Actress, Thandie Newton has announced she is rightfully reclaiming the original spelling of her first name, Thandiwe.
In an interview with British Vogue, the “W” was missing from the credit of her first role, and it stuck.
The actress, whose full name is Melanie Thandiwe Newton, said her name was misspelled in the credits of her first film, Flirting, which co-starred Nicole Kidman and Noah Taylor, in 1991. Thandiwe means “beloved” in Shona, a language of Zimbabwe, where her mother is from.
As a result, Thandie Newton became the widely-used spelling of her name and has stuck with the actress for three decades.
The star said all her future acting projects will now be credited as Thandiwe Newton. “That’s my name,” she said. “It’s always been my name. I’m taking back what’s mine.”
Newton was born in London to a white British father, Nick, and a Zimbabwean mother, Nyasha. When she was three years old, her family settled in Penzance, Cornwall.
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Newton’s role in the HBO sci-fi series Westworld earned her an Emmy Award in 2018 for best-supporting actress in a drama series.
See photos from her Vogue photoshoot below.
