Lupita Nyong'o

At 41 years old, Lupita Nyong'o physical status not available right now. We will update Lupita Nyong'o's height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, and measurements.

Lupita Amondi Nyong'o (born 1 March 1983) is a Kenyan-Mexican actress.

Peter Anyang'o, Nyong'o, the daughter of Kenyan politician Peter Anyang's Nyong'o, was born in Mexico City, where her father was working, and she was raised in Kenya from the age of one.

She went to college in the United States, receiving a bachelor's degree in film and theater studies from Hampshire College. Nyong'o began her work in Hollywood as a production assistant.

She made her acting debut with the short film East River in 2008 and then returned to Kenya to star in the television series Shuga (2009–2012).

She wrote, produced, and directed In My Genes, a 2009 film by Barbara Coveney.

She later obtained a master's degree in acting from Yale's School of Drama.

She had her first film role as Patsey in Steve McQueen's historical drama 12 Years a Slave (2013), which earned her critical acclaim and numerous honors, including the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

She was the first Kenyan and Mexican actress to receive an Academy Award.

She was named by People in 2014 as the most beautiful woman in the world. In the play Eclipsed (2015), Nyong'o made her Broadway debut as a teen orphan, for which she was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play.

She went on to perform a motion capture role as Maz Kanata in the Star Wars sequel trilogy (2015-2019) as well as a role as Raksha in The Jungle Book (2016).

Nyong'o's career progressed with her role as Nakia in the Marvel Cinematic Universe superhero film Black Panther (2018) and her supporting role in Jordan Peele's critically acclaimed horror film Us (2019). Nyong'o is known for his activism but also supports historic preservation.

She has spoken out against preventing sexual assault and advocating for women's rights and animal rights.

Nyong'o made her writing debut with Sulwe (2019), a number one New York Times Best-Seller.

Early life

Lupita Amondi Nyong'o was born in Mexico City on March 1st, 1983, to Kenyan parents Dorothy Ogada Buyu and Peter Anyang' Nyong'o, a college professor. The family had left Kenya in 1980 for a period of political repression and uprising; Peter Nyong'o's brother was missing after being kicked off a ferry in 1980.

Nyong'o claims to be "Kenyan-Mexico" and has dual Kenyan and Mexican citizenship. She is the second of six children of Luo descent on both sides of her family's family. It's a Luo people's tradition to name a child after the day's events, so her parents gave her Lupita, which is a diminutive of Guadalupe. Her father was once a Minister for Medical Services in the Kenyan government and later became the Governor of Kisumu, Kenya. He was a visiting lecturer in political science at El Colegio de México in Mexico City at the time of her birth.

When Nyong'o's father was appointed as a researcher at the University of Nairobi, the family returned to Kenya when he was less than a year old. She grew up in Nairobi, in an artistic family, and likes her upbringing as "middle class suburban." Performances by the children were often included in family get-togethers and trips to see plays. She attended Rusinga International School in Kenya and was active in school plays.

Nyong'o made her professional appearance debut in Romeo and Juliet as Juliet, a Nairobi-based repertory group Phoenix Players' production. Nyong'o appeared in the plays On The Razzle and There Goes The Bride while being a member of the Phoenix Players. Nyong'o cites Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey in The Color Purple with compelled her to pursue a career in acting.

When she was 16, her parents took her to Mexico for seven months to learn Spanish. Nyong'o lived in Taxco, Guerrero, and attended classes at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México's Learning Centre for Foreigners for seven months. Nyong'o continued to St. Mary's School in Nairobi, where she earned an IB Diploma in 2001 and came second in her class, earning a mean grade of 6 out of 7. She came from Hampshire College for college and received a degree in film and theater studies.

In 2013, her father was elected to represent Kisumu County in the Kenyan Senate, and by 2017, she became Governor. Nyong'o's mother is both the managing director of the Africa Cancer Foundation and her own communications firm. Tavia Nyong'o, a scholar and researcher at New York University; Omondi Nyong'o, a Kenyan paediatric ophthalmologist; and Isis Nyong'o, a media and technology executive who was named one of Africa's most influential young women by Forbes magazine.

