Thandiwe Newton Says Everyone’s Been Spelling Her Name Wrong for Years According to the actress, the “w” in her name got quietly dropped decades agoAndi Ortiz | April 5, 2021 @ 7:26 AM Photograph by Elisabeth Caren for TheWrap Thandie Newton has become an on-screen staple over the years: from her debut in “Flirting” in 1991, a role opposite Tom Cruise in “Mission: Impossible II” in, a part in the Oscar-winning “Crash,” and most recently HBO’s “Westworld.” But Newton is setting the record straight — her name is Thandiwe, not Thandie. The actress revealed the correct spelling of her name in a recent interview with “British Vogue.” Her parents named her Thandiwe, which means “beloved” in Shona, the language of her mother’s people. (A prescient name it turns out, as Newton went on to star as eponymous Beloved in the 1998 film).