Lupita Nyong’o is one of the young and talented actresses in Hollywood, especially after her breakout and Oscar Award winning performance in 12 Years a Slave. She has become a fixture on magazine covers and people honestly cannot seem to get enough of her.
Below I will highlight 32 super cool facts about Lupita Nyong’o, some of them are pretty neat and others will put a smile on your face.
1. She Was Born in Mexico City, Mexico
Lupita Nyong’o, the second of six children, was born in Mexico City. Her parents moved to Mexico as her father taught political science at the Colegio de México. Her father was in political exile as he had been fighting for democracy against Kenya’s then government. Lupita left Mexico when she was one year old, where she went back her native Kenya. She considers herself Mexican-Kenyan.
2. She is Indirectly Related to Barack Obama
Lupita’s family is from the Luo tribe in Kenya. This is the same tribe of President Obama’s father.
3. There is a Meaning Behind Her Name
Lupita is of Luo descent, one of the largest ethnic groups in Kenya. Traditionally, Luo people name their child after the events of the day. Her parents gave her a Spanish name, Lupita, which is a diminutive of Guadalupe. Lupita went on to explain some more about her name: In an interview with Dinner Party Download, she stated that “my parents chose that name in particular because in our language it made some sense as well. We’re from the Luo ethnic group and to ‘luo’ means to follow, and my father’s name is Peter, so they thought it would be smart to call me Lupita because I followed my father to Mexico.”
4. She Drank A Whole Bottle of Cough Syrup as a Child
As a child, she drank a whole bottle of Linctifed cough syrup. “There’s this cough syrup called Linctifed, and it was red and it was delicious. I went and I drank the whole bottle of it, and then I replaced it with water. I got into a lot of trouble for that.”
5. Her First Play was Oliver Twist
When Lupita moved back to Kenya, she enrolled at the Rusinga International school. Here she started acting and her first performance was a minor role in the play Oliver Twist.
6. She Acted Professionally at 14
Lupita made her professional acting debut at the age of 14 for the Nairobi-based repertory company Phoenix Players. She played the role of Juliet in the production of Romeo and Juliet.
7. She Loved American Comedies Growing Up
As a teen growing up, Lupita was a big fan of American comedies such as Step by Step, Fresh Prince of Bel Air,Hangin’ With Mr. Cooper.
8. She Designed Her Own Prom Dress
Lupita found it cheaper to design her own clothes than buy it retail. She made many different outfits throughout her teen years and she actually designed her own prom dress. She remembered it clearly: ‘a velvet miniskirt with a matching little top and an iridescent silver translucent fabric that flowed to the ground’.
9. She Moved to Mexico at 16 to Learn Spanish
At the age of 16, Lupita moved back to her birth country, Mexico so that she could learn Spanish. She was there for seven months, living in Taxco, Guerrero. She did her Spanish classes at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México’s Learning Center for Foreigners.
10. Her Role Model Growing Up Was Whoopi Goldberg
For Lupita, it was watching the movie The Color Purple and seeing Whoppi Goldberg’s Oscar nominated performance that made her really consider being an actress. Lupita explains this in her interview with Dazed Digital: “The first time I thought I could be an actor was seeing The Color Purple. Whoopi Goldberg looked like me, she had hair like mine, she was dark like me. I’d been starved for images of myself. I had grown up watching a lot of American TV. There was very little Kenyan material, because we had an autocratic ruler who stifled our creative expression.”
11. There Was a Time Lupita Did not Feel Beautiful
Lupita graces magazine covers and is seen as a stunning beauty, but for a good majority of her life she did not feel that she was beautiful. It was not until she saw supermodel Alek Wek, that she changed the way she felt about herself and began to embrace her beauty.
12. She Got Her Undergraduate Degree at Hampshire College
Lupita got her Bachelor’s of Arts degree Film Studies from Hampshire College in Massachusetts.
13. She Directed Her Own Documentary
Lupita wrote, directed and produced the documentary In My Genes, which is about the treatment of Kenya’s albino population. It played at several film festivals and won first prize at the 2008 Five College Film Festival.
14. She Also Directed A Music Video
15. Ralph Fiennes Gave Her an Important Piece of Advice
Lupita worked as a runner for Ralph Fiennes on the set of Constant Gardener. She told him she wanted to be an actor and he gave her an important piece of advice. He said ‘Lupita, only be an actor if you feel there is nothing else in the world you what to do – only do it if you feel you cannot live without acting’. Lupita admitted that “It wasn’t what I wanted to hear, but it was the thing I needed to hear.”
