Childhood
Lupita (short for the full name Guadalupe) was born in the capital of Mexico, where her family fled from Kenya two years before her birth. His father, Peter Anyang Nyong'o, was an influential Kenyan official who taught at the University of Nairobi and advocated for democratic change in the country. His views ran counter to the pro-government line, which is why Nyong'o's parents were forced to leave Kenya and settle in Mexico City. Therefore, Lupita has dual citizenship: Kenya and Mexico.
A year after Lupita’s birth, the political vector in Kenya changed, and they were able to return to their homeland. Peter Nyong'o became a senator, and his wife Dorothy began raising children: after Lupita, the second child in their family, the couple had four more children.
When the girl turned 16, her parents sent her to Mexico for 7 months to learn Spanish. She did this for the next 2 years, then moved to the United States and first attended Hamshire College, where she received a Bachelor of Arts degree, then took courses at the prestigious Yale University.
Biography of Lupita Nyong'o
Kenyan Juliet
A couple of years before the birth of their daughter, the father and mother of the future Oscar-winner left their native Kenya for political reasons - they simply fled from persecution by the authorities. Therefore, the biography of Lupita Nyong'o began in Mexico City - she was born there on March 1, 1983. Anyang Nyong'o was then giving lectures on political science at one of the colleges in the Mexican capital; it was he who named his daughter Guadalupe (but she prefers the diminutive version). Soon the family returned to their homeland (Lupita was not even a year old at that time), and Anyang began working at the University of Nairobi.
The girl was amazed by the skill of Whoopi Goldberg in the Spielberg drama “The Color Purple,” and it was then that the idea of becoming an actress came to her mind. At school, she played in amateur productions and portrayed Juliet in a play by a local troupe. The parents wanted to see their daughter as an educated person and sent her to study in the USA. She attended Hampshire College (after which she filmed her thesis, the video documentary “In My Genes”), and then became a student at Yale.
Efficient assistant
Lupita managed to take part in the filming of several films (though these were not acting jobs, but only assisting). So, while working on The Constant Gardener, she was an assistant to the star of the project, Ralph Fiennes. It’s interesting that later, after watching the film “12 Years a Slave,” the actor did not recognize his former assistant and was very surprised when he realized who won the Oscar.
Lupita Nyong'o's biography included a role in the short film "East River", then she tried herself as a music video director. When there were only a few days left before graduating from Yale University (Nyong'o was about to receive a Bachelor of Arts degree), the Kenyan learned about the casting for the film “12 Years a Slave.” She decided that a project about black slaves, produced by Brad Pitt himself, was a wonderful “takeoff pad” for an aspiring actress. And so it happened. It’s a miracle that out of many contenders, Steve McQueen chose Lupita. When the director himself called her, she couldn’t believe her ears: really?
When the glory fell
After the huge success of this drama, in which the actress starred alongside experienced actors, including Fassbender, Sarah Paulson and the British Cumberbatch, she received an offer to play in the action film Non-Stop (in our release - Air Marshal). The role was small: Lupita portrayed a flight attendant.
But there was another highly anticipated premiere ahead - a new part of Star Wars, in which the Oscar-winning Kenyan also took part.
This is what it means to be the center of attention! Now the paparazzi followed the newly-minted laureate everywhere, noting her perfect taste in choosing outfits, and “People” in the spring of 2014 gave Lupita a leading position in the list of the most beautiful women in the world. A triumph of tolerance again?
Actor career
During her final year, Lupita successfully passed the casting for the role of a black slave in the film “12 Years a Slave” by Steve McQueen, produced by Brad Pitt himself. Before that, she had virtually no filming experience: she was a student theater star, starred in a couple of amateur short films and assisted the director on the filming of The Constant Gardener. The role of Patsy became her debut in a big movie, and what a success!
Millions sympathized with her heroine: an emaciated, shaved-head slave, for whom the owner has unambiguous feelings, for which his wife hates her and tortures her in every possible way. Michael Fassbender, with whom Lupita had many scenes together, noted that the aspiring actress is in no way inferior to him in professionalism.
After the film was released, the unknown girl became a star of American cinema. Critics were so impressed by her acting talent that they nominated her for an Oscar. In 2014, the treasured figurine ended up in her hands. Serious rivals are left behind: Julia Roberts (the film “August”), Jennifer Lawrence (“American Hustle”) and Sally Hawkins (“Jasmine”).
From that moment on, the life of the young Kenyan changed dramatically. Directors began vying with each other to offer her roles, and leading fashion designers tried to attract her to their advertising projects. The most persistent was Miuccia Prada, who invited the dark-skinned beauty to become the face of her spring collection. The photo shoot was so successful that Lupita was named one of the most beautiful women on the planet by People magazine. Large contracts immediately followed with Lancome, Tiffany and other prestigious brands.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbdVEOQDceW
At the same time, the girl starred in the film “Air Marshal”, and in 2015 she played the role of smuggler Maz Kanata in the seventh episode of “Star Wars”. In 2020, the series “Star Wars: Forces of Destiny” was released, where her heroine played a central role, and the eighth episode of “Star Wars”, where Mark Hamill himself, who played the role of Luke Skywalker in the original trilogy, also appeared.
Movies
Nyong'o's star broke out on the set of the film 12 Years a Slave. In the film, the actress played the slave Patsy, humiliated by the owner of a cotton plantation played by Michael Fassbender. The film's cast also includes Brad Pitt, Benedict Cumberbatch, Sarah Paulson, and Paul Dano. The story is based on the memoirs of a free American, Solomon Northop. A man came to Washington in search of work and was tricked into slavery.
