“I feel very fortunate to be in this position, and I know that it means more to people because I am an African and I am dark-skinned. In many ways me being on the scene is doing for little girls everywhere what Oprah Winfrey and Whoopi Goldberg did for me. My world exploded by them being on screen. Hopefully, I will inspire and be meaningful to other people.”
Those words were spoken by Academy Award-winning actress Lupita Nyong’o during a recent interview. Some people think of her as Kenya’s gift to Hollywood, if not the world.
What she said in that interview was as eloquent and heartfelt as her Oscar acceptance speech.
NYONG’O WON in the Best Actress in a Supporting Role category for her work in the Oscar-nominated “12 Years a Slave,” based on the book by Solomon Northrup; he and John Ridley are the film’s co-writers.
For those who didn’t have the opportunity to hear the speech, excerpts follow.
“Thank you to the Academy for this incredible recognition. It doesn’t escape me for one moment that so much joy in my life is thanks to so much pain in someone else’s.
“And so I want to salute the spirit of Patsey (her character) for her guidance. And for Solomon, thank you for telling her story and your own. Steve McQueen (director), you charge everything you fashion with a breath of your own spirit.
“Chiwetel (Ejiofor, her co-star), thank you for your fearlessness and how deeply you went into Solomon, telling Solomon’s story.
“When I look down at this golden statue, may it remind me and every little child that no matter where you’re from, your dreams are valid.”
NYONG’O ALSO won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role and was nominated for a Golden Globe Award in the same category. Jennifer Hudson (“Dreamgirls”) is the only other Black actress to have won an Oscar for a film debut.
Nyong’o is the first African to win an Academy Award. That and the fact that we have a president of the United States, and hence the most powerful man in the world, who is half African are indicators that racial barriers are at least being chipped away in some respects.
“You go to acting school thinking you’re going to learn how to be other people, but really it taught me how to be myself,” she said.
“It’s in understanding yourself that you can lend yourself to another person’s circumstances and experiences.”
All of this came into play when she was studying the character of Patsey for “12 Years a Slave.”
“I WAS heartbroken by her story,” said Nyong’o. “I recognized that I had a lot of work to do to get to a point where I could play her, because that kind of sympathy for someone is no way to actually inhabit them.
“She was just trying to get by on a daily basis. She’s not sentimental about her pain. I had to have the same kind of attitude.”
Though her parents — father Peter Anyang’ Nyong’o and mother Dorothy Nyong’o — are Kenyans, Lupita Amondi Nyong’o was actually born in Mexico City, Mexico.
The family had been residing in Mexico for several years when Lupita was born on March 1, 1983. Her father was a visiting political science lecturer in Mexico City at the time.
The Nyong’os returned to Kenya when their daughter was less than a year old. The patriarch of the family was chosen to be a professor at the University of Nairobi. He was a man of many accomplishments, later being elected to the Kenyan Senate, representing Kisumu County.
NYONG’O, WHO began acting professionally at the age of 14, graduated from Hampshire College in the United States (Amherst, Massachusetts), earning a degree in film and theater studies.
After that she enrolled in the Yale School of Drama from which she graduated with a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree.
During her college years she appeared in an array of stage productions and did some film and television work.
She also developed a keen interest in fashion. In fact, today fashion writers, television reporters, the general public, etc. highly anticipate seeing what chic gown Nyong’o has chosen for this particular occasion.
And in every case, thus far, she has been “a hit.” Entertainment Weekly magazine devoted a whole page to Nyong’o and her glamorous, colorful gowns. Top designers are lining up hoping to dress the actress.
For the Academy Awards she chose a beautiful powder blue gown by Prada.
Not everyone is comfortable watching movies like “12 Years a Slave.” In fact, while not denying its excellence, some refuse to see it ever while others say “maybe later on.”
But Lupita Nyong’o says, “There was so much joy in the making of this film, despite the fact that it’s about such a sad, traumatic experience. We all felt like we were a part of something so real and so necessary.”
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