… she was noticed for her empathetic role in 12 years a slave, Lupita Nyong’o our MBBA wonder woman Wednesday.
ACCOLADES
Lupita Amondi Nyong’o was born 1 March 1983. The daughter of Kenyan politician Peter Anyang’ Nyong’o and Dorothy Ogada Buyu, Nyong’o. Mexico city, where her father was teaching, and was raised in Kenya from age one. She attended college in the United States, earning a bachelor’s degree in film and theatre studies from Hampshire College.
Nyong’o began her career in Hollywood as a production assistant. In 2008, she made her acting debut with the short film East River and subsequently returned to Kenya to star in the television series Shuga from 2009 to 2012.
Also in 2009, she wrote, produced and directed the documentary In My Genes. She then pursued a master’s degree in acting from the Yale School of Drama. Soon after her graduation in 2013, she had her first feature film role as Patsey in Steve McQueen’s biographical period drama 12 Years a Slave, for which she received critical acclaim and won several awards, including the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She became the first Kenyan and Mexican actress to win an Academy Award.
Nyong’o made her Broadway debut as a teenage orphan in the play Eclipsed in 2015, 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 from 2015 to 2019 and a lead voice role as Raksha in The Jungle Book in 2016. Nyong’o’s career progressed with her role as Nakia in the Marvel Cinematic Universe superhero film Black Panther (2018) and her starring role in Jordan Peele’s critically acclaimed horror film Us (2019).
supports historic preservation. She is vocal about preventing sexual harassment, working for women’s andIn addition to acting, Nyong’o animal rights. In 2014, she was named the most beautiful woman by People.
Nyong’o has also written a children’s book named Sulwe (2019), which became a number one New York Times Best-Seller. Also in 2019, Nyong’o narrated the Discovery Channel docu-series Serengeti, which earned her a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Narrator. Nyong’o was named among Africa’s “50 Most Powerful Women” by Forbes in 2020.
Nyong’o resides in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. She is a fluent speaker of Swahili, Spanish, Luo, and English. On 27 February 2014, at the Essence Black Women In Hollywood luncheon in Beverly Hills, she gave a speech on the beauty of black women and talked about the insecurities she had as a teenager. She said her views changed when she saw South Sudanese supermodel Alek Wek become successful.
ADVOCACY FOR WOMEN AND CHILDREN.
Nyong’o is involved in the organisation Mother Health International, which is dedicated to providing relief to women and children in Uganda by creating locally engaged birthing centres. She said she’d never thought much about birthing practices until her sister introduced her to MHI executive director Rachel Zaslow. Nyong’o felt bringing attention to such important but overlooked issues is a mandate for her as an artist. She was honoured for her work in 2016 by Variety.
In September 2019, Nyong’o became an ambassador for Michael Kors’ “Watch Hunger Stop” campaign.
In October, Nyong’o and her mother were honoured at The Harlem School of the Arts’ Mask Ball with a “Visionary Lineage Award”. Then, she was honoured at WildAid to receive the “Champion of the Year” award in November.
In 2020, The Africa Center announced Nyong’o as a member of its Board of Trustees.
NETWORTH
Lupita Nyong’o has a net worth of $10 million dollars