Personal life

Nyong'o lives in Brooklyn, New York City. She is a fluent speaker of English, Spanish, Luo, and Swahili. She gave a talk on the beauty of Black women at the Essence Black Women in Beverly Hills on February 27, 2014, and talked about the insecurities she suffered as a child. After seeing South Sudanese model Alek Wek become a hit, she said her views had changed.

Nyong'o was recruited by the National Trust for Historic Preservation in an attempt to stop development, including a new minor league baseball stadium, in Richmond's Shockoe Bottom neighborhood. The historic district, one of Richmond's oldest, was the scene of major slave-trading before the American Civil War. Nyong'o wrote a letter to Richmond Mayor Dwight C. Jones on October 19, asking him to withhold support for the development plan, which she posted on social media. She later contributed to Conservation International's "Nature is Speaking" campaign as the flower.

Nyong'o returned to Kenya in June 2015, announcing that she will campaign for elephants globally with the international conservation group WildAid, as well as supporting women's rights, acting, and the arts in Kenya. Nyong'o has been named as the country's first Global Elephant Ambassador by WildAid.

Nyong'o is associated with Mother Health International, a non-profit group in Uganda that works to provide relief to women and children in Uganda by establishing locally based birthing centers. She said she had never thought about birthing until her sister introduced her to MHI executive director Rachel Zaslow. Nyong'o felt bringing attention to such critical yet ignored topics is a call for her as an artist. Variety has lauded her for her 2016 achievements.

Nyong'o launched an anti-poaching campaign with her group Wildaid in April 2016, well ahead of Kenya Wildlife Service's history-making ivory fire, which occurred on April 30th. In a show of their zero tolerance policy against poachers and smugglers who were threatening elephants and rhinoceros in the wild, the Kenyan government burned 105 tonnes of ivory and 1.35 tonnes of rhino horn.

In October 2017, after the Harvey Weinstein sexual harassment scandal and the MeToo campaign, Nyong'o wrote an op-ed for The New York Times revealing that Weinstein sexually assaulted her on two separate occasions when she was a Yale undergraduate. She had promised not to work with him again, so she turned down a bid to appear in Southpaw (2015), a Weinstein-distributed film. She also spoke about her decision to work with female writers, as well as male feminist directors who haven't violated their positions of authority. Nyong'o's op-ed was part of a series of articles published by The New York Times and The New York Times, which received the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service in 2018.

Nyong'o made her writing debut in a book titled Sulwe (2019), which is published by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers. Sulwe (Luo for "star") is the story of a five-year-old Kenyan girl, who has the darkest skin in her family, for which Nyong'o based her own childhood experiences. The book became a number one Best-Seller in New York City. At the 2020 NAACP Image Awards, Sulwe was voted for the 2020 Illustrator Award at the Coretta Scott King Awards, where she was named for Outstanding Literary Achievement – Children.

Nyong'o became an ambassador for Michael Kors' "Watch Hunger Stop" campaign in September. Nyong'o and her mother were honoured at The Harlem School of the Arts' Mask Ball in October with a "Visionary Lineage Award." In November, then was named "Champion of the Year" at WildAid.

Nyong'o was appointed as a member of the Africa Center's board of trustees in 2020.

Source

Career

Nyong'o began her career as part of a film crew including Fernando Meirelles's The Constant Gardener (2005), Mira Nair's The Namesake (2006), and Salvatore Stabile's Where God Left His Shoes (2006). Ralph Fiennes, the British actor of The Constant Gardener, is cited as someone who prompted her to pursue a career in acting. Nyong'o appeared in the short film East River, directed by Marc Grey and shot in Brooklyn in 2008. She returned to Kenya in the same year and appeared in the Kenyan television series Shuga, an MTV Base Africa/UNICEF drama about HIV/AIDS prevention. In 2009, she wrote, directed, and produced In My Genes, a documentary about Kenya's discriminatory treatment of the albino population. It appeared at numerous film festivals and took first prize at the 2008 Five College Film Festival. Nyong'o also produced "The Little Things You Do" by Wahu, which starred Bobi Wine, who was nominated for the Best Video Award at the MTV Africa Music Awards 2009.

At the Yale School of Drama, Nyong'o is enrolled in a master's degree program in acting. She appeared in numerous stage productions at Yale, including Gertrude Stein's Doctor Faustus Lights, Chekhov's Uncle Vanya, and William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew and The Winter's Tale. She received the Herschel Williams Award in the 2011-2012 academic year for "acting students with exceptional ability" while attending Yale.

