Thandiwe Newton Is Reclaiming Her Name

YAAAAAWN.

She's hilarious as one of the hormone monsters in Big Mouth.

I don't get it. Was somebody forcing her to remove the "w"?

Should have done this when she was still relevant, what’s the point now.

[quote] All of her future films will be credited with her full name

That will no doubt be a short list seeing as films e rather passé these days.

She seems insufferable.

Is she going to have her Emmy renamed with her precious "W"??

How do you pronounce it?

She's calculating that she'll get more call backs and nominated for more awards from America, where she has yet to really land, if her name is visibly African.

Lots of actors changed their names to be easier for the public to digest. Usually it was because someone, at some point, in their careers convinced them that they would book more parts if they did.

I can believe someone told her to change it from Thandiwe to "Thandie." James Roday (from Psych who is on A Million Little Things now) went back to his birth name James Roday Rodriguez.

Mahershala Ali couldn't have gotten away with that name in the 90s or even 80s and that's after he changed it from Mahershalalhashbaz Gilmore. The same applies to Vera Mindy Chokalingam aka Mindy Kailing.

Then you have people that went the other way and changed their plain name to be more interesting like Whoopi Golberg was born Caryn Johnson, Jamie Foxx was Eric Bishop and John Legend was John Stephens.

And you have your classic examples like Jennifer Linn Anastassakis / Jennifer Aniston and Natalie Hershlag / Natalie Portman.

[quote]Should have done this when she was still relevant, what’s the point now.

She's been on Westworld for the past few years. Won an Emmy for Best Supporting Actress for it and was nominated multiple other times.

She does seem to enjoy jumping on a band wagon. She never sets the course, she just jumps on board when it appears profitable for others.

R4 Still relevant? She's the star of Westworld, and that thing is one of the most popular shows of the last few years.

R8 but she’s not really a name on any bodies lips these days. I’m sure she’s good at what she does but I doubt many people have much reason to even say her name let alone spell it.

R10 there are so many shows these days I think actors have become a dime a dozen for the most part even the ones who win emmys

Why is it trendy to be a victim these days? People have changed their names and faces in Hollywood for years to be less ethnic, American, boring, or what have you. Just part of the game. Just a bit tired of everyone complaining about everything these days.

Westworld jumped the shark in the middle of season 2. She's good in it, but the show as a whole sank like the Titanic.

What the pandemic has shown me, being home so much and binge watching series is that really there’s too much on offer these days and it’s all acclaimed at first and tends to jump the shark early. I liked the first few eps of west world but my attention goes and I start another new hyped series instead.

Was it Shelley winters who once said that acting on tv was like toilet paper - no one remembers it, I think she had a point

[quote]Why is it trendy to be a victim these days? People have changed their names and faces in Hollywood for years to be less ethnic

Nobody should have to change their names to hide who they are in order to work.

Bernie Schwartz was just as talented as Tony Curtis but if he had of used that first name it would have stalled his career.

I’m sorry but it does make it easier to become marketable if you have a name that rolls off the tongue that people can pronounce. I was struggling to look up that Ronan girl because I can’t for the life of me think how to spell her first name. It makes all the difference in Hollywood.

If Elliot Page can be listed as a nominee for the 2007 Best Actress Oscar I'm sure the Emmys can fit a W into Thandiwe's name.

Daniel Kaluuya, Chiwetel Ejiofor, David Oyelowo and Gugu Mbatha-Raw have all done well without having to change their names.

The British director Mike Leigh's family name was changed from the Jewish Lieberman.

There's an Irish journalist called Ailbhe Rea, her twitter handle is @pronouncedalva which is very helpful.

R6 It's pronounced: "ASS-HOLE".

Well good for her but she will get sick of having to teach people the correct pronunciation. Be careful what you wish for.

[quote]I’m sorry but it does make it easier to become marketable if you have a name that rolls off the tongue that people can pronounce.

Uzo Aduba of ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK told the story of how when she was a kid she wanted to change her name because no one could pronounce it and her mother replied, “If they can learn to say Tchaikovsky and Michelangelo and Dostoyevsky, they can learn to say Uzoamaka.” And that's true. People learned how to say Schwarzenegger, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio and Joe Manganiello what's the difference?

[quote]How do you pronounce it?

Tawn-da-way

BO-RING. These people are so self-absorbed.

R20 it’s a double edged sword though. It’s annoying having people constantly stumble over the pronunciation. Unless they get super famous you’ll just spend most of your life correcting people.

[quote] And that's true. People learned how to say Schwarzenegger, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio

These names are not difficult for the majority of English speakers. A name like Weinstein would present more of a difficulty because of the German spelling.

