# Lupita Nyong'o

Lupita Nyong'o (born 1 March 1983) is a Kenyan-Mexican actress who has received various accolades, including an Academy Award and a Daytime Emmy Award, as well as nominations for two British Academy Film Awards, a Golden Globe Award and a Tony Award.

## Quotes

* There was so much joy in the making of this film, despite the fact that it’s about such a sad, traumatic experience…We all felt like we were part of something so real and so necessary. It was a joy to go on set every day and tell these real people’s story. Doing this movie, I discovered that joy is not the negation of pain, but rather acknowledging the presence of pain and feeling happiness in spite of it.
** On making the film 12 Years a Slave in “LUPITA NYONG’O” in Interview Magazine (November 5, 2013)
* I was completely overwhelmed…The body registers stress, whether good or bad, in the same way. So if it’s super exciting or super traumatising, your body is in equal distress. Though I would choose excitement over trauma every day.
** On her quick rise to stardom in “EXCLUSIVE: Lupita Nyong'o: 'Success Has Brought Me Freedom'” in Grazia (September 11, 2017)
* Don’t sweat the small stuff.
** "Lupita Nyong’o: ‘The worst thing anyone’s said to me? I like it when you’re angry’" The Guardian (October 12, 2019
* It's because of the prevalence of whiteness, Eurocentric standards of beauty that we experience this. You know? And it is subconscious. Colorism is the daughter of racism. But sometimes it seems like racism has had amnesia (laughter). You know? And so that's why I wrote this - to hopefully bring it to the fore and people can address it.
** On how warped standards of beauty encouraged her to write the children’s book Sulwe in “Lupita Nyong'o On 'Sulwe'” in NPR (October 17, 2019)
* I find a lot of gratitude in my first years on this planet because having to identify - or having to not rely on how I look like to seduce or to get by in life really meant that I had to cultivate other aspects of myself - my personality, my character - and get a sense of self-worth from something other than people complimenting what I look like. And now, after that, I relish in the compliment. But I do know that external beauty will fade. And hopefully, I have cultivated and I continue to cultivate enough internal beauty to sustain me through the years when I am not such a hot pick.
** On how she focused on inner beauty in “Lupita Nyong'o On 'Sulwe'” in NPR (October 17, 2019)
* Hunger is a defining issue for our world and climate change is worsening the problem. We must work to change this dynamic.
** "Lupita Ngong'o interview" Michael Kors (October 25, 2019)
* Women’s issues are human issues. Hunger is a human issue and therefore hunger is a women’s issue.
** "Lupita Ngong'o interview" Michael Kors (October 25, 2019)
* “There are tons of Black women completely capable and are darn good at that,”
** "Interview: ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ Stars Lupita Nyong’o And Danai Gurira Share How Chadwick Boseman Influenced The Franchise’s Success" BET (November 10, 2022
* “To me it felt like a question about our value system in this culture, the ways we define success for ourselves as well as others,”
* "...I turned down a few projects to pursue this one. I knew there was a sense of what was expected of me, but this play felt so important to me that I had to do it, expectations be damned.”
* “As an African woman, I am wary of the trap of telling a single story… the chance to appear in Eclipsed after winning an Oscar was an opportunity to share in the incredible (and too rare) freedom of playing a fully rendered African woman.”
* “It was so nice to have someone embrace that and encourage it, because I never knew that I would start my career and that would be called for. So, it was just really lovely to bring my full self to this without any sort of pretense,”
** "Lupita Amondi Nyong’o Is Everything A Final Girl Should Be" in Refinery20 (June 16, 2024)
* My default is not to feel unwelcome. My default is to seek welcome.
** "What’s In An Accent with Lupita Nyong’o" in What Now with Treavor YouTube at 00:41:55 per Podscripts (October 5, 2024)

### Undated interview "Lupita Nyong'o: 'I have to transform who I am'"

From The Talks
* I grew up with aunties that had their chests out, they fought the system in all sorts of ways, and in many ways rose to the top of their lines of work.
* I think ultimately that mentality that you can be whatever you put your mind to, and that the world you want to see is worth fighting for, won over.
* "I definitely surprise myself with how much of a warrior spirit I have sometimes, because I think that politically, socially, and culturally there are wars to be fought."
* “I like to play women who are in contrast to me. I think that’s how I look at it: What aspect of this character offers me a chance to explore something new about my humanity?”