Thandie Newton
When casting for the Charlie's Angels movie was underway, one name which kept being mentioned was that of Thandie Newton. Despite not having much commercial success on her record, the producers clearly believed in her talent. In the end, a delayed shoot for Mission Impossible 2 ruined Newton's chances of being an angel, but the mere fact of being considered demonstrates just how far Thandie has come, and just how far she will soon go. 

Thandiwe (later just Thandie) Newton was born in Zambia on November 6th, 1972. Her mother was Zimbabwean and her father British. When she was very young, political unrest in her native country caused her family to flee to England. The family (including one brother) established themselves in the Cornwall area of England along the south coast, where Thandie lived until she was 11. 

Thandie had long harbored an interest in performance - dance in particular. And so it was at this tender age that she enrolled in London's Art Education School. While there, she studied Modern Dance and took quite a liking to it. Unfortunately, an injury at age 16 ended any dreams she had of ever pursuing a career in the field. 

Undeterred, Thandie still wanted to perform for a living, and so she began to audition for acting roles. It was not long after that she was cast in John Duigan's Flirting, in the lead role no less. The film was rather successful as far as independent films go, and it won several international film awards. Just like that, Thandie Newton's career was launched. 

Moving to L.A., Thandie continued to pursue an acting career, but found that her accent was often holding her back. Being a Brit is fine, being black is fine, but being a Black Brit is not, apparently... In any case, Thandie weathered the storm. She returned to England and studied Anthropology at Cambridge. Between semesters, she continued to act and even landed herself a spot in Interview With the Vampire, with Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt (who rumors say she dated briefly). 

1998 proved to be a good year for Thandie. First, she married screenwriter/director Oliver Parker, whom she met while working on a BBC tele-drama. Next, she was cast in two important films - Besieged, a film by world-renown director Bernardo Bertolucci, and Beloved, the much-anticipated movie version of Toni Morrison's acclaimed novel, also starring Oprah Winfrey. While neither film was tremendously successful at the box office, they offered an ideal showcase for Thandie's remarkable talent. 

In any case, as far as box office success goes, Thandie will no doubt have that soon too - with the release of Mission Impossible 2, which reteams her with her Interview with the Vampire co-star Tom Cruise.

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