Lupita Nyong'o

Nyong'o was born on 1 March 1983, in Mexico City, Mexico, to Kenyan parents, Dorothy Ogada Buyu and Peter Anyang' Nyong'o, a college professor. The family had left Kenya in 1980 for a period because of political repression and unrest; Peter's brother, Charles Nyong'o, disappeared after he was thrown off a ferry in 1980.

Nyong'o later attended St. Mary's School in Nairobi, where she received an IB Diploma in 2001. She went to the United States for college, graduating from Hampshire College with a degree in film and theatre studies.

In 2008, Nyong'o starred in the short film East River, directed by Marc Grey and shot in Brooklyn. She returned to Kenya that same year and appeared in the Kenyan television series Shuga, an MTV Base Africa/UNICEF drama about HIV/AIDS prevention. In 2009, she wrote, directed, and produced the documentary In My Genes, about the discriminatory treatment of Kenya's albino population. It played at several film festivals and won first prize at the 2008 Five College Film Festival. Nyong'o also directed the music video "The Little Things You Do" by Wahu, featuring Bobi Wine, which was nominated for the Best Video Award at the MTV Africa Music Awards 2009.

In 2013, her father was elected to represent Kisumu County in the Kenyan Senate and by 2017, he became Governor. Nyong'o's mother is the managing director of the Africa Cancer Foundation and her own communications company. Other family members include Tavia Nyong'o, a scholar and professor at New York University; Omondi Nyong'o, a paediatric ophthalmologist in Palo Alto, California, US; Kwame Nyong'o, one of Kenya's leading animators and leading technology expert; and Isis Nyong'o, a media and technology leader who was named one of Africa's most powerful young women by Forbes magazine.

Nyong'o resides in Brooklyn, New York. She is a fluent speaker of Swahili, Spanish, Luo, and English. On 27 February 2014, at the Essence Black Women In Hollywood luncheon in Beverly Hills, she gave a speech on the beauty of black women and talked about the insecurities she had as a teenager. She said her views changed when she saw South Sudanese supermodel Alek Wek become successful.

In 2014, the National Trust for Historic Preservation recruited Nyong'o in an effort to oppose development, including a new minor league baseball stadium, in the Shockoe Bottom area of Richmond, Virginia. The historic neighbourhood, one of Richmond's oldest, was the site of major slave-trading before the American Civil War. On 19 October 2014, Nyong'o sent a letter to Richmond Mayor Dwight C. Jones, which she posted on social media sites, asking him to withdraw support for the development proposal. She later lent her voice in Conservation International's "Nature is Speaking" campaign as the flower.

Nyong'o was included in Derek Blasberg's 2013 best-dressed list in Harper's Bazaar. In 2014, she was chosen as one of the faces for Miu Miu's spring campaign, with Elizabeth Olsen, Elle Fanning and Bella Heathcote. She has also appeared on the covers of several magazines, including New York's spring fashion issue and the UK magazine Dazed & Confused. In April of that year, she was named "The Most Beautiful Woman" by People. and was named the new face of Lancôme, making her the first black woman to appear on the brand. Later that November, she was named "Woman of the Year" by Glamour.

Nyong'o was on the July 2014 cover of Vogue, making her the second African woman and ninth black woman to cover the magazine. That same month she also appeared on the cover of July's issue of Elle (France). She appeared on the October 2015 issue of American Vogue, making it her second cover in a row. That month, Congressman Charles Rangel and Voza Rivers, the head of the New Heritage Theatre Group, announced the day is officially "Lupita Nyong'o Day" in Harlem, New York. The honour was announced as a surprise during an open discussion between Nyong'o and image activist Michaela Angela Davis at Mist Harlem.

In 2015, Nyong'o returned to stage with a starring role as an unnamed girl in the play Eclipsed, written by Danai Gurira. The play takes place during the chaos of the Second Liberian Civil War, where the captive wives of a rebel officer band together to form a community, until the balance of their lives are upset by the arrival of a new girl (played by Nyong'o). Eclipsed became The Public Theater's fastest-selling new production in recent history and won Nyong'o an Obie Award for Outstanding Performance. The play premiered on Broadway at the John Golden Theatre the following year. It was the first play to premiere on Broadway with an all-black and female creative cast and crew. Nyong'o said that she understudied the play at Yale in 2009 and was terrified to play the character on stage. Her performance met with critical acclaim. The New York Times' critic Charles Isherwood called Nyong'o "one of the most radiant young actors to be seen on Broadway in recent seasons, shines with a compassion that makes us see beyond the suffering to the indomitable humanity of its characters." Nyong'o's performance in Eclipsed earned her a Theatre World Award for Outstanding Broadway or Off-Broadway Debut Performance and a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play. In addition, she was nominated for Outstanding Actress in a Play at the Outer Critics Circle Award and a Distinguished Performance Award at the Drama League Award. Nyong'o said that she turned down Hollywood films for the part.

In June 2015, Nyong'o returned to Kenya and announced that she will advocate globally for elephants with the international conservation organisation WildAid, as well as promote women's issues, acting and the arts in Kenya. WildAid announced Nyong'o as their Global Elephant Ambassador.

