Loving Lupita
LUPITA NYONG’O WAS never really gone but she’s back! Black Panther is definitely the biggest commercial and critical success of the year; watching the Oscar winning actress, in the powerful African nation of Wakanda, we are reminded of her amazing acting power. Despite her obvious talent and presence on the screen, it seems that Lupita is incredibly selective about the movie roles she takes on and we thank her for it. With a talent like Lupita we aren’t interested in seeing her in a bunch of mediocre movies but films that really show off her assets as an actress. So, what do we know about the actress? Well for someone in the public eye, Lupita is pretty private but that didn’t stop us from discovering some interesting facts!
The Beginning
Lupita Nyong’o was born the second of six children in Mexico, but raised in Kenya and describes her upbringing as “middle class, suburban”. However, when she was sixteen, her parents sent her to Mexico for seven months to learn Spanish. She lived in Taxco, Guerrero, and took classes at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México’s Learning Center for Foreigners. Along with Spanish, Lupita is fluent in Swahili, Luo, and English.
Acting Talent
Lupita knew she wanted to be an actress when she was inspired by Whoopi Goldberg’s performance in The Colour Purple. She completed a master’s degree in acting in 2012, from the Yale School of Drama and during her time there appeared in many stage productions, including Gertrude Stein’s Doctor Faustus Lights the Lights, Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya, and William Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew and The
Winter’s Tale. She also won the Herschel Williams Prize for “acting students with outstanding ability” during the 2011-12 academic year.
Film Career
Lupita started her film career in 2008, when she made her acting debut with the short film East River and subsequently returned to Kenya to star in the television series Shuga (2009) that was seen by almost 60% of the youth in Kenya. Her first feature film role was as Patsey in Steve McQueen’s historical drama 12 Years a Slave (2013), which won her an Oscar as Best Supporting Actress and made her a household name.
The First
Lupita was the first Mexican and first African and the first Kenyan actress to win an Academy Award and became the fifteenth actress to win an Oscar for a debut performance in a feature film. A year later she was the first black celebrity to become the Face of Lancôme, and now represents the French luxury cosmetic brand on an international scale. Lupita is the fourth Oscar-winning actress to do so.
Speaking Out
Lupita has been very open about the lack of diversity in Hollywood and her own run in with alleged sexual predator, producer Harvey Weinstein. Also, last year Lupita called out Grazia UK magazine for heavily editing her photo on their cover – removing her ponytail and smoothing out her hair. The magazine and photographer apologised for the “incredibly monumental mistake.”