Thandie is the daughter of a Zimbabwean mother ('a princess of the Shona tribe) and a British father. She lived in Zambia until political unrest caused her family to move back to the United Kingdom. She then lived in Cornwall in the south west of England until the age of 11. At that time she enrolled in London's Art Educational School where she studied modern dance. However, a back injury forced her out of dance. This led to her auditioning for and receiving her first role in John Duigan's "Flirting". She then moved to L.A. to pursue acting and her then boy friend. However receiving no work because of her British accent, she returned to England where she went to Cambridge to study & received a degree in anthropology. However, between terms she continued her acting and became noticed in demand for future film roles. A delayed shoot for Mission: Impossible II (2000) caused Thandie to turn down one of the lead roles in Charlie's Angels (2000). Lucy Liu was cast instead. Ranked #48 in Stuff magazine's "102 Sexiest Women in the World" (2002).