She married English writer/director/
producer Ol Parker in 1998. The
couple have two daughters: Ripley, born in 2000, and Nico, born in
2004. Her daughters were named
after the character Ellen Ripley in
the Alien films and the singer Nico
athan Demme’sBeloved (1998), in which
she played the title character with co-stars
Oprah Winfrey and Danny Glover. She
played the female lead Nyah Hall in the
film Mission: Impossible II. She was originally expected to play Alex Munday in the
film Charlie’s Angels, but turned it down
to appear in the low-budget film It Was
an Accident.[18] Lucy Liu was ultimately
given the part.
Between 2003 and 2005, Newton played
Makemba “Kem” Likasu, the love interest, and later wife of Dr. John Carter on
the American television series ER. She
reprised the role once more for the series
finale in 2009. In 2004 also appeared in
The Chronicles of Riddick and Crash. In
the latter, she played Christine Thayer, a
wealthy black woman who, along with
her husband, finds herself the target of
a racist policeman (played by Matt Dillon), who sexually assaults Thayer but
then later saves her life after he is the first
on the scene at a car crash. Newton was
honoured with a BAFTA award for Best
Supporting Actress in 2006 for her role
in Crash. She also played Chris Gardner’s
wife, Linda Gardner, in The Pursuit of
Happyness. In addition to her film and
television credits she played the title role
in a 2006 radio pantomime version of
Cinderella.
In 2007, she starred with Eddie Murphy
in the comedy Norbit as his love interest,
and opposite Simon Pegg as his ex-girlfriend in the comedy Run Fat Boy Run.
Newton next portrayed U.S. National
Security Advisor-turned Secretary of State
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