Thandie Newton has to be involved in V-Day

16 March 2020

Thandie Newton had to get involved with V-Day for the sake of her "mental health".

Thandie Newton

The 47-year-old actress has been a board member for the organisation for several years, with V-Day's aim being to end violence against all women and girls across the world, and Thandie is adamant that her involvement in the global movement is something that is a necessity in her life.

In an interview with NET-A-PORTER's digital title PORTER, she said: "My mental health would certainly be a lot worse if I didn't do it. My work and good people are the best medicine."

Thandie also set-up ThandieKay.com with her friend, make-up artist Kay Montano, in 2012 to bring about racial equality in the media and pop culture, particularly in the beauty and fashion industries, and she wanted to create that project to give something back as an actress of colour.

Speaking about what inspired ThandieKay, she said: "I needed my work to serve me a bit more and to be more in line with the other stuff that I do, which is so much more compelling to me. Much more rewarding and enriching."

The 'Solo: A Star Wars Story' star plays robot Maeve Millay in HBO sci-fi series 'Westworld' and she is thrilled that so many female directors have worked on the latest series of the programme.

She said: "It's really great this season. We have such good directors. We have eight episodes and five are directed by women. I've worked with so many women over the past 12 months.

"This season was such a gift for everybody. I'm so admiring of everyone involved. We have such earnest respect for each other. We've grown as people."

Speaking about the future of the series - which is set in the future at a theme park which recreates the American Old West - Thandie insists the writers have all five seasons mapped out but she doesn't know what is in store for Maeve.

She said: "It's a natural evolution from where we were. It just gets richer and richer because the writers have known what they're going to do for five seasons. I don't know what happens from episode to episode."