Lupita Nyong'o
Lupita Nyong'o
Lupita Amondi Nyong'o; born March 1, 1983) is a Mexi-Kenyan actress and filmmaker. She was born in Mexico to Kenyan parents and raised in Kenya. She attended college in the United States, earning a bachelor's degree in film and theater studies from Hampshire College...
NationalityMexican
ProfessionMovie Actress
Date of Birth1 March 1983
CityMexico City, Mexico
CountryMexico
bad came good great growing herbs mother remedy remember skin smell took trip worked
Growing up, I had really bad skin. I had a skin disorder. Yes, I did. And my mother went to great lengths to try to find something to remedy it. I remember she took a trip to Madagascar and came back with all these alternative, medicinal herbs and stuff. They didn't smell so good, but I think they worked some magic.
appreciate art opportunity
I have the opportunity to learn about the fashion world, and I appreciate it as an art form... But I never want it to take over my acting.
people perhaps privileged
I feel privileged that people are looking up to me, and perhaps a dream will be born because of my presence.
academy beyond deeply fellow performance recognized steve thrilled
I am thrilled beyond words that The Academy has recognized my performance in Steve McQueen's '12 Years a Slave,' and I am deeply proud to be in the company of my fellow nominees.
Slavery is something that is all too often swept under the carpet.
Personally, I don't ever want to depend on makeup to feel beautiful.
easily felt
I didn't know any successful actors in Kenya, so I felt like I could get away with going to college to study film more easily than I could with saying, 'I want to be an actor.' That's what I did.
believe capacity despite fact human individual
As human beings, we aren't as individual as we'd like to believe we are. And I think that's what makes acting possible. Despite the fact that I have not experienced something, I have it in my human capacity to imagine it and to put myself in someone else's shoes, and to take someone else's circumstances personally.
close fourteen schools
I come from a very close class. I lucked out because drama schools are often very competitive... I have fourteen classmates.
school strengths
I thought I was going to school to be other people, but really, what I learned was to be myself - accepting myself, my strengths and weaknesses.
exile fighting political politician professor science
My father was a professor of political science and also a young politician fighting for democracy in Kenya, and when things got ugly, he went into political exile in Mexico.
acting deeply experience funny learn lend school taught understanding
It's so funny, you go to acting school thinking you're going to learn how to be other people, but really it taught me how to be myself. Because it's in understanding yourself deeply that you can lend yourself to another person's circumstances and another person's experience.
i-realized acquire
I realized that beauty was not a thing that I could acquire or consume, it was something that I just had to be.
check homework job learned
I give myself homework when I have an audition. I give myself goals, and that's how I check how I'm doing. It can be something simple like 'listen,' or 'find your feet.' And then afterward it's an assessment, so in a way it's not about booking the job or not. It's about what I learned as an actor about that character.