e is proud of her Zimbabwean roots, but is well aware of the problems brought about by the Mugabe regime. She longs to visit her country again, and is desperate to take her husband home with her. “Zimbabwe is beautiful,” she says.
She will soon star opposite Daniel Craig in Casino Royale, James Bond’s 21st big screen venture.
The 33-year-old mother of two was born in Zimbabwe to a Shona mother and an English father, but the family moved to Cornwall, in the UK, when she was five years old.
She made an early debut into the cut-throat film industry when just a teenager – but has publicly admitted that she did not cope well with fame at the tender age of 16. She believes the film business is no place for young people.
“It’s too much responsibility and you just grow up too quickly,” she says. “I wish I had been older when I started.”
She met her husband, scriptwriter Oliver Parker, when she returned to the UK in 1997 after a stint in America. The couple has two daughters, Ripley, five, and one-year-old Nico.
“It’s a terrific career being a mum because there’s a lot of downtime making movies. You work intensely for two or three months and then you can take six months off and that’s wonderful, fantastic,” says Thandiwe.
The Zimbabwean beauty has also been nominated for a British television award for Best Supporting Actress for playing Christine in Crash.
Like millions of Zimbabweans in the diaspora, Thandiwe deeply regrets having had to leave her homeland and longs for the day when she can return to a happy, peaceful Zimbabwe.
Post published in: Arts