PR TIMES AFRICA PR TIMES AFRICA Magazine june 2015