Actress Thandie Newton Reclaims Her Original Name 'Thandiwe'

British-Zimbabwean actress Thandie Newton has revealed that she will be taking on a name change. Newton will reportedly revert to her original Zulu name "Thandiwe" which was misspelled in a crediting error dating back to her first feature film in 1991. Newton, born to a British father and Zimbabwean mother of Shona royalty, revealed her intentions in a recent interview with British Voguesaying "That's my name. It's always been my name. I'm taking back what's mine."

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In 1991, the fresh-faced Newton starred in Flirting, her first feature film starring alongside Nicole Kidman and Noah Taylor. However, the film's credits misspelt Newton's name by omitting the "w". Thereafter, the actress went on to use the altered version of her name for the next three decades in a number of major roles including The Pursuit of Happyness, Half of a Yellow Sun, 2012, For Colored Girls and a myriad others.

The phenomenon of misspelt or even mispronounced names, especially among celebrities, is nothing new. Perhaps one of the most popular instances of the latter is that of was television producer and mogul Oprah Winfrey. Winfrey was originally named "Orpah" after a Biblical character by her aunt. However, the rest of her family reportedly pronounced the name as "Oprah" although the change was never made on the actual birth certificate.