- Born
- Birth nameLupita Amondi Nyong'o
- Height5′ 5″ (1.65 m)
- Kenyan-Mexican actress Lupita Amondi Nyong'o was born March 1, 1983 in Mexico City, Mexico, to Kenyan parents Dorothy Ogada Buyu and Peter Anyang' Nyong'o. Her father, a senator, was then a visiting lecturer in political science. She was raised in Kenya. At age 16, her parents sent her back to Mexico for seven months to learn Spanish. She holds triple Kenyan, Mexican and American citizenship, and consider herself as "Kenyan-Mexican". She read film studies at Hampshire College, Massachusetts and, after working as a production assistant on several films, graduated from the Yale School of Drama's acting program. In 2013, she impressed cinema audiences in her film debut, as brutalized slave Patsey in acclaimed director Steve McQueen's 12 Years a Slave (2013). She was also the lead in MTV's award-winning drama series, Shuga (2009), appeared in the thriller Non-Stop (2014) and had roles in the big-budget films Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (2015) and The Jungle Book (2016).
Lupita's stage credits include playing "Perdita" in "The Winter's Tale", (Yale Repertory Theater), "Sonya" in "Uncle Vanya", "Katherine" in "The Taming of the Shrew", as well as being in the original production of Michael Mitnick's "Elijah".
Lupita played the female lead, Nakia, in the 2018 superhero film Black Panther (2018).
- IMDb mini biography by: Seventh Sense Communications and don @ minifie-1
- ChildrenNo Children
- ParentsDorothy Ogada BuyuPeter Anyang' Nyong'o
- RelativesSibling(Sibling)
- Short hair
- Is fluent in Luo, English, Swahili and Spanish.
- When she won the Oscar for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her role in 12 Years a Slave (2013) in 2014, she became the first Kenyan to win an Oscar, the first African actress to win Best Actress in a Supporting Role and the first Mexican-born actress to win an Oscar.
- Lupita is a graduate of the Yale School of Drama.
- Born in Mexico City, Mexico, to Kenyan parents. Her father, Professor Anyang' Nyong'o, is a senator in Kenya.
- First Kenyan actress to be nominated for, and to win, an Academy Award.
- [on retaining overnight the elaborate scarring makeup on her back, incurred in the brutal whipping scene with the sadistic plantation owner] They were haunting. I could only sleep on my belly. I was just so aware of them the whole night. I remember fretting and weeping, and then it occurred to me that my discomfort was temporary, and the woman who I was playing, her discomfort was permanent. It just really centered me, and really quieted my soul for the next day's work.
- [on portraying Patsey in 12 Years a Slave (2013)] I was heartbroken by her story. I just felt so sorry for her. I recognized then that I had a lot of work to do to get to a point where I could play her, because feeling that kind of sympathy for someone is no way to actually inhabit them.. She was just simple and she was trying to get by on a daily basis. She's not sentimental about her pain. I had to have the same kind of attitude.
- [2014: Academy Award acceptance speech, closing remarks] When I look down at this golden statue, may it remind every child that no matter where you are from, your dreams are valid.
- I got teased and taunted about my skin. My one prayer to God was that I would wake up lighter skinned. The morning would come and I would be so excited about seeing my new skin that I would refuse to look down at myself until I was in front of the mirror because I wanted to see my face first. Every day I would feel the disappointment of being just as dark as the day before.
- [on supermodel Alek Wek] She was dark as night and was in all the magazines and on runways. My complexion had always been an obstacle to overcome. I couldn't believe that people were embracing a woman who looked so much like me as beautiful. It was perplexing and I wanted to reject it because I had begun to enjoy the seduction of inadequacy. But a flower couldn't help but bloom inside of me.
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