98 Facts About Lupita Nyong'o

Lupita Amondi Nyong'o is a Kenyan-Mexican actress.

Lupita Nyong'o is the recipient of several accolades, including an Academy Award, and nominations for two Primetime Emmy Awards and a Tony Award.

Lupita Nyong'o attended college in the United States, earning a bachelor's degree in film and theatre studies from Hampshire College.

Lupita Nyong'o later began her career in Hollywood as a production assistant.

Lupita Nyong'o then pursued a master's degree in acting from the Yale School of Drama.

Lupita Nyong'o made her Broadway debut as a teenage orphan in the play Eclipsed, for which she was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play.

Lupita Nyong'o went on to perform a motion capture role as Maz Kanata in the Star Wars sequel trilogy and a voice role as Raksha in The Jungle Book.

Lupita Nyong'o's career progressed with her role as Nakia in the Marvel Cinematic Universe superhero films Black Panther and its sequel and her starring role in Jordan Peele's horror film Us.

In 2019, Lupita Nyong'o wrote a children's book named Sulwe, which became a number-one New York Times Best-Seller.

Lupita Nyong'o received nominations for Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Narrator for narrating two episodes of the docu-series Serengeti.

In 2020, Lupita Nyong'o was named one of Africa's 50 Most Powerful Women by Forbes.

Lupita Amondi Nyong'o was born on 1 March 1983 in Mexico City to Kenyan parents, Dorothy Ogada Buyu and Peter Anyang' Nyong'o, a college professor.

The family had left Kenya in 1980 for a period because of political repression and unrest; Peter's brother, Charles Lupita Nyong'o, disappeared after he was thrown off a ferry in 1980.

Lupita Nyong'o holds dual Kenyan and Mexican citizenship and identifies as "Kenyan-Mexican".

Lupita Nyong'o is of Luo descent on both sides of her family, and is the second of six children.

Lupita Nyong'o's father was once a Minister for Medical Services in the Kenyan government and later became the Governor of the city of Kisumu, Kenya.

At the time of Lupita Nyong'o's birth, he was a visiting lecturer in political science at El Colegio de Mexico in Mexico City.

The family returned to their native Kenya when Lupita Nyong'o was less than one year old, after her father was appointed as a professor at the University of Nairobi.

Lupita Nyong'o attended Rusinga International School in Kenya and acted in school plays.

At the age of 14, Lupita Nyong'o made her professional acting debut as Juliet in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, in a production by the Nairobi-based repertory company Phoenix Players.

When Lupita Nyong'o was 16, her parents sent her to Mexico for seven months to learn Spanish.

Lupita Nyong'o later attended St Mary's School in Nairobi, where she received an IB Diploma in 2001 and received the mean grade of 6 out of 7, coming second in her class.

Lupita Nyong'o went to the United States for college, graduating from Hampshire College with a degree in film and theatre studies.

Lupita Nyong'o's mother is the managing director of the Africa Cancer Foundation and her own communications company.

Lupita Nyong'o began her career working as part of the production crew for several films, including Fernando Meirelles's The Constant Gardener, Mira Nair's The Namesake, and Salvatore Stabile's Where God Left His Shoes.

Lupita Nyong'o cites Ralph Fiennes, the British star of The Constant Gardener, as someone who inspired her to pursue a professional acting career.

In 2008, Lupita Nyong'o starred in the short film East River, directed by Marc Grey and shot in Brooklyn.

Lupita Nyong'o directed the music video "The Little Things You Do" by Wahu, featuring Bobi Wine, which was nominated for the Best Video Award at the MTV Africa Music Awards 2009.

Lupita Nyong'o enrolled in a master's degree program in acting at the Yale School of Drama.

Immediately after graduating from Yale, Lupita Nyong'o landed her breakthrough role when she was cast in Steve McQueen's historical drama 12 Years a Slave.

Lupita Nyong'o portrayed Patsey, a slave who works alongside Northup at a Louisiana cotton plantation; her performance garnered rave reviews.

Lupita Nyong'o was nominated for several awards for 12 Years a Slave, including a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress, a BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role, and two Screen Actors Guild Awards, including Best Supporting Actress, which she won.

Lupita Nyong'o won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, becoming the sixth black actress to win the award.

