Audiences have known her as Thandie Newton for over 30 years. Now, the Westworld actress has revealed that is not her real name. Her real name is Thandiwe Newton.
Newton’s full name is Melanie Thandiwe Newton. Thandiwe is pronounced “tan-DEE-way” and it means “beloved”. In an interview with British Vogue, she revealed that her name was misspelled in the credits of her first film in 1991, Flirting which co-starred Nicole Kidman and Noah Taylor. As a result, Thandie Newton has stuck for over three decades. It’s not known why she waited so long to revert to the real spelling of her name — but it doesn’t matter. What
matters is that we refer to her as Thandiwe Newton from here on out.
“The thing I’m most grateful for in our business right now is being in the company of others who truly see me,” said Newton in the interview with British Vogue. “And to not be complicit in the objectification of Black people as ‘others’, which is what happens when you’re the only one.”
Newton continued, “That’s my name. It’s always been my name. I’m taking back what’s mine.”
The Emmy-winning actress has become an outspoken advocate on numerous fronts. In the British Vogue article, it mentions her involvement in the African American Policy Forum and the #sayhername campaign founded by her friend Kimberlé Crenshaw, who coined the term “intersectionality”. Newton is also a board member of Eve Ensler’s V-Day, which supports women survivors of sexual violence in Congo with the City of Joy project. She also helped establish One Billion Rising which campaigns to end violence against women. She was also awarded the OBE in 2018 for her contributions to charity and film. “We can make a difference,” she said.
Thandiwe Newton Reveals True Spelling Of Her Name: “I’m Taking Back What’s Mine”
Audiences have known her as Thandie Newton for over 30 years. Now, the Westworld actress has revealed that is not her real name. Her real name is Thandiwe Newton. Newton’s full name is Melanie Thandiwe Newton. Thandiwe is pronounced “tan-DEE-way” and it means “beloved”. In an interview with...
FROM WIKI:
Newton was born in Westminster, London, England, the daughter of Nyasha, a Black Zimbabwean member of a Shona chiefly family,[4][5] and Nick Newton, a White English[6] laboratory technician and artist. She has one younger brother.[7] Her birthplace has been incorrectly reported to be Zambia in some biographies,[8] but she has confirmed in interviews that she was born in London.
The Shona people (/ˈʃoʊnə/) are an ethnic group native to Southern Africa, primarily Zimbabwe (where they form the majority of the population). They have five major clans, and are adjacent to other groups with similar cultures and languages.
The Shona people are divided into tribes in eastern and northern Zimbabwe. Their estimated population is 16.6 million:[7]
- Karanga or Southern Shona (about 8.5 million people)
- Zezuru or Central Shona (5.2 million people)
- Korekore or Northern Shona (1.7 million people)
- Manyika tribe or Eastern Shona (1.2 million)[8] in Zimbabwe (861,000) and Mozambique (173,000). Desmond Dale's basic Shona dictionary includes the Manyika dialect.[9]
- Ndau[10] in Mozambique (1,580,000) and Zimbabwe (800,000). Their dialect, partially mutually intelligible with the main Shona dialects, has click sounds which do not occur in standard Shona. Ndau has a wealth of Nguni words as a result of the Gaza Nguni occupation of their ancestral land in the 19th century.
So lets get this straight...half Zimbabwean/Shona, half British.....ZERO BLACK.