The only film I've seen her in, was "Run, Fat Boy Run", directed by Davis Schwimmer, of all people, and co-starring Simon Pegg. I really enjoyed that film!

I have to admit I only know how to pronounce Udo Azuba's name from hearing it so many times at award ceremonies (Mary!).

In I May Destroy You, Michaela Coel's best friend Terry is played by Weruche Opia. I'd guess it's VEH-ROO-CHAY OH-PEE-AH but I've never heard it said out loud.

[quote]These names are not difficult for the majority of English speakers. A name like Weinstein would present more of a difficulty because of the German spelling.

Some names can be either or - Steen or Stine - but as a lot of Jews will tell you, the SCHHHHHHHHHH-teeen or SCHHHHHHHHHH-tine is never pleasant.

[quote] It’s annoying having people constantly stumble over the pronunciation. Unless they get super famous you’ll just spend most of your life correcting people.

Reminds me of when Lupita Nyong'o made a video explaining to people how to say her name.

The thing is, if you're a reporter and you're going to interview her, you should already know how to say her name from doing research on her. So checkmate.

[quote] I was struggling to look up that Ronan girl because I can’t for the life of me think how to spell her first name.

I didn't know how to spell it (Saoirse Ronan) but I know how to say it because I cared enough once to watch a video of her saying it and in order to find it all I did was type in "actress Ronan" and there it was.

Hasan Minhaj gently corrects Ellen DeGeneres on the pronunciation of his name.

R26 he really didn’t have anything else to say. At least his name gives him a talking point I guess.

Fearless trailblazer.

Jews annihilated their identities, not because of pronunciation problems but because of entrenched social/cultural Jew-hatred. Directors like Mike Leigh knew very well that "Lieberman" would have been a huge deficit and barrier to his aspirations and career.

r27, I suspect Thandiwe Newton figures that announcing her name change to the African version of her previous one might lead to more interviews as well, in which she will have to teach the pronunciation to the interviewer and therefore spend a few minutes repeating it, focusing on it, and thereby implanting it in the viewer/reader's memory.

She believes her name recognition will go up, among the many other ways in which it will help her career in this climate.

R30 “Hollywood” used to be about glamour and fantasy. Why are they so set on spoiling the illusion these days.

Fuck her. I'm the real deal.

I was in a JJ Abrams series, Belle, Beyond The Lights, and the upcoming Loki series for Marvel. Take that, Tandy

[quote] Tawn-da-way

Really? That’s quite a departure from Tan-dee

Checking IMBD it's interesting to me that for such a legend in her own mind I seem to have watched precisely two of her performances. I don't remember her at all from Crash and her subplot in 2012 was a tiresome pause in the action to keep down the CGI costs.

She is not the big deal she thinks she is. Certainly she is no Lucille Fay LeSueur

Of course she's doing it for attention and virtue signalling. Now she can whinge about how people mispronounce her name and how this microaggression leaves her exhausted. If she were serious about getting her name corrected what took her so long?

A bland and forgettable actress, her acting in Westworld was tragic, she was the weakest part of that series.

[quote] Why is it trendy to be a victim these days? People have changed their names and faces in Hollywood for years to be less ethnic, American, boring, or what have you. Just part of the game. Just a bit tired of everyone complaining about everything these days.

Names have been misspelled forever also. Dionne Warrick became Dionne Warwick after her name was misspelled on her first recording. It happens. Is it that difficult to believe Thandwe was misspelled?

Misspelled name has negative impact on one's life, anger, pain, guilt and more.

[quote]Now she can whinge about how people mispronounce her name and how this microaggression leaves her exhausted.

If one of you bitches were named "Greg" and people kept calling you "Craig" you'd flip your shit. She just wants to be known by her actual name.

[quote]The only film I've seen her in, was "Run, Fat Boy Run", directed by Davis Schwimmer, of all people, and co-starring Simon Pegg. I really enjoyed that film!

Good to hear that I’m not the only one who enjoyed Run, Fat Boy Run, I really like Simon Pegg. I checked IMDb and I’m surprised by how few of her movies I’ve seen:

Jefferson in Paris

Gridlock’d

Mission: Impossible II

The Truth About Charlie

Run, Fat Boy, Run

And I haven’t watched her on TV.

r8 is a bona fide nameologist.

R39 my name is Greg and I do get called Craig fairly often.

Along with Gregg, Glen, Glenn, Geoff, Jeff, Gary, Garry and Grant.

If I flipped my shit every time someone gets it wrong I’d be “literally exhausted”. I just find it puzzling / vaguely amusing as this has been happening all my life.