'Thandiwe is my name': Thandie Newton reclaims correct spelling of her name after film credit faux pas

The actress was mistakenly given a misspelt moniker in her first acting credit, and has gone by the adapted name ever since

The British actor, 48, was born Melanie Thandiwe Newton. She is the daughter of a Zimbabwean mother and English father. EPA

The actress widely known as Thandie Newton will now go by the original spelling of her name, Thandiwe, correcting a decades-old blunder that saw her lumbered with a misspelt moniker for her entire career.

The British star, 48, was born Melanie Thandiwe Newton. She is the daughter of a Zimbabwean mother and English father.

However, the W in her middle name was dropped from her first acting credit, and the Mission Impossible 2 actress therefore professionally went by Thandie ever since.

Newton has not revealed which project misspelt her name, but her first television appearance was in 1991's TV film Pirate Prince and her first film credit was in 1991's Flirting.

In the May issue of British Vogue, the actress revealed she was reclaiming the original spelling of her name, and will hereby be known as Thandiwe Newton in all future work.

“That’s my name. It’s always been my name. I’m taking back what’s mine," she told the publication.

The name means beloved in Shona, the language of the Shona people of Zimbabwe, to which her mother belongs.

In her Vogue interview, Newton also opened up about the backlash she faced after revealing she was abused by a director as a young actress, a year before the #MeToo movement took hold in Hollywood.

"There's a moment where the ghost of me changed, and it was then, I was 16," she said. "He derailed me from myself utterly. I was traumatised. It was a kind of PTSD for sure. I was so distraught and appalled that a director had abused a young actress, and that it was happening elsewhere, minors getting abused. I was basically waiting for someone to come along and say, 'Well, what shall we do about this?'''

Newton also revealed she cut ties with the publicist who urged the actress to stop talking about the abuse, as it was "not good for your reputation".

"I have a seventh sense for abuse and abusers," she told Vogue, "which I believe is one of the reasons why I was rejected a lot in Hollywood. I'll talk about it until the cows come home, because I know I'll be helping someone."