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Lupita Nyong’o has opened up about the types of roles she’s gotten since her breakout role in ‘The Night Is All Over.’
In conversation with actress and musician Angelique Kidjo on CNN, Nyong’o, 42, reflected on the aftermath of her big screen debut, which won her the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 2014.
Winning the Oscar “was the first movie I ever acted in,” the actress recalled. “So that really set the pace for everything I’ve done since then.”
The Kenyan-Mexican actress went on to say that many of the subsequent offers she received were limited to stereotypes. “What’s interesting is, after I win the Academy Award, you think I’m going to get leading roles here and there.[Instead]’Oh, Lupita. We want you to do another movie where you’re a slave, but this time you’re on a slave ship.'” I was getting offers like that in the months after I won the Academy Award. ”
Francois Duhamel/Fox Searchlight/Courtesy of Everett Collection
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After her breakout performance in “It’s Still Morning”, the Yale School of Drama graduate booked motion-capture and voice-over roles in “Star Wars” and “The Jungle Book.” Following a supporting role in 2018’s Black Panther, Nyong’o landed her first lead role in the 2019 horror hit Us.
“It was a very tender time,” Nyong’o told Kidjo, 65, of the years after his first success. “There are expectations for you and your career. There were also thoughts of, ‘Is this the beginning or the end of this dark-skinned African woman’s career?'” At the end of the day, I’m not a theory, so I had to listen to all these popes. I’m a real person. ”
She added, “I want to be a joyful warrior who changes the paradigm of what it means to be African. If that means working one less job a year to avoid perpetuating the stereotypes expected of African people, then so be it.”
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Nyong’o helmed last year’s A Quiet Place: Day One and the animated hit Wild Robot. This summer, she returned to her theatrical roots in the Public Theater’s Shakespeare in the Park production of Twelfth Night. Next up is Christopher Nolan’s movie “The Odyssey” (released in theaters on July 17, 2026).
