Lupita Nyong'o Won the Oscar - Meet the Mexico-Born Woman Behind the Dress Olivia Truffaut-Wong - Uinterview
go to original March 4, 2014

The Backstory: Lupita Nyong'o (Vogue)

Lupita Nyong’o picked up her first Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her work in 12 Years A Slave Sunday night, giving what was arguably the best speech of the night, but who is this newcomer?

Lupita Nyong’o was born in Mexico in 1983, the second of six children, but moved with her family to Kenya when she was one. Her parents, both Kenyan, had moved their family to Mexico after her father’s brother went missing. Nyong’o’s father had been working as a democratic revolutionary in Kenya, rebelling against the autocratic regime, and feared that he might go missing as well. (Lupita was named for the circumstances of her birth – Lupita is a diminutive of Guadalupe.) Her father is now a highly regarded Kenyan politician. While Nyong’o considers herself a Kenyan, she traveled back to Mexico at the age of 16 and learned Spanish, an experience she describes as being extremely valuable.

“My conscious life has all been in Kenya and it’s my point of reference. But going back to Mexico was very formative,” she has said of the experience.

Nyong’o attended Hampshire College, where she studied Film Studies and Africana Studies. During Nyong’os time at Hampshire College, she wrote and directed a documentary, In My Genes, on albinism and worked as a PA (production assistant) on The Constant Gardner while she was home on summer break. The experience, she says, strengthened her desire to be an actress and she even got some advice from star Ralph Finnes.

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