Lupita Nyong'o is the second African actress to win the award, the first Kenyan actress to win an Oscar, and the first Mexican to win the award.

Lupita Nyong'o is the fifteenth actress to win an Oscar for a film debut performance.

Lupita Nyong'o had wanted to play a role where her appearance was not relevant, and the acting provided a different challenge from her role as Patsey.

Lupita Nyong'o was nominated for Best Supporting Actress at the 42nd Saturn Awards and Best Virtual Performance at the 2016 MTV Movie Awards for her role.

In 2015, Lupita Nyong'o returned to the stage with a starring role as an unnamed girl in the play Eclipsed, written by Danai Gurira.

Lupita Nyong'o had understudied the play at Yale in 2009 and was terrified to play the character onstage.

Lupita Nyong'o turned down film roles in favour of the production.

Robbie Collin of The Telegraph wrote in his review that Lupita Nyong'o brought a "gentle dignity" to her role.

Lupita Nyong'o later co-starred in Mira Nair's Queen of Katwe, a biopic based on the true story about the rise of a young Ugandan chess prodigy, Phiona Mutesi, who becomes a Woman Candidate Master after her performances at World Chess Olympiads.

Lupita Nyong'o reprised her role as Maz Kanata in Rian Johnson's Star Wars: The Last Jedi, as well as in the animated series Star Wars Forces of Destiny.

In preparation for the role, Lupita Nyong'o learned to speak Xhosa and undertook judo, jujitsu, silat, and Filipino martial arts training.

Lupita Nyong'o received a Saturn Award for Best Actress nomination for the role.

At Universal Studios Hollywood's Halloween Horror Nights, Lupita Nyong'o attended a maze inspired by the film and appeared inside the attraction dressed as her character Red.

Lupita Nyong'o earned a Screen Actors Guild nomination for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role and won an NAACP Image Award for Best Actress.

Also in 2019, Lupita Nyong'o narrated the Discovery Channel documentary series Serengeti, about wildlife in the Serengeti ecosystem.

Lupita Nyong'o spoke on the lack of African women narrating nature documentaries and how the Serengeti team encouraged her to use her native Kenyan accent on the series.

Lupita Nyong'o earned her first Emmy Award nomination for her narration as an Outstanding Narrator at the 72nd Primetime Emmy Awards, making her the third black woman to be nominated in the category.

Lupita Nyong'o was nominated for an NAACP Image Award for Character Voice-Over Performance.

Lupita Nyong'o hosted the Channel 4 documentary Warrior Women with Lupita Nyong'o, in which she undertook a journey across Benin, West Africa, to search for the Dahomey Amazons.

Lupita Nyong'o left the production of The Woman King in which she had previously been cast around the time of filming this documentary.

Lupita Nyong'o reprised her role as Maz Kanata for the third time in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, which marked the final installment of the Star Wars sequel trilogy.

Lupita Nyong'o appeared on the Global Citizen organised television event, Together at Home and joined the radio play presentation of Richard II from The Public Theater and WNYC as The Narrator.

Lupita Nyong'o was featured in Beyonce's musical film Black Is King, which premiered on Disney+ in July 2020.

Lupita Nyong'o partnered with Nairobi-based media and tech startup Kukua in support of YouTube Originals' STEM-themed, Super Sema, which became Africa's first kid superhero animated series.

Lupita Nyong'o serves as an executive producer and voice actress in the series.

Lupita Nyong'o won the Outstanding Limited Performance in a Children's Program category at the 48th Daytime Creative Arts Emmy Awards for her involvement in Netflix's television series, Bookmarks: Celebrating Black Voices.

In 2021, Lupita Nyong'o reprised her narration role in Serengeti, where she earned her second Primetime Emmy Award nomination.

Lupita Nyong'o guest-starred in Netflix's adult-animated sitcom, Human Resources as Asha, a Shame Wizard who became Lionel's interest.

Later, Lupita Nyong'o reprised the role of Nakia in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, the sequel to the original Black Panther film, released in November 2022.

Lupita Nyong'o is developing a television series based on Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's novel Americanah, which she will produce and star in.

Lupita Nyong'o will produce and star in Born a Crime, a film adaptation of Trevor Noahs memoir of the same name, in which she will portray Noah's mother, Patricia.

