Lupita Nyong'o facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Lupita Nyong'o
Nyong'o in 2024
Born	Lupita Amondi Nyong'o (1983-03-01) 1 March 1983 (age 42) Mexico City, Mexico
Citizenship	Mexico (by birthplace) Kenya (from parents) US (naturalised in 2024)
Education	Hampshire College (BA) Yale University (MFA)
Occupation	Actress
Years active	2005–present
Parent(s)	Peter Anyang' Nyong'o (father)
Relatives	Isis Nyong'o (cousin) Tavia Nyong'o (cousin)
Awards	Full list

Lupita Amondi Nyong'o (born March 1, 1983) is a famous actress. She has won many awards, including an Academy Award (also known as an Oscar) and a Daytime Emmy Award. She was also nominated for a Tony Award for her work in theater.

Lupita was born in Mexico City while her father, Peter Anyang' Nyong'o, a Kenyan politician, was teaching there. She grew up in Kenya from the age of three. She later moved to the United States for college. She studied film and theater at Hampshire College and then acting at the Yale School of Drama.

She started her career in Hollywood as a production assistant. In 2008, she acted in a short film called East River. She then returned to Kenya to star in the TV series Shuga. After finishing her master's degree, she got her first big movie role as Patsey in 12 Years a Slave (2013). Her performance was highly praised, and she won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

Lupita made her Broadway debut in the play Eclipsed (2015), which earned her a nomination for a Tony Award. She also played Maz Kanata using motion capture in the Star Wars movies (2015–2019). She voiced Raksha in The Jungle Book (2016). Lupita became even more famous for her role as Nakia in the superhero films Black Panther (2018) and its sequel Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022). She also starred in the horror films Us (2019) and A Quiet Place: Day One (2024).

Besides acting, Lupita Nyong'o cares about protecting history and nature. In 2019, she wrote a children's book called Sulwe, which became a best-seller. She also narrated the docu-series Serengeti, earning an Emmy Award nomination. In 2020, Forbes magazine named her one of Africa's 50 Most Powerful Women.

Early Life and Education

Lupita Amondi Nyong'o was born on March 1, 1983, in Mexico City. Her parents, Dorothy Ogada Buyu and Peter Anyang' Nyong'o, were from Kenya. Her family had moved from Kenya for a while due to political challenges.

Lupita has citizenship in Kenya, Mexico, and the United States. She says she is "Kenyan-Mexican." Her family belongs to the Luo people. It's a Luo tradition to name a child after events of the day, so her parents gave her the Spanish name Lupita, which is a short form of Guadalupe. Her father is a politician who serves as the Governor of Kisumu County, Kenya. When Lupita was born, he was a visiting professor in Mexico City.

When Lupita was less than one year old, her family moved back to Kenya. She grew up in Nairobi in a very artistic family. Family gatherings often included performances by the children, and they frequently went to see plays. She attended Rusinga International School in Kenya and acted in school plays.

At 14, Lupita had her first professional acting role as Juliet in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. She was part of the Phoenix Players, a theater group in Nairobi. She was inspired to become an actress after seeing Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey in the movie The Color Purple.

When she was 16, her parents sent her to Mexico for seven months to learn Spanish. She lived in Taxco, Guerrero, and took classes at a university. Lupita later attended St. Mary's School, Nairobi and then went to college in the United States. She graduated from Hampshire College with a degree in film and theater studies.

Her mother is involved with the Africa Cancer Foundation. Lupita also has cousins who are successful in different fields, like a scholar, a doctor, an animator, and a technology leader.

Career Highlights

Early Work and Breakthrough (2005–2015)

Lupita Nyong'o started her career behind the scenes. She worked as a production assistant on films like The Constant Gardener (2005) and The Namesake (2006). She was inspired by actor Ralph Fiennes to become an actress herself. In 2008, she acted in the short film East River. That same year, she returned to Kenya and appeared in the TV series Shuga, which taught about HIV/AIDS prevention.

In 2009, she wrote, directed, and produced a documentary called In My Genes. This film was about the challenges faced by people with albinism in Kenya. It won an award at a film festival. Lupita also directed a music video that was nominated for an award.

Nyong'o then went to the Yale School of Drama to earn a master's degree in acting. While at Yale, she performed in many plays, including works by William Shakespeare. She won an award for her acting skills there.

Right after graduating from Yale, Lupita got her big break in Steve McQueen's historical drama 12 Years a Slave (2013). The movie tells the true story of Solomon Northup, a free Black man who was kidnapped and sold into slavery. Lupita played Patsey, a slave working on a cotton plantation. Critics praised her performance, with one calling it "one of the most committed big-screen debuts imaginable." She won many awards for this role, including the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. This made her the second African actress and the first Kenyan actress to win an Oscar.