Lupita Nyong'o in the movie "12 Years a Slave"
The film was expected to be a tremendous success: prizes in more than 60 categories of international associations and awards, from Saturn to Golden Globe. For her supporting role, Lupita was awarded the Empire, Breakthrough Actor, BAFTA, Oscar, Independent Spirit, Satellite, and Screen Actors Guild awards. Not to mention numerous awards from art critics associations. In People magazine's annual ranking, the black actress topped the list of beauties of 2014.
Lupita Nyong'o with Oscar
In the same year, Lupita Nyong'o joined Julianne Moore and Liam Neeson in the action film Air Marshal (also known as Non-Stop). The detective story is a cool mixture of mysterious deaths on board an airplane, drugs and blackmail.
In 2015, the actress’s image was used to create the humanoid Maz Kanata, a character in the fantastic saga “Star Wars. Episode VII. The Force Awakens." According to the plot of the film, it turns out that Maz Kanata is a friend of Han Solo who sympathizes with Chewbacca.
Lupita Nyong'o on the set of the movie "Star Wars"
The same heroine appeared in the sequel “Star Wars. Episode VIII. The Last Jedi,” the 2020 box office leader. While starring in the franchise, Nyong'o tried motion capture technology for the first time. Carrie Fisher appeared in the film as Leia Organa for the last time. In addition to her, Harrison Ford, Gwendoline Christie, and Mark Hamill also gathered on the set.
In February 2016, Lupita made her Broadway debut in the production of Eclipsed. This is a play about the civil war in West Africa, written by actress and playwright, star of the series "The Walking Dead" Danai Gurira. Danai, like Nyong'o, fled from her homeland - South African Rhodesia. The performance earned Lupita a Tony Award nomination.
Lupita Nyong'o and Brad Pitt
The girl gave the voice to the she-wolf Raksha in the Disney film adaptation of Rudyard Kipling's stories “The Jungle Book.” The film, with elements of computer animation, won an Oscar for its visual effects.
Personal life of Lupita Nyong'o
On the set of 12 Years a Slave, the actress began an affair with Michael Fassbender, who played the main villain, a plantation owner, despite the cruelty of their scenes together. The romance turned out to be short-lived, and soon she provoked a wave of rumors with a joint photo with Jared Leto.
The list of her fans also included rapper K'Naan, with whom the dark-skinned beauty even planned to go down the aisle.
In 2020, they started talking about Lupita's affair with the editor of the fashion publication GO, Mobolaji Dawodu.
The star herself states that the main man in her life is her older brother Peter, with whom she lives in New York. Lupita's other relatives also achieved considerable heights in their careers and became influential people in Kenya.
About education
Lupita attended the prestigious Hampshire College in Massachusetts and graduated from one of the best universities in America. She studied acting at Yale and received her BFA in 2012. Three weeks before graduation, aspiring artist Nyong’o heard from friends about auditions for the new project “12 Years a Slave” and went to the casting, not hoping for anything.
“When I found out that Steve McQueen would be making a film about black slaves in 19th-century America, and Brad Pitt would be the producer of the project, I thought that this was an amazing springboard for a young actress of my type,” Lupita said in an interview with the editor of the American Dazed&Confused magazine. “However, I never dreamed of getting the role; it seemed out of reach for me. I came to the audition as if it were a regular rehearsal. I had a chance to get the role in ten minutes, and I took it. But when McQueen called me, I panicked - is this really a dream, because I’m still a student at Yale?”
Lupita Nyong'o now
In 2020, the actress appeared in the leading female role in the exciting action film Black Panther, which starred the black actor Chadwick Boseman. It is noteworthy that the on-screen “chemistry” between Lupita and Michael B. Jordan in their scenes together made viewers gossip about the emergence of a new relationship, although in the plot their characters are not united by a love line. The actors added fuel to the fire by appearing at the premiere together.
It is known that Lupita will return to the role of Maz Kanata in the 9th episode of Star Wars, which will premiere at the end of 2020. The actress will also star in the comedy horror film Little Monsters alongside Josh Gad.
About director's experience
Lupita Nyong'o's graduation project at Hampshire College was a documentary film, In My Genes, about the problems and aspirations of albinos in Kenya.
By the way, while working on the film, Lupita did not forget about continuing her studies - at the same time, Nyong’o attended linguistic courses, and as a result, the actress speaks fluently four (!) languages: English, Spanish, the African Swahili language and one of the Kenyan dialects.
In addition to feature films and documentaries, Lupita is interested in music video making. In 2009, the future actress tried to shoot a video for the song The Little Things You Do by the Kenyan band Wahu. This initiative of Lupita was well received by music critics, and the video was nominated for an award from the local branch of the MTV channel.
About career development
Can you believe that 12 Years a Slave was the first serious project in which Lupita participated? Before being invited to play the role of slave Patsy, aspiring actress Nyong'o played only in the mini-series "Shuga" on the MTV Base channel and on the stage of the student theater at Yale. But her repertoire includes roles in plays by the world's main playwrights - Shakespeare (The Taming of the Shrew) and Chekhov (Uncle Vanya).
Lupita is genuinely surprised by the amount of attention that suddenly fell on her after the release of 12 Years a Slave. “The other day, at the New York airport, I decided to pick out something to read for the trip and, approaching the press kiosk, I discovered that The New York Magazine had already published my photo shoot! The salesman exclaimed, “Oh my God, you look so much like the girl on the cover.” And I answered: “Yeah, never mind,” Lupita said on the show of American TV presenter Jimmy Fallon.
