Lupita Nyong’o
Birthdate – March 1, 1983 (41 Years Old)
Birthplace – Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico
Lupita Nyong’o (birthname: Lupita Amondi Nyong’o) enjoyed one of the most extraordinary breakthroughs of any actor in recent film history when—after acting in only a few short films and one British TV series—she appeared as the slave Patsey in Steve McQueen’s acclaimed drama, 12 Years a Slave (2013), for which she won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar in 2014.
Before this, Nyong’o—who had trained as an actor in Kenya and the U.S.—worked as a production runner (on The Constant Gardener (2005)), as well as sound editor, film editor assistant, and art director intern, and a director of the feature documentary, In My Genes (2009).
Immediately after earning her acting MFA at the Yale School of Drama, Nyong’o was cast in 12 Years a Slave, with Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender, Benedict Cumberbatch, Brad Pitt, Paul Dano, Paul Giamatti, Alfre Woodard, and Sarah Paulson, earning nine times its $22 million price tag, for a global take of nearly $188 million.
Nyong’o had a supporting role in the Jaume Collet-Serra-directed thriller starring Liam Neeson, Non-Stop (2014), with Julianne Moore and Anson Mount. Nyong’o became a part of two major franchises, first as the character Maz Kanata in Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015), directed by J.J. Abrams; Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017), directed by Rian Johnson; and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019), directed by Abrams and co-starring Mark Hamill, Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Domhnall Gleeson, and Billy Dee Williams, with the three movies earning a total box-office take of $4.4 billion.
Lupita Nyong’o branched out to voice and motion capture acting in the extremely successful Jon Favreau-directed remake for Disney, The Jungle Book (2016), with Bill Murray, Ben Kingsley, Idris Elba, Scarlett Johansson, Giancarlo Esposito, and Christopher Walken, and grossing just under $967 million. Nyong’o continued with Disney in her first starring role, Queen of Katwe (2016), co-starring David Oyewolo and Madina Nawanga and directed by Mira Nair. However, it was Nyong’o’s first feature to lose money (a $10.4 million global take).
Lupita Nyong’o’s second major franchise casting was as Nakia in writer-director Ryan Coogler’s Afro-Futurist epic for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Black Panther (2018), starring the late Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan, Danai Gurira, Martin Freeman, Daniel Kaluuya, Letitia Wright, Angela Bassett, and Forest Whitaker, and earning $1.35 billion worldwide, becoming the highest-grossing film ever made by a Black filmmaker.
Nyong’o parlayed her new-found stardom into another starring role in the zombie comedy, Little Monsters (2019), premiering at the Sundance Film Festival and a theatrical release by Neon, immediately followed by streaming on Hulu. Nyong’o won Best Actress from the New York Film Critics Circle for her stunning double performance in Jordan Peele’s second, acclaimed horror thriller, Us (2019), with Winston Duke, Elisabeth Moss, and Tim Heidecker, going on to earn $255 million globally, or ten times budget ($20 million).
After the failed all-woman spy thriller, The 355 (2022)—with Nyong’o co-starring with Diane Kruger, Penelope Cruz, Jessica Chastain, and Fan Bingbing—Nyong’o returned to the role of Nakia in Coogler’s hotly anticipated follow-up, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022), with a return of the original (except for the late Boseman). Nyong’o was cast in the anticipated third entry in the A Quiet Place post-alien invasion saga, A Quiet Place: Day One (2024), directed by Michael Sarnoski.
Nyong’o then starred in a voice role for DreamWorks Animation’s final in-house feature, director-writer Chris Sanders’ sci-fi survival adventure based on Peter Brown’s book series, The Wild Robot (2024), with the voice cast of Pedro Pascal, Kit Connor, Bill Nighy, Stephanie Hsu, Mark Hamill, and Catherine O’Hara, and released by Universal Pictures. Nyong’o co-starred with Chloë Grace Moretz in co-writer/director James M. Johnston’s drama about women UFC fighters, Strawweight (date to be announced).
Personal Details
Lupita Nyong’o was born in Mexico City to her Kenyan-born parents Peter Anyang’ Nyong’o (university professor at El Colegio de Mexico) and Dorothy Ogada Buyu, who lived in exile in the Mexican capital, after Peter’s brother, Charles, was a victim of apparent political violence. When Nyong’o was one year old, her family returned to Nairobi, where her father, Peter, taught at the University of Nairobi.
Nyong’o’s brother is a Junior. She schooled at Rusinga International School and started acting in plays there. At 14, Nyong’o professionally debuted as a stage actor with Phoenix Players in Nairobi. Two years later, she studied Spanish in Taxco, Mexico, and studied at Universidad Nacional Autonomia de Mexico’s Learning Centre for Foreigners.
Nyong’o was second in her class at Nairobi’s St. Mary’s School; she later graduated from Hampshire College with a film and theater studies major. She gained her MFA in acting at the Yale School of Drama, where she won the Hershel Williams Prize in the 2011-2012 academic year. Nyong’o’s height is 5’ 5”. Her estimated net worth is $10 million.
Filmography
Black Panther
Nakia (2018)
Black Panther: 2020 Re-release
Nakia (2020)
Us
Adelaide Wilson (2019)
The 355
Khadijah Adiyeme (2022)
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Nakia (2022)
Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker
Maz Kanata (2019)
Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi
Maz Kanata (2017)
A Quiet Place: Day One
Samira (2024)
The Wild Robot
Roz (2024)
Some Facts About Lupita Nyong’o
What’s in a Name?: Lupita Nyong’o’s first name is the diminutive of the beloved Mexican name, Guadalupe; her Kenyan parents named her in the tradition of her Kenyan tribal group, the Luo, who named their children after current events. The proper pronunciation of her first name renders the N and G silent, as in “Yono.”
Identity: Nyong’o identifies as Kenyan-Mexican, and holds dual Kenyan and Mexican citizenship.
Distinguished Family: Lupita Nyong’o’s Kenyan family includes an elected Senator and Governor (her father), the owner of a communications company (her mother), an NYU professor (cousin Tavia), a pediatric ophthalmologist, a major Kenyan technology expert and animator, a media-tech leader named one of Africa’s most powerful young women by Forbes magazine.
Multilingual: Nyong’o is fluent in English, Spanish, Luo, and Swahili.
Oscar First: Lupita Nyong’o was the first Kenyan actor to win an Academy Award.
Awards
Winner, Best Supporting Actress, Academy Awards (2014); Two-time Nominee, Emmy Awards, Best Narrator (2020, 2022); Two-time Nominee, Best Supporting Actress/Rising Star Award, BAFTA Awards (2014); Winner, Best Supporting Female, Independent Spirit Awards (2014); Nominee, Best Supporting Actress, Golden Globes Awards (2014); Winner, Best Supporting Actress, Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards (2013); Winner, Best Actress, New York Film Critics Circle Awards (2019); Winner, Breakthrough Performance Award, Palm Springs Film Festival (2014); Two-time Winner, Best Supporting Female Actor/Best Motion Picture Cast, Screen Actors Guild Awards (2014, 2019).
