Movie Actress Reclaims her African Name

Actress Thandie Newton has said she is reverting to the original Zimbabwean spelling of her first name, Thandiwe. The actress has hitherto been known as Thandie, an anglicised version of her name with the “w” absent. All of Newton’s films will be credited with the name Thandiwe Newton in future. “That’s my name. It’s always been my name. I’m taking back what’s mine,” Newton told British Vogue. Newton was born in London to a white British father, Nick, and a Zimbabwean mother, Nyasha. Her family settled in Penzance, Cornwall, when Newton was three years old. The actress, whose full name is Melanie Thandiwe Newton, said her name was misspelled in the credits to her first film in 1991, Flirting, which co-starred Nicole Kidman and Noah Taylor. As a result, Thandie Newton became the widely-used spelling of her name and has stuck with the actress for three decades.

SOURCE: BBC