from her childhood.
12.  She claims in her interviews that watching her mother get dressed in her traditional African garb, is one of her fondest childhood memories, as it taught her black pride.
13.  From the year 1992, until 1995, she studied at Downing College, Cambridge, where she obtained a degree in social anthropology.
14.  When she started her career, in her first acting credit, the letter w in “Thandiwe was excluded leaving it as “Thandie.” Since then, she has been credited as “Thandie.”
15.  In fact, it was the 2021 movie “Reminiscence,” which was the first movie in which Newton adopted the original Zimbabwean spelling of her name for the credits.
16.  During the filming of her first movie “Flirting,” she claimed that director John Duigan coerced her into starting a sexual relationship with him, despite the age difference of nearly 20 years.
17.  In fact, in a 2020 interview with Vulture, she claimed that it was Duigan who bullied her into playing the role of Hilary Rule in the 1996 movie “The Leading Man.”
18.  Even while filming the scene in which her character had to be topless, Duigan told her that the camera was framed above her breasts, although the truth was far from it. She had been mortified to discover the truth later.
19.  It was Nicole Kidman, then-wife of Tom Cruise, who suggested her for the role of Nyah Hall, the love interest for Ethan Hunt, in the “Mission: Impossible II.” She was cast even before the script was written.
20.  Hence, with her role in the MI franchise, she was forced to drop out of the 2000 movie “Charlie’s Angels, due to production overrunning significantly.


Sean Reynolds from Liverpool, United Kingdom, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

21.  However, she decided not to return for the “Mission: Impossible III” in order to focus on her family life. Had she reprised her role, it’s most likely that her role as Nyah would have become a member of the I.M.F team.
22.  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.
23.  Talking about her first sex scene in the series “Rogue,” she claimed in a 2013 interview with Hitflix that the scene was justified in terms of the plot, and that she was comfortable with the cast and the crew.
24.  However, later in a 2020 interview with Vulture, she claimed that she had refused to take her top off for the scene, and was not at all comfortable with it.
25.  Still, the Executive Producer and Showrunner of the show Matthew Parkhill, had instructed her scene partner Kavan Smith to forcibly pull down her top, even without her consent.
26.  In her interview with “Graham Norton,” she claimed that for her scenes involving nudity, in the series “Westworld,” she rejected wearing a merkin, mostly because she didn’t actually need one.
27.  She was an introducer at Wembley Stadium on July 7, 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.
28.  In the year 1998, she married English writer, director, Ol Parker. The couple have three children – Ripley, Nico and Booker Jombe. Nico Parker made her acting debut as Milly Farrier in the 2019 film “Dumbo.”
29.  During the filming of the sex scene in the 2008 movie “RocknRolla,” Gerard Butler had a very nasty infection, due to which Newton refused to kiss him. The scene had to be improvised into the very funny montage.
30.  She has been included in the 2019 edition of the “Powerlist,” as one among the “100 Most Influential Black Britons.”
31.  Thandiwe Newton Net Worth: $14 Million