Nyong'o was mentioned in Christian rapper Lecrae's song "Nuthin'" from his 2014 album Anomaly and was referenced by Jay-Z in his verse from Jay Electronica's song "We Made It". She was also mentioned in the parody song "American Apparel Ad Girls" by the drag queens Willam Belli, Courtney Act and Alaska Thunderfuck. Nyong'o was mentioned in the 2015 African song "Nerea" by Kenyan afro-pop band Sauti Sol. Rapper Nicki Minaj mentioned Lupita in her verse on A$AP Ferg's remix of "Plain Jane" and was referenced by rapper Wale in his song "Black is Gold". Singer Beyoncé mentioned Nyong'o in the single "Brown Skin Girl" from The Lion King Soundtrack (2019).

Nyong'o is involved in the organisation Mother Health International, which is dedicated to providing relief to women and children in Uganda by creating locally engaged birthing centres. She said she'd never thought much about birthing practices until her sister introduced her to MHI executive director Rachel Zaslow. Nyong'o felt bringing attention to such important but overlooked issues is a mandate for her as an artist. She was honoured for her work in 2016 by Variety.

In April 2016, Nyong'o launched an anti-poaching "hearts and minds" campaign with her organisation Wildaid in advance of Kenya Wildlife Service's history-making ivory burn that occurred 30 April. The Kenyan government burned 105 tonnes of ivory and 1.35 tonnes of rhino horn in a demonstration of their zero tolerance approach to poachers and smugglers who were threatening the survival of elephants and rhinoceros in the wild.

Nyong'o was included in Annie Leibovitz's 2016 Vanity Fair's Hollywood Issue. Nyong'o was honoured with a caricature portrait in May 2016 at Sardi's restaurant in New York City for her debut on Broadway. That July, she was chosen as one of the first celebrities, alongside with Elle Fanning, Christy Turlington Burns, and Natalie Westling to star in Tiffany & Co.'s Fall 2016 campaign styled by Grace Coddington. Nyong'o appeared on Vogue′s October 2016 cover, making it her third issue. That month, she was an honouree at the 2016 Elle Women in Hollywood Awards.

In October 2017, Nyong'o wrote an op-ed for The New York Times, in which she revealed that Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein had sexually harassed her twice in 2011, while she was a student at Yale. She vowed that she would never work with Weinstein, hence her turning down a role in Southpaw (2015). Nyong'o also wrote about her commitment to work with female directors or male feminist directors, who had not abused their power. This op-ed was part of a collection of stories done by The New York Times and The New Yorker that won the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service.

In January 2017, she appeared on the cover of Vanity Fair's Hollywood Issue. She later appeared on the cover of UK's The Sunday Times Magazine for their October 2017 issue. In November 2017, she appeared on the cover of Grazia UK magazine. She later expressed her disappointment with the cover on social media for altering her hair to fit European standards of what hair should look like. Photographer An Le later apologised in a statement, saying it was "an incredibly monumental mistake". Nyong'o often speaks out about embracing her "African kinky hair" and collaborates with hairdresser Vernon François to show how versatile her hair texture is.

In December 2017, Nyong'o landed her fourth Vogue cover in a row for the January 2018 issue, making her the first black actress to do so. She was also included in Tim Walker's 2018 Alice's Adventures in Wonderland - themed Pirelli Calendar as character The Dormouse.

In June 2018, The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce announced Nyong'o will be among the honourees to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in the film category. The following month, Nyong'o starred with fellow actress Saoirse Ronan for a Calvin Klein campaign for their new fragrance entitled "Calvin Klein Women". The campaign features both striking, minimalist portraits of the award-winning actresses alongside women they have personally been inspired by, where Nyong'o named Eartha Kitt and Katharine Hepburn as her inspirations. In October 2018, Nyong'o became a two-time honouree, alongside her Black Panther co-stars Danai Gurira and Angela Bassett for Elle magazine's "Women in Hollywood" issue. Nyong'o appeared on the cover of Vogue España's November 2018 edition. Nyong'o is a 2019 Hollywood Walk of Fame honouree.

Also in 2019, Nyong'o narrated the Discovery Channel documentary series Serengeti, about wildlife in the Serengeti ecosystem. Nyong'o spoke on the lack of African women narrating nature documentaries and how the Serengeti team encouraged her to use her native Kenyan accent on the series. She went on to earn her first Emmy Award nomination for her narration as an Outstanding Narrator at the 72nd Primetime Emmy Awards, making her the third black woman to be nominated in the category. She was also nominated for an NAACP Image Award for Character Voice-Over Performance. She hosted the Channel 4's documentary Warrior Women with Lupita Nyong’o, in which she undertook a journey across Benin, West Africa to search for the Dahomey Amazons. Nyong'o reprised her role as Maz Kanata for the third time in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, which marked the final instalment of the Star Wars sequel trilogy. In 2020, she narrated the Hayden Planetarium space show, Worlds Beyond Earth. She appeared on the Global Citizen organised television event, Together at Home. Nyong'o joined the radio play presentation of Richard II from The Public Theater and WNYC as The Narrator. She was featured in Beyoncé's musical film Black Is King, which premiered on Disney+ in July 2020.

In September 2019, Nyong'o became an ambassador for Michael Kors' "Watch Hunger Stop" campaign. In October, Nyong'o and her mother were honoured at The Harlem School of the Arts' Mask Ball with a "Visionary Lineage Award". Then, she was honoured at WildAid to receive the "Champion of the Year" award in November.

In 2020, The Africa Center announced Nyong'o as a member of its Board of Trustees.

Nyong'o made her first appearance on British Vogue's February '20 cover. In March 2020, she appeared on Africa's "50 Most Powerful Women" list by Forbes.