Lupita Nyong'o will be reuniting with director Abe Forsythe and the creative team behind the horror comedy film Little Monsters for a starring role in a science fiction comedy film.

Lupita Nyong'o will produce an animated musical based on her number-one best-selling children's book, Sulwe, for Netflix.

Lupita Nyong'o is a fluent speaker of English, Spanish, Luo, and Swahili.

Lupita Nyong'o said her views changed when she saw South Sudanese model Alek Wek become successful.

On 19 October 2014, Nyong'o sent a letter to Richmond Mayor Dwight C Jones, which she posted on social media, asking him to withdraw support for the development proposal.

Lupita Nyong'o later lent her voice in Conservation International's "Nature is Speaking" campaign as the flower.

In June 2015, Lupita Nyong'o returned to Kenya and announced that she would advocate globally for elephants with the international conservation organisation WildAid, as well as promote women's issues, acting and the arts in Kenya.

Lupita Nyong'o is involved with the organisation Mother Health International, which aims to provide relief to women and children in Uganda by creating locally engaged birthing centres.

Lupita Nyong'o said she had never thought much about birthing practices until her sister introduced her to MHI executive director Rachel Zaslow.

Lupita Nyong'o felt bringing attention to such important but overlooked issues is a mandate for her as an artist.

Lupita Nyong'o had vowed never to work with him thereafter, hence turning down an offer to star in Southpaw, a Weinstein-distributed film.

Lupita Nyong'o further wrote about her commitment to work with female directors, as well as male feminist directors who have not abused their power.

Lupita Nyong'o's op-ed was part of a collection of stories by The New York Times and The New Yorker that won the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service.

Sulwe is the story of a five-year-old Kenyan girl, who has the darkest complexion in her family, for which Lupita Nyong'o drew on her own childhood experiences.

In September 2019, Lupita Nyong'o became an ambassador for Michael Kors' "Watch Hunger Stop" campaign.

Lupita Nyong'o was mentioned in Christian rapper Lecrae's song "Nuthin'" from his 2014 album Anomaly and was referenced by Jay-Z in his verse from Jay Electronica's song "We Made It".

Lupita Nyong'o was mentioned in the 2015 song "Nerea" by Kenyan afro-pop band Sauti Sol.

Lupita Nyong'o was included in Derek Blasberg's 2013 best-dressed list in Harper's Bazaar.

Lupita Nyong'o was on the July 2014 cover of Vogue, making her the second African woman and ninth black woman to cover the magazine.

Lupita Nyong'o appeared on the October 2015 issue of Vogue, making it her second cover in a row.

Lupita Nyong'o was included in Annie Leibovitz's 2016 Vanity Fairs Hollywood Issue.

Lupita Nyong'o was honoured with a caricature portrait in May 2016 at Sardi's restaurant in New York City for her debut on Broadway.

Lupita Nyong'o later appeared on the cover of UK's The Sunday Times Magazine for their October 2017 issue.

Lupita Nyong'o later expressed her disappointment with the cover on social media for altering her hair to fit European standards of what hair should look like.

Lupita Nyong'o often speaks out about embracing her "African kinky hair" and collaborates with hairdresser Vernon Francois to show how versatile her hair texture is.

In December 2017, Lupita Nyong'o landed her fourth Vogue cover in a row for the January 2018 issue, making her the first black actress to do so.

In June 2018, The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce announced Lupita Nyong'o will be among the honourees to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in the film category.

The campaign features both striking, minimalist portraits of the award-winning actresses alongside women they have personally been inspired by, where Lupita Nyong'o named Eartha Kitt and Katharine Hepburn as her inspirations.

In October 2018, Lupita Nyong'o became a two-time honouree, alongside her Black Panther co-stars Danai Gurira and Angela Bassett for Elle magazine's "Women in Hollywood" issue.

Lupita Nyong'o appeared on the cover of Vogue Espana's November 2018 edition.

Lupita Nyong'o appeared on the cover of Vanity Fairs October 2019 issue.

Lupita Nyong'o was featured on singer Ciaras song "Melanin" under the moniker, "Troublemaker" along with La La Anthony, City Girls, and Ester Dean.

Lupita Nyong'o was cited as one of 2019's Top 100 most influential Africans by New African magazine.

Lupita Nyong'o made her first appearance on British Vogue's February 2020 cover.