Nyong'o was cast in Steve McQueen's historical drama 12 Years a Slave (2013) right after graduating from Yale. The film, which attracted wide critical acclaim in Washington, D.C. in 1841, is based on Solomon Northup's life (played by Chiwetel Ejiofor), a free-born African-American man of upstate New York who is kidnapped and sold into slavery. Patsey, a slave who works alongside Northup at a Louisiana cotton plantation, was portrayed by Nyong'o; her success earned rave reviews. Ian Freer, an Empire reporter, wrote that she "gives one of the most committed big-screen debuts imaginable" and Rolling Stone's Peter Travers called her "a spectacular young actress imbues Patsey with grit and radiant grace." She had been nominated for several awards during her 12 years as a Slave, including a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Supporting Role, and two Best Supporting Actress awards, among others, as well as two Screen Actors Guild Awards, including Best Supporting Actress, which she received. She also received the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, becoming the sixth black actress to win the honor. The blue Prada gown she wore to the awards attracted a lot of media attention and acclaim, being regarded as one of Hollywood's most popular red carpet gowns ever. She is the second African actress to win an Academy Award, the first Kenyan actress to win an award, and the first Mexican woman to win the award. She is also the 15th actress to win an Academy Award for her debut in a film debut.

Nyong'o co-starred in Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015) as a Force-sensitive space pirate created using motion capture technology, following his supporting role in the action-thriller Non-Stop (2014). She wanted to play a part where her appearance was not relevant, and acting provided a different challenge to her role as Patsey. Nyong'o's role as "the center of the film's best sequence" was described by Forbes' Scott Mendelson, and Stephanie Zacharek of Time magazine called her a "delightful minor character." At the 42nd Saturn Awards and Best Virtual Performance at the 2016 MTV Movie Awards, she was nominated for Best Supporting Actress and Best Virtual Performance.

Nyong'o returned to the stage in 2015 in a comedy called Eclipsed, directed by Danai Gurira. The play takes place during the Second Liberian Civil War, where the captive wives of a rebel officer banded together to form a community, until the balance of their lives are disrupted by the arrival of a new child (played by Nyong'o). Eclipsed is the fastest-selling new production in recent history, receiving the Obie Award for Outstanding Achievement in Nyong'o. The play premiered on Broadway at the John Golden Theatre the next year. It was the first Broadway performance to premiere with an all-black and female creative cast and crew. Nyong'o had understudied the play at Yale in 2009 and was afraid to perform the role onstage. In favour of the production, she turned down film roles. Nyong'o was praised as "one of the most brilliant young actors to be seen on Broadway in recent seasons," according to her, "shines with a compassion that takes us beyond the suffering to the characters' indomitable humanity." Her role in Eclipse earned her a Tony Award for Outstanding Broadway or Off-Broadway Debut Performance and a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play. In addition, she was nominated for Outstanding Actress in a Play at the Outer Critics Circle Award and a Distinguished Performance Award at the Drama League Award.

Nyong'o appeared in The Jungle Book (2016), a live-action/CGI version of the Jungle Book's 1967 animated film, voicing Raksha, a mother wolf who adopts Mowgli (played by Neel Sethi). In his review, Robbie Collin of The Telegraph said that Nyong'o brought a "gentle dignity" to her position. Phiona Mutesi, a young Ugandan chess prodigy, rose to prominence in Mira Nair's Queen of Katwe (2016), a biopic based on a true tale about a young Ugandan chess prodigy, who is now a Woman Candidate Master after her appearances at World Chess Olympiads. Nyong'o played Nakku Harriet, Phiona's protective mother. "Nyong'o is phenominious," RogerEbert.com's Brian Tallerico said. "She has a natural ability to relate backstory." "Simply magnificent in her first live action role since winning an Oscar for 12 years a Slave [...] [Nyong'o] imbues what seems to be a stock mother figure with such inner fire that Harriet feels worthy of a film all her own," Geoff Berkshire of Variety wrote.

