![]() ![]() In "Besieged" (1999), she played an African woman working as a housekeeper in Rome who spurs the amorous interest of her shy English employer (David Thewlis), only to reject him because she remains married to a man held captive as a political prisoner back home. After a well-received turn as a drug addict who suffers near death from an overdose in "GRIDLOCK'd" (1997), Newton landed the title role in "Beloved" (1998), based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Toni Morrison, where she demonstrated powerful dramatic acting chops in a markedly unglamorous role as a stuttering and disheveled teenager nursed back to health by an ex-slave (Oprah Winfrey). Meanwhile, in Anna Campion's mystery thriller "Loaded" - filmed in 1993, but released in 1996 - Newton was one of a group of tragedy-prone high school grads who must deal with the accidental death of one of their own.įor "The Leading Man" (1996), Newton reunited with director John Duigan for his light romantic comedy in which she played an actress dallying with a movie star (Jon Bon Jovi). After "Jefferson in Paris," Newton returned to Downing to finish her degree, then appeared in her first post-graduate project, "The Journey of August King" (1995), playing a runaway slave in 1815 protected by a landowner (Jason Patric). ![]() In 1995, Newton earned more exposure when she was cast in the Merchant-Ivory production "Jefferson in Paris." As Sally Hemmings, slave and alleged mistress of future president Thomas Jefferson (Nick Nolte), Newton brought a beguiling innocence to the role and walked away with some of the best notices in an otherwise uneven film. Between exams, she maintained a busy film career, appearing in "The Young Americans" (1993), a crime drama starring Harvey Keitel, and Neil Jordan's blockbuster horror outing "Interview With the Vampire" (1994), in which she was a sultry Creole maid who becomes the first victim of a newly-minted vampire (Brad Pitt). Newton was hailed for delivering a fun, sassy performance alongside a then-unknown Nicole Kidman, who played one of her schoolmates.Īfter "Flirting," Newton returned to concentrating on her studies, majoring in social anthropology at Downing College, one of the constituent schools of Cambridge University. Despite possessing zero acting experience and an enormous amount of doubt, Newton nonetheless won the part and found herself traveling in 1990 to Australia to star in "Flirting" (1992), a wry coming-of-age story about a young Ugandan exchange student (Newton) attending an all-girls boarding school who falls for Danny (Noah Taylor), a student at the neighboring boy's school. ![]() With the prospect of three long boring months ahead of her, she was encouraged by one of her instructors to audition for a film that was holding open casting sessions in London. But by the time she was 16, Newton had faced a series of injuries that eventually sidelined her for an entire summer. Newton developed a taste for performing at a young age, displaying a talent for dance that was rewarded with a scholarship to the Arts Educational School when she was 11. 6, 1972 in Zambia, Africa, Newton was raised in London and Penzance, Cornwall by her father, Nick, a lab technician-turned-artist, and her mother, Nyasha, a nurse from Zimbabwe. Not one to be relegated to playing the heroine in action fare, Newton expanded her horizons with a gripping and complicated performance in the racism-themed Crash (2005), which finally earned the actress the respect and award recognition she so richly deserved.īorn on Nov. But it was her supporting role in Mission: Impossible 2 (2000) that introduced her to a mass audience, which opened the doors to more prominent features like The Truth About Charlie (2002) and The Chronicles of Riddick (2004). Though she put acting on the backburner to finish her studies at Cambridge University, Newton made several small, but memorable appearances in Interview With the Vampire (1994) and GRIDLOCK'd (1997). Almost on a whim, she landed a starring role in the low-budget Australian feature, Flirting (1992), which immediately established Newton's potential. Despite having grown up without the ambition to perform in front of the camera, Thandie Newton nonetheless grew into an accomplished, but often overlooked actress.
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