After a small role in the action film Non-Stop (2014), Nyong'o co-starred in Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015). She played Maz Kanata, a wise space pirate character created using motion capture technology. She wanted a role where her looks didn't matter, and this part was a new challenge.

In 2015, Lupita returned to the stage in the play Eclipsed. The play is set during a war in Liberia and is about a group of captive women who form a community. Eclipsed became very popular and moved to Broadway the next year. It was the first play on Broadway with an all-Black and all-female creative team. Lupita's performance was highly praised, and she was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play.

Career Progression (2016–Present)

Nyong'o at the 2016 San Diego Comic-Con

Lupita Nyong'o voiced Raksha, a mother wolf, in Jon Favreau's The Jungle Book (2016). She then co-starred in Queen of Katwe (2016), a true story about a young Ugandan chess player named Phiona Mutesi. Lupita played Phiona's strong and protective mother, Nakku Harriet. Critics said Lupita was "phenomenal" in the role.

Nyong'o played Maz Kanata again in Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017) and in the animated series Star Wars Forces of Destiny. In 2018, she starred as Nakia, a spy and former member of the Dora Milaje, in the superhero film Black Panther. The Dora Milaje are special forces and bodyguards to T'Challa. To prepare, Lupita learned the Xhosa language and trained in martial arts. The film was a huge success, earning over $1.34 billion worldwide.

After Black Panther, Nyong'o starred in the comedy horror film Little Monsters (2019), playing a kindergarten teacher during a zombie apocalypse. She then starred in Jordan Peele's psychological horror film Us (2019). In this movie, she played two roles: Adelaide Wilson and her mysterious doppelgänger (a look-alike). Her dual performance was called "astounding." Us was also a big success, earning over $255 million worldwide. Lupita won an NAACP Image Award for Best Actress for her role.

Also in 2019, Nyong'o narrated the Discovery Channel documentary series Serengeti, which is about wildlife in the Serengeti ecosystem. She was praised for using her native Kenyan accent. She was nominated for an Emmy Award for her narration. She also hosted the documentary Warrior Women with Lupita Nyong'o, where she explored the history of the Dahomey Amazons in West Africa. She played Maz Kanata for the third time in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.

In 2021, Nyong'o partnered with a company in Nairobi to create Super Sema, Africa's first animated superhero series for kids. Lupita is an executive producer and voices the main character, Sema. She also narrated the Apple TV+ documentary Who Are You, Charlie Brown? about the creator of Peanuts. She won a Daytime Emmy Award for her work on the Netflix series Bookmarks: Celebrating Black Voices (2020).

In 2022, Lupita starred in the spy-thriller The 355. She also returned as Nakia in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, the sequel to Black Panther. In 2024, she played the main role in the horror film A Quiet Place: Day One. She also voiced the main character, a robot named Roz, in the animated film The Wild Robot. In 2024, Lupita started a podcast called Mind Your Own, where she shares stories from the African diaspora and talks about her Kenyan heritage.

Personal Life and Advocacy

Lupita Nyong'o lives in Los Angeles. She speaks English, Spanish, Luo, and Swahili fluently.

In 2014, Lupita gave a speech about the beauty of Black women and shared her own struggles with insecurity as a teenager. She said her views changed when she saw the successful South Sudanese model Alek Wek.

Nyong'o at an event for Time's Up in 2018

Lupita is involved in many causes. In 2014, she helped oppose new construction in Shockoe Bottom, a historic area in Richmond, Virginia, which was once a major slave-trading site. She also lent her voice to Conservation International's "Nature Is Speaking" campaign.

In 2015, Lupita became a Global Elephant Ambassador for the organization WildAid. She works to protect elephants and promote women's issues and the arts in Kenya. She also supports Mother Health International, an organization that helps women and children in Uganda by creating birthing centers.

In 2019, Lupita released her first book, Sulwe, a children's book. The story is about a five-year-old Kenyan girl who wishes her skin was lighter. Lupita based the story on her own childhood experiences. The book became a number-one New York Times Best-Seller and won several awards.

In 2019, Lupita became an ambassador for Michael Kors' "Watch Hunger Stop" campaign, which helps fight hunger. She and her mother were also honored at The Harlem School of the Arts.

In 2024, Lupita announced that she had become a U.S. citizen.

Filmography

Film

Television

Video Games

Behind the Scenes Work

Theatre

Awards and Recognition

Images for kids

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  Nyong'o at the 2013 New York Film Festival

See also

In Spanish: Lupita Nyong'o para niños