16. She Got Her Masters from Yale
She enrolled in a master’s degree program in acting at the Yale School of Drama. At Yale she performed in many plays, including Doctor Faustus Lights the Lights,Uncle Vanya, The Taming of the Shrew, and The Winter’s Tale. During the 2011–12 academic year, Lupita won the Herschel Williams Prize for “acting students with outstanding ability”.
17. 12 Years a Slave Was Her First Feature Film Role
The breakthrough role of Patsey in the historical drama 12 Years a Slave was Lupita Nyong’os first feature film. She admitted that she doesn’t think it would have been possible to play Patsey, if it weren’t for her training from Yale.
18. She Beat Thousands of Actresses for the Part
12 Years a Slave director Steve McQueen had watched through thousands of video submission until he came upon Lupita’s video. He was blown away by her performance and stated in an interview that “I first saw Lupita on tape, and at first I thought it was a mirage, in a way.”
19. Lupita Cried for an Hour After Watching 12 Years a Slave
When she watched her performance in 12 Years a Slave for the first time, Lupita stated that she was ‘inconsolable. I wept for an hour’
20. She Created History With Her Oscar Win
With her Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, Lupita became the first Kenyan and Mexican to win the award. She was also the sixth black actress to win an Academy Award.
21. She Was in the Most Tweeted Photo of All Time
During the 2014 Ocars, host Ellen Degeneres decided to take a selfie. This went on to be the most re tweeted photo of all time.
22. She is Afraid of Heights
In an interview with dazeddigital.com, Lupita stated that “I’m afraid of heights but I want to go indoor rock climbing.”
23. She Loves Braiding Hair
One of the things Lupita loves to do is braid hair. She explained her love by stating that ‘braiding hair is an intimate thing. ‘It’s getting up close and personal, and I like to do it for people that I know and love and trust.’ She got into hair braiding while she attended Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts. She looked back at where it all started. ‘When I was in undergrad here in the U.S., I really wanted to get my hair braided. I took this Peter Pan bus to New York to get it braided at the African hair salons, and I was so morbidly disappointed.’ With the disappointment of her hair braiding experience, she went to Kenya for summer break and that is where she visited her aunt’s hair salon. It was there Lupita learned how to twist, cornrow and do box-braids.
24. She Shaved Her Head at 19
Getting fed up of having to deal with long hair, Lupita made the decision at 19 to shave it off. She said, “I got fed up of going to the hair salon. I just wanted less time grooming so that I could get more stuff done.”
25. Her Favorite Singer is John Legend
And last night with @JohnLegend. #AllOfMeTour. A beautiful show! There was #LoveInTheAir. A photo posted by Lupita Nyong’o (@lupitanyongo) on
Lupita has confessed that John Legend is her favorite singer and she got the opportunity to meet John during his North American “All Of Me Tour” which has been described as ‘ Intimate, raw, and unplugged ‘and ‘unlike any tour done before.’
26. She Speaks 4 Languages Fluently
She can speak Luo, English, Swahili, and Spanish fluently. She also has a basic understanding of Italian.
27. She Currently Has 2 Favorite Television Shows
Two of Lupita’s favorite television shows include Orange is the New Black and Scandal.
28. She Was the Face of Miu Miu’s 2014 Campaign
After her breakout performance, Lupita started getting the attention of fashion houses around the globe. Her stunning looks allowed her to grab the 2014 spring/summer campaign for Italian brand Miu Miu.
29. She’s Got a Cousin Who is Also Famous
It seems that Lupita’s family is pretty successful in their own right. She has a cousin, Isis, who made the list of one of the Most Successful Woman in Africa by Forbes magazine.
30. Her Favorite Food is Sukuma Wiki & Ugali
A photo posted by Lupita Nyong’o (@lupitanyongo) on
Sukuma wiki when transltated means to “push the week” or “stretch the week”. It is a vegetable that is similar to kale. Ugali is cornmeal, cooked with water to give a porridge or dough like consistency.
31. She Loves Pineapple Juice
In an interview with Vogue, she made it known that she absolutely loves pineapple juice.
32. She is Pretty Good With a Hoola Hoop
