I remember, wanting to be an actor from the age of around five, and because my family was really ‘performative’. We used to perform at family gathering and stuff. But what actually did it for me, was watching, “The Color Purple”, and I say Whoopi Goldberg, and she looked like me. And I was like, “Oh, I can do this, I can do this for a living”. And that is when I felt, it really became a bug.
On The Film Set, “The Constant Gardener”
My very first experience, on a film set, was on, “The Constant Gardener”. … and I had just come home from school, in Hampshire College, and they were filming in my neighbourhood, and I was like, “I have to find my way on that set”. Luckily, a friend of my, was one of the actors on the movie, and he introduced me to the production team, and they put me on probation. For a week, I was a production assistant, and then I was promoted to 1st Team PA, so my responsibility was really to look into that this is fine and everything was fine, and stuff like that. And it was incredible, to see how this, ‘big machine’, worked. And it just felt right, like that and that is, what I wanted to do.
Life As An Undergrad
From undergrad, I studied Film Studies, and African Studies as well. I went to this very Liberal Arts school, where you can design your own major. So, those were the interests that I took on. And I wanted to make a documentary, because I had never tried to do such a thing at school. The subject that I choose, at the end of the day, was ‘Albinism In Kenya’, because, I knew a person with albinism and I didn’t think about her experience, and I found myself, feeling shamed, for not understanding someone that I considered to be a friend. Albinism in particular was a very interesting subject, because they are the one group of people that unified all races. And having come to the United States, it was the first time that I had to consider myself as, ‘being black’, and to learn what my race meant, because race is such an important part of understanding American society.
12 Years a Slave
12 Years a Slave, is based on a true story of a man called, Solomon Northup, that lived in the United States, in upstate in New York, in the 1800 before the Civil War. And he was born free, he had a career, a family and children and had hopes and dreams. And in his late 20s, he got adapted and sold into slavery, in down south, in Louisiana, where he spent 12 years of his life. And the film is about that life, in slavery.
You know, one of the reasons why I enjoy acting is that, it give me a chance to experience circumstances, and lives that, I would otherwise, not have the opportunity to experience. I enjoy being able to take on different social, economic and cultural backgrounds. And so, when I was given the opportunity to play this woman, a slave, from a time that really is not part of my everyday life, I mean, it was such a gift, as an actor, to be able to lend myself to that kind of story. Our discussions were always just geared towards this character and creating a real human being, on screen.
I, of course, did what I needed to do, in order to bring that person into the room. It was really like, not only trying to find out the inner workings of a person, but also the external circumstances, and the physicalicalities that would have lent itself to that inner character. And that is what we really focused on building. So, we never had any sort of like, ‘Bigger Picture’, discussion. And I am really looking forward to such a discussion, happening on the public platform.
MINI-BIOGRAPHY: Lupita Nyong’o is an actress, film and music video director of dual Kenyan and Mexican citizenship.After graduating from Hampshire College with a bachelor’s degree in film and theatre studies, Nyong’o worked as a production assistant on several Hollywood films. In 2008 she made her acting debut with the short film East River and subsequently starred in the Kenyan television series Shuga (2009). Also in 2009, she wrote, produced and directed the documentary film In My Genes.
Nyong’o later completed a master’s degree in acting from the Yale School of Drama, followed by her first feature film role in Steve McQueen’s historical drama 12 Years a Slave (2013). Her role in the film was widely acclaimed, earning her the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, among numerous other awards and nominations. In 2014, she was named “The Most Beautiful Woman” by People.
CREDITS:
VogueVideos: http://video.vogue.com/watch/the-backstory-lupita-nyong-o
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lupita_Nyong’o
Editor’s note: Do you know of another outstanding story and or a lifestyle of a daughter of Africa, that ‘mustered‘ courage, to positively change the world around her, the MusteredLady.com would like to hear from you. Contact us through this link: http://musteredlady.com/contact/
THE BACKSTORY WITH LUPITA NYONG"O
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