Thandiwe Newton
Thandiwe Newton is an award-winning English actor. She played the lead in Beloved, alongside Oprah Winfrey and Danny Glover, and has featured in Mission: Impossible 2, Crash, for which she won a BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role, and The Pursuit of Happyness with Will Smith. She played Condoleezza Rice in W., Laura Wilson in the film 2012, and Val in Solo: A Star Wars Story, opposite fellow vegan Woody Harrelson.
In 2016 Thandiwe began portraying a sentient android in the hit HBO show Westworld. Her performance earned her a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series, two Critics Choice Awards, and nominations for a Golden Globe Award, Saturn Award, and Screen Actors Guild Award.
In 2017 she was also nominated for a BAFTA for Best Actress for her portrayal of DCI Roz Huntley in the BBC’s Line of Duty.
Why Thandiwe Newton is vegan
Thandiwe Newton is vegan for the animals.
Thandiwe went vegan after working with Woody Harrelson on the set of Solo: A Star Wars Story in 2018.1Loria, J. 2018. Star Wars Actress Thandie Newton Goes Vegan, Thanks to Co-Star Woody Harrelson. Mercy for Animals. Available: https://mercyforanimals.org/blog/star-wars-actress-thandie-newton-goes-vegan/ [Accessed 13 August 2026]. At the time, she said that she had been vegan since working with Woody, and that was four months. Woody has a reputation for converting his co-stars to veganism, having also influenced Sadie Sink.
“I don’t want any kind of suffering of any living form.”
References:
- Loria, J. 2018. Star Wars Actress Thandie Newton Goes Vegan, Thanks to Co-Star Woody Harrelson. Mercy for Animals. Available: https://mercyforanimals.org/blog/star-wars-actress-thandie-newton-goes-vegan/ [Accessed 13 August 2026].
