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Lupita Nyong’o. Her name is synonymous with all but a handful of screen credits. Those carefully selected scripts though – some calling for characters who were sadistically oppressed (12 Years A Slave), others demanding of the actress to be “formidable” and “fierce” (The Queen Of Katwe) – all have been examples of storytelling in its most powerful, complex and layered form. The two films aforementioned were untold stories of going against life’s odds, a sentiment the just-turned-34-year-old tells GRAZIA she too experienced in her life when she decided from her family farm in Kenya in East Africa that she wanted to be an actress in Hollywood. “My decision to look to America and to try out for the drama graduate programs was a big step for me,” she says from Atlanta down the phone line, her voice articulate and poised. “Hundreds or thousands [of people] apply to these schools so it was a big thing to admit to myself that being an actress was what I wanted to do with my life with very little precedence in my immediate surroundings.”
“It was an unlikely thing to achieve coming all the way from Kenya.”
This narrative was cemented when Nyong’o won Best Supporting Actress at the 2014 Academy Awards. There, in a powder blue Prada sitting next to Angelina Jolie, her name was called to the stage for her emotional portrayal of the heroic Patsey in Steve McQueen’s 12 Years A Slave (many will have the horrific scene where her character was epically whipped by her volatile master forever etched in their minds.) But it was her acceptance speech that had the room captivated and turned her from fleeting wonder to a mononymous name; Lupita. “It doesn’t escape me for one moment that so much joy in my life is thanks to so much pain in someone elses. And so I want to salute the spirit of Patsey for her guidance,” she said. “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.”
Going forth, the Mexican-born, Kenyan-raised actress chose every venture carefully. The second of six children, Nyong’o grew up in a prominent Kenyan family, her father a senator and well-known political activist who encouraged his children to negotiate privilege. After her Oscar win, Nyong’o starred in Broadway’s Eclipsed, an all female cast which told of the penurious experiences and brutal violence of the Liberian civil war. Then, in September of 2016, we sunk into our cinema seats as Nyong’o played Harriet; a fiery mother of four making ends meet in the crumbling township of Uganda in Queen Of Katwe, the role her most defining since Patsey.
Next, she’ll reprise her role as pirate Maz Kanata in J.J. Abram’s Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi . She’ll then play Nakia in Marvel’s next comic-come-film Black Panther (but as she’s in the middle of filming this one, this is a conversation for another time, Nyong’o tells me).
Today though we’re speaking to her as the famous Vanity Fair pull-out cover hits newsstands and newsfeeds across the globe. Two years since that first Oscars win and the promise to children everywhere that the phrase “if you can make it here, you can make it anywhere” isn’t exclusive to New York, the actress joined Emma Stone, Natalie Portman and Amy Adams. “Oh it was a wonderful experience to do that cover again!” Nyong’o lights up. “We don’t often get chances to hang out all day so it was nice.”
It’s a long way from Kenya. And, as you’ll read shortly, her mother’s big-time dream tracking system worked wonders.
GRAZIA: You’ve said you want to create opportunities for people of colour and diversify the African voice. Every film you do, every interview you are a part of and every magazine cover you grace, aids this plight. What is your hope for future generations?
NYONG’O: “Well I hope that to be African would be normalised, really, on a global level. You know, what I would love most is the normalising of an African experience and for it to be it’s authentic self.”
GRAZIA: Your mum had “dream charts” when you were younger and would encourage you and your siblings to think about short-term, mid-term and long-term goals. What is your long-term dream today?
NYONG’O: “Oh, my long term dream! [Laughs]. My long term dream is to… what is it? [Laughs]. I definitely want to live in a compound with lots of grass and that’s long term because I live in and love New York and there’s no green here!”
GRAZIA: You live in Brooklyn which is a world away form Kenya. What is one thing you miss the most about Africa?
NYONG’O: “I miss the snacks! I love my Kenyan snacks. We eat Bajra seeds, deep fried lentils, deep fried peas – things you just don’t find easily here.”
GRAZIA: In the Queen Of Katwe, you played Harriet. She’s a strong, proud, fierce and feisty mother who tries desperately to stay true to her beliefs and keep her family together. Where did you draw the strength from that Harriet’s character required?
NYONG’O: “Well, I met the real Harriet and I was definitely inspired by her. She is quite a formidable character. She lived a very tough life and I asked her a lot of questions about her upbringing and things like that and how she got to the point where she let [her daughter] Phiona go out and join this chess academy. She was very pragmatic as well, she was very protective of her children and would do anything for them except compromise her principles. That was something that I definitely wanted to honour, a women who had a very strong centre and was extremely grounded by all the stuff that was being hurled at her and would just do anything for her children.”
GRAZIA: At just 33-years-old, you were playing a young mother of four. Did you mum help you get into character?
NYONG’O: “[Laughs] No, but when I was preparing for the role, it was very daunting to take on motherhood in this very intense way and having no children of my own. So I did reflect a lot on what my relationship with my mother was and I ended up apologising to her a lot for all of the headache and heartache that I had given her as a child! In taking on the mother role, I realise what a sacrifice it is for a mother to let her children go on a daily basis. Because, it’s like a part of you is out of your control, out of your grasp and it’s very scary. I experienced that in preparing to play Harriet, the feeling of responsibility for another life and yet being unable to protect it from everything all the time, that’s a very hard position to be in. As children, we don’t consider that sacrifice when we’re off doing foolish things. Like, jumping in front of bicycles and what not.”
Queen Of Katwe releases on Digital, Blu-Ray and DVD in Australia on March 8.
