Thandie Newton

Thandie Newton says being the first "dark-skinned woman" in a leading role in a "Star Wars" film is both a "great and awful" feeling. The 45-year-old actor, who stars as in "Solo: A Star Wars Story" as Val Beckett, says it is high time that diversity and inclusion increased in cinema across the globe. "I am the first dark-skinned woman in a lead role in the 'Star Wars' legacy, which is both great, that it is finally a correction, and awful, that it's taken this long," Newton told The Guardian.