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 Ryan Coogler's superhero film Black Panther (2018), the eighth film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Nakia, a former member of Dora Milaje, a team of women who serve as special forces of Wakanda and personal bodyguards to T'Challa / Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman). Nyong'o learned to speak Xhosa and undertook judo, jujitsu, silat, and Filipino martial arts training in preparation for the position. "The film takes the superhero cinema where it's never before," David Betancourt of the Washington Post said, adding that she "throws punches, shoots guns, and steals hearts in a role she was not prepared for." Black Panther's film, which earned over $1.34 billion worldwide, is the 11th highest-grossing film of all time. Nyong'o was nominated for the role by Saturn for Best Actress.

In the comedy horror film Little Monsters (2019), Nyong'o starred as a kindergarten teacher dealing with a zombie apocalypse. Nyong'o's "deadpan humour and grace ennoble the slapstick," Variety's Amy Nicholson wrote. The 2019 South by Southwest premiered Jordan Peele's psychological horror film Us, the upcoming release of her next film. It tells the tale of a family who is confronted by their doppelgängers. Nyong'o's dual role as the doppelgänger "an achievement on another level," Emily Yoshida of Vulture described it as "astounding" and found her appearance as the doppelgänger "an uncanny on another front; a physical, vocal, and emotional presence so surgical in its uncanniness that it almost feels like it could not be a flesh-and-blood human." For its $20 million budget, us grossed over $25 million worldwide. Nyong'o attended a maze inspired by the film and appeared inside the attraction disguised as her character Red at Universal Studios Hollywood's Halloween Horror Nights. Nyong'o received a Screen Actor Guild Award for Outstanding Achievement by a Female Actor in a Leading Role, as well as an NAACP Image Award for Best Actress.

Nyong'o narrated the Discovery Channel documentary series Serenity Channel's Serenidad, which is also published in 2019. Nyong'o discussed the lack of African women narrating nature documentaries and how the Serene team aided her to use her native Kenyan accent on the series. At the 72nd Primetime Emmy Awards, she received her first Emmy Award for her narration as an Outstanding Narrator, making her the third black woman to be nominated in the category. She was also selected for an NAACP Image Award for Character Voice-Over Performance. Lupita Nyong'o, a television presenter, hosted Warrior Women, in which she undertook a trip around Benin, West Africa, to look for the Dahomey Amazons. She left the production of The Woman King, in which she had been cast around the time of filming this film. For the third time in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Nyong'o played Maz Kanata in the final installment of the Star Wars sequel trilogy. Together at Home, she appeared on the global Citizen-organized television exhibition, as the Narrator, and Richard II of The Public Theater and WNYC as The Narrator. Nyong'o appeared in Beyoncé's musical film Black Is King, which premiered on Disney+ in July 2020.

Nyong'o has partnered with Ku Kukua, a Nairobi-based media and technology startup, to promote YouTube Originals' STEM-themed Super Sema (2021), Africa's first kid superhero animated film. Super Sema follows the life of an extraordinary young African girl, Sema, who lives in Dunia's neo-African-futuristic neighborhood. In the series, Nyong'o appears as an executive producer and voice actor. She appeared in Saheem Ali's bilingual radio play adaptation of Romeo & Juliet, titled Romeo y Julieta (2021). Who Are You, Charlie Brown, Apple TV+'s documentary, also provided narration. (2021) based on Peanuts' origins and its designer Charles M. Schulz. At the 48th Daytime Creative Arts Emmy Awards for her role in Netflix's children's program, Nyong'o received the Outstanding Limited Performance in a Children's Program category. : Celebrating Black Voices (2020). Nyong'o reprised her narration role in Serenget (2019), where she received her second Primetime Emmy Award nomination in 2021.

Nyong'o appeared in Simon Kinberg's ensemble spy thriller The 355 (2022) with Jessica Chastain, Penélope Cruz, Fan Bingbing, and Diane Kruger. Asha, a Shame Wizard who became Lionel's obsession, appeared in Netflix's adult-animated sitcom Human Resources (2022) as Asha, a Shame Wizard who became Lionel's interest. Nyong'o will reprise his role as Nakia in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, the sequel to the original Black Panther film, which is set to be released in November 2022.

Nyong'o is constructing a television series based on Chimamanda Adichie's novel Americanah, which she will produce and star in. In Born a Crime, Trevor Noah's memoir of the same name, she will produce and star. Patricia, Noah's mother, will be the protagonist. She'll 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.

Nyong'o revealed in February 2021 that she would produce an animated show based on her number one best-selling children's book, Sulwe (2019), for Netflix.

Source