Thandie Newton

Born Nov. 6, 1972, in Zambia, Thandie (pronounced TAN-dee) Newton was raised in England and began studying drama and dance at age 11 at the Arts Educational School. There, she met director John Duigan, who cast her in the coming-of-age tale Flirting (1991), marking her film debut.

Newton continued to amass film credits, including Interview with the Vampire and Jefferson in Paris, while studying social anthropology at Cambridge University. In 1997-98, she cemented her place in the public's consciousness with a trio of high-profile films: Gridlock'd, Beloved and Besieged.

Building on this success, Newton won a BAFTA award for her work in Paul Haggis's Crash and earned critical acclaim opposite Will Smith in The Pursuit of Happyness. In 2008, she starred in Guy Ritchie's RocknRolla and played Condoleezza Rice in Oliver Stone's W.

The Pursuit of Happyness

2006 PG-13

Chris Gardner is smart and talented, but his dead-end salesman job barely pays the bills. When he and his son are evicted, they face trying times as a desperate Chris accepts an unpaid internship at a stock brokerage firm.