Thandiwe Newton

After an already enviable career, British actress Thandie Newton found herself swept into a pop culture whirlwind with her role in the sci-fi hit "Westworld" (HBO, 2016-). A native of London, the actress is of royal blood, the daughter of a Zimbabwean princess. She made her screen debut starring with Nicole Kidman in "Flirting" (1991). Supporting roles followed at regular intervals, including appearing with Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt in "Interview With The Vampire" (1994), playing Sally Hemings in "Jefferson in Paris" (1995), and haunting Oprah Winfrey in "Beloved" (1998). She found a wider audience when she re-teamed with Cruise for the blockbuster "Mission: Impossible II" (2000). She continued in a similar vein, starring with Mark Wahlberg in Jonathan Demme's "The Truth About Charlie" (2002) and with Vin Diesel in "The Chronicles of Riddick" (2004). She then joined the ensemble of surprise Best Picture Oscar-winner "Crash" (2004), playing the wife of Terrence Howard's director. The role earned Newton a BAFTA. She went on to play Will Smith's estranged wife in "The Pursuit of Happyness" (2006) and was Eddie Murphy's romantic interest in the broad comedy "Norbit" (2007). She also had a memorable story arc on "ER" (NBC, 1994-2009) as a love interest to Noah Wyle's Dr. John Carter. After playing Condoleezza Rice in Oliver Stone's political drama "W" (2008), she returned to big budget fare starring in Roland Emmerich's disaster film "2012" (2009). A series of less successful film projects led the actress back to television. She starred in the limited series "The Slap" (ABC, 2015) and the police drama "Rogue" (Audience, 2013-17). She followed with her most acclaimed role in the updating of the Michael Crichton 1973 film "Westworld." Newton played the android Maeve Millay, the madame of a brothel who becomes self-aware. The actress was hailed by critics and earned multiple Emmy nominations for the role. Between long breaks in the shooting of the series, she appeared in a story arc of "Line of Duty" (BBC, 2012-) and became part of the "Star Wars" universe with a supporting role in "Solo: A Star Wars Story" (2018). She then joined Kit Harington and Natalie Portman for the drama "The Death and Life of John F. Donovan" (2018).