Lupita Nyongo Biography
Lupita Nyong’o began performing when she was a teenager in Kenya and later worked on the set of the movie The Constant Gardener. She starred in the television series Shuga and directed and produced the albinism documentary In My Genes. Later, Nyong’o received praise for her performance as Patsey in the 2013 film 12 Years a Slave, for which she was nominated for the 2014 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She appeared in Eclipsed off-Broadway and Star Wars: The Force Awakens the following year. The actress was also notably featured in the 2018 superhero blockbuster Black Panther.
Lupita Nyong’o Early Life
In 1983, Nyong’o was born in Mexico City. Although they were living in political exile when she was born, Dorothy and Peter Anyang’ Nyong’o were able to bring their daughter back to Kenya when she was a young girl. Later on, her mother—who worked in family planning—took a leadership position with the Africa Cancer Foundation, while her father joined the nation’s senate.
Nyong’o returned to Mexico in her teens to learn Spanish after discovering drama and landing the main part in a performance of Romeo and Juliet. She attended Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts, where she studied for her undergraduate degree in film in 2003. When Nyong’o returned to Kenya for the summer break from school, she learned that The Constant Gardener was being filmed nearby. She started working on set as a production assistant and met Ralph Fiennes, who advised her to pursue acting only if it was her only option.
Lupita Nyong’o Documentary and HIV Awareness
By directing, editing, and producing the 2009 documentary In My Genes, which tracked the lives of several Kenyans who are living with albinism, Nyong’o refined her skills as a filmmaker. She also rose to fame on Kenyan television after being cast in the HIV awareness and safe sex-promoting television series Shuga, which was supported by UNICEF and MTV.
Lupita Nyong’o Oscar for ’12 Years a Slave’
After moving back to the United States, Nyong’o pursued her love in acting and, after acting in productions like The Winter’s Tale with the university’s Repertory Theatre, graduated with a master’s degree from Yale School of Drama in 2012.
She learned that she had gotten a part in the drama 12 Years a Slave, directed by Steve McQueen, a few weeks before graduating. The 19th-century story Solomon Northup (played by Chiwetel Ejiofor), a free man from the North who was abducted and sold into slavery in the South, wrote served as the inspiration for the Brad Pitt-produced movie. Patsey, a young slave who befriends Northup despite being horribly mistreated by plantation owner Edwin Epps and his wife, who were played by Michael Fassbender and Sarah Paulson, was played by Nyong’o. Nyong’o received numerous nominations for her work in the movie for which she was later named the winner of the 2014 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
Fashion Icon
Nyong’o has developed into a regal fashion symbol, appearing on the red carpet and having photos published in magazines like InStyle and W. In a short period of time, she also featured the covers of Vogue twice, on the July 2014 and the October 2015 issues of the magazine.
However, Nyong’o’s appearance in Grazia U.K.’s November 2017 issue sparked debate as the actress accused the publication of editing the image to remove her ponytail and straighten her hair. Later, the publication issued an apology for the editorial blunder, with photographer An Le taking responsibility for his “incredibly monumental error.”
‘Star Wars’ and ‘Eclipsed’
Nyong’o starred in Non-Stop (2014), a thriller about an air marshal who receives a lethal ransom threat, alongside Liam Neeson and Julianne Moore. The Oscar winner joined the cast of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which Disney’s Lucasfilm said would be released in December 2015, in June 2014. “I can finally say it out loud and proud: I’m going to a galaxy far, far away!” Nyong’o wrote on her Instagram page. The actress reprises her role as CGI space pirate Maz Kanata in the 2017 sequel, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, which went on to become the largest domestic film office hit of all time.
The Public Theater’s Off-Broadway production of Eclipsed, a drama about the challenges of various Liberian women during civil conflict, served as Nyong’o’s preparation for her theatrical debut in New York in the autumn of 2015. The play Eclipsed arrived on Broadway the following February, and Nyong’o herself quickly received Tony nominations.
In 2016, Nyong’o made a comeback to the big screen with the uplifting Queen of Katwe, which is about an African girl who becomes a champion in chess, and in a remake of Disney’s The Jungle Book as the voice of the maternal wolf Raksha.
‘Black Panther‘ and ‘Us’
When Nyong’o was chosen to play Nakia, the love interest of Chadwick Boseman’s titular superhero in the Marvel film Black Panther, she suddenly found herself in the heart of another highly publicized endeavor.
When it opened over the four-day President’s Day weekend in February 2018, the movie was a box office success, earning more than $200 million domestically and more than $360 million internationally. The show was famous for dispelling myths about the difficulties in promoting a cast that was predominately Black.
Later that summer, the actress received recognition with her induction into the 2019 class of the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Nyong’o later landed a co-starring part in the early 2019 Sundance film Little Monsters, a comedy-horror. She continued on to the Jordan Peele film Us, about a family that is besieged by a menacing gang of doppelgängers, when she turned to scream-out-loud terror.
Lupita Nyong’o Trivia
proficient in Spanish, English, Swahili, and Luo.
She made history by becoming the first Kenyan to win an Oscar, the first African actress to win Best Actress in a Supporting Role, and the first actress born in Mexico to win an Oscar when she won the award in 2014 for her work in the film 12 Years a Slave.
cites British actor Ralph Fiennes as an influence on her career decision. She asked Ralph for guidance on how to become an actress while she was a production assistant on The Constant Gardener (2005) during the Nairobi/Kenya part of the filming, and he responded that it was difficult, but that if acting was what she really wanted to do, she just had to continue. Eight years later, in August 2013, Lupita attended a showing of 12 Years a Slave (2013) at the Telluride Film Festival and asked Ralph whether he remembered her. He did, right away, but he was unaware that she was the Patsey persona whose performance had astounded him moments earlier.
