Thandie to coach Oprah girls

BRITISH actress Thandie Newton is coming to South Africa to teach acting to girls from the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy.

The actress, who has won awards from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, and from the Screen Actors Guild, will visit the Gauteng school during its annual arts and culture week, which starts on Monday.

Born to a Zimbabwean healthcare worker and an English laboratory technician, Newton has starred in films that include Mission: Impossible 2, Crash and the Winfrey-produced period piece Beloved.

The acting head of the Oprah Winfrey Academy, Joy Moore, said the week-long course would enable pupils to explore their creativity.

“The girls will learn more about the arts of poetry, acting and storytelling, and discover the beauty that lies within creative design and artistic presentation,” she said.

“It is Miss Winfrey’s hope that the experience will continue to help the girls integrate art, culture and creativity into their daily life.”

The workshops, which will cover everything from cooking and sculpture to dance, will be led by other well-known faces, such as South African storyteller Gcina Mhlophe, US dancer Alvin Ailey, US chef and author Art Smith and US fashion designer Ralph Lauren’s nephew, Greg Lauren, who will teach painting and comic-cover art.

Newton turns screenwriter

Actress THANDIE NEWTON is to step away from the camera to try her hand at writing screenplays.
The Crash star is following in her writer husband Ol Parker's footsteps by putting pen to paper for her first big screen project. And Newton insists she could be tempted to become a full-time writer - because the work schedule suits her busy lifestyle as a mum of two.
She says of her first movie, "It's a comedy feature film. It's been really nice to do that: be at home, be around the kids. It's just a really nice lifestyle - I've been doing other, smaller jobs to supplement it and so on.

Thandie Martini Night

New Martini girl Thandie Newton ruffles a few men's feathers in a dress that offers a real thigh-ful
Thandie Newton often champions Brit designers like Giles Deacon. But she may have taken the avant-garde look a little too far as she stepped out in a frock which looked like a pair of half-drawn curtains.

The unfinished-looking dress was a big style statement, but it left the Oscar-winning Crash star looking as if she had run out of the designer's salon before the dress was complete.

Thandie Newton makes an entrance in a ruffled dress which reveals a thighful at the Tini bar in Chelsea The dress was layers of taffeta ruffles held together by a sheer panel.It looked fine once she stood up upon exiting her car, but not before she had exposed a right thighful in London last night.

Thandie was at the appropriately named Tini bar in Chelsea to promote her role as the spokesperson for drinks company Martini's Stay Beautiful campaign.
The mother of two daughters, Ripley, nine, and Nico, five, told the Mail On Sunday's Nathan Kay: 'It looks like I'm having the time of my life with a group of my best friends but I met them that day,' describing the Martini photoshoot.

Thandie's taffeta ruffled dress looks great when she stands up and covers her modesty

Crash star Thandie is the spokeswoman for drinks company Martini's Stay Beautiful campaign 'They were a lovely bunch of people and we had so much fun that it looks like we have known each other for years.'

'They were all models and I was the only actor in it.'
'The only problem was the shoot started at 7am and ended late the same evening so I had to be wide awake even when I was tired.'