Thandie Newton- I'm Finding My Own Strength

One of Hollywood’s leading ladies on speaking out about violence against women and finally learning to feel comfortable in her own skin

- Stepanie Van Der Plank

Award-winning actress Thandie Newton, 44, was born in London to Zimbabwean mother, Nyasha, and English father, Nick, and grew up in Cornwall with her parents and younger brother Jamie. One of her most notable roles was as Christine Thayer in the 2004 drama film Crash, for which she was awarded a BAFTA for best supporting actress. More recently, we’ve followed her as brave brothel madam Maeve Millay in HBO’s hit series Westworld, and now she’s portraying the guileful detective Roz Huntley in the latest season of the hit crime-drama series Line of Duty.

Thandie’s time in the industry has seen darker moments, too. She’s spoken publicly about being sexually abused by a male director during an audition when she was first starting out. The traumaticexperience has driven her to speak out against the abuse of women, and she’s been a board member for V-Day, an organisation that aims to eradicate violence against women worldwide, since 1999. Thandie lives in London with her husband, the writer and director Ol Parker, 48, and their three children Ripley, 16, Nico, 12, and Booker, three.

I watched the third season of Line of Duty in one go.

Generally, the only TV I watch is SpongeBob or Paw Patrol, because I have kids. But I was thrilled by Line of Duty. My agent said to me, “An offer has come in and if you ever want to work in British TV, this is it.” I don’t have the opportunity to work in Britain very much, because there are a lot of period dramas and they don’t often have calls for women of colour. But even before I read the script for the fourth season,

I was in. I met with Jed Mercurio, series writer and director, and said, “Whatever you’ve got for me, I want to do it!”