Lupita is a Yale School of Drama alumna.
born to Kenyan parents in Mexico City. Professor Anyang Nyong’o, her father, is a senator for Kenya.
the first actress from Kenya to be both nominated for and to receive an Academy Award.
Her parents gave her the name Lupita in honor of her Mexican birth because it is customary among the Luo to name children after the events of the day. The second of six kids, she is.
believes herself to be Kenyan-Mexican.
The managing director of the Africa Cancer Foundation and owner of a communications firm is Dorothy Ogada Buyu Nyong’o.
Junior, her brother, accompanied her to the 2014 Oscars.
was selected by People Magazine as the most beautiful woman in the world in 2014.
became the first black celebrity to represent the French luxury cosmetics company when she was introduced as the “Face of Lancôme”. She joins Julia Roberts, Penélope Cruz, and Kate Winslet as the fourth Academy Award-winning actress to earn this position.
When she was less than a year old, her family returned to Kenya from Mexico.
In her last name, the N and G are truly silent.
on both sides of her family is descended from the Luo.
is the fourth actress of Mexican descent to receive an Oscar nomination. The others are Salma Hayek for Frida (2002), Adriana Barraza for Babel (2006), and Katy Jurado for Broken Lance (1954), listed in chronological order.
2013 saw the election of her father, a former college professor named Peter Anyang’ Nyong’o, to serve Kisumu County in the Kenyan Senate.
When Lupita appeared in the 2013 film 12 Years a Slave, she still didn’t have an agency.
As of 2019, has had roles in two movies that were nominated for the Best Picture Oscar: Black Panther (2018) and 12 Years a Slave (2013).
inhabits Brooklyn, New York.
Along with Jane Fonda, Viola Davis, Cate Blanchett, Jennifer Lawrence, Rachel Weisz, Charlotte Rampling, Brie Larson, Alicia Vikander, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Helen Mirren, Diane Keaton, and Saoirse Ronan, she appeared on the cover of Vanity Fair magazine’s 2016 Hollywood issue. taken by Annie Leibovitz for a photo.
was originally slated to play Angela Rivera in Southpaw (2015), but she left the film and Naomie Harris took her place.
was the 142nd actress to win an Academy Award; on March 2, 2014, at the 86th Academy Awards, she earned the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for the 2013 film 12 Years a Slave.
TC Candler’s list of the “100 Most Beautiful Famous Faces From Around the World” has named her one of the “Most Beautiful Famous Faces” for four years running. She was ranked #3 in 2014, #26 in 2014, #17 in 2016, #11 in 2015, and #11.
She was later cast as Nakia in “Black Panther” (2018) after being considered to play Nebula in Guardians of the Galaxy (2014).
Her work in “The Eclipsed” earned her a nomination for the 2016 Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Play. Jessica Lange’s performance in “Long Day’s Journey into Night” won the prize instead for her performance.
is one of 13 actresses who received their Best Supporting Actress Oscars for a 2013 film called 12 Years a Slave, which also took home the Best Picture Oscar. Other notable performances include Rita Moreno for West Side Story (1961), Meryl Streep for Kramer vs. Kramer (1979), Juliette Binoche for The English Patient (1996), Judi Dench for Shakespeare in Love (1998), Celeste Holm for Gentleman’s Agreement (1947), Donna Reed for From Here to Eternity (1953), Eva Marie Saint for On the Waterfront (1954), Meryl Wright for Mrs. Miniver (1942), Teresa Wright for Mrs. Miniver, Mercedes
Second time on the cover of Vogue: October 2015.
Was sat on Will Smith’s left during his outburst at the 94th Academy Awards, during which he smacked the host Chris Rock before returning to his seat and ranting.
Swedish photographer Mikael Jansson captured her on her first “Vogue” magazine cover (July 2014).
is a popular topic for the well-known photography team Mert Alas & Marcus Piggott.
Amondi Buyu, a well-known Kenyan theater performer, is her aunt.
Fathercis presides over Kisumu County in Kenya.
Is Lupita Nyong O from Africa?
Nyong’o, who was born in Mexico, was raised in Kenya by her father who was a senator and government minister. She went to Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts, and worked on multiple movies as a production assistant and an intern while she was still a student.
What is Lupita known for?
She is an advocate for historic preservation, women’s rights, and animal rights. She is also the author of the bestselling children’s book Sulwe. Her big break came with the critically lauded performance she had in the film 12 Years a Slave.
What is Lupita Nyong O doing now?
Nyong’o returned to the narrating role in Serengeti (2019), which led to her second nomination for a Primetime Emmy Award. Nyong’o co-starred in Simon Kinberg’s spy thriller The 355 (2022) with Jessica Chastain, Penélope Cruz, Fan Bingbing, and Diane Kruger the following year.
Does Lupita have kids?
Lupita was not known to be a mother as of 2022.
Is Lupita Nyong o most beautiful woman?
This is how stars commonly receive the distinction. The Most Beautiful Woman in the World, according to People magazine, is Nyong’o Lupita
How much is Lupita Nyongo worth?
Actress Lupita Nyong’o, a Mexican-Kenyan, is thought to be worth $10 million, based on information from the specialized website Celebrity Net Worth. She became well-known all around the world for her performances in a variety of movies, including “Black Panther,” “Us,” and “12 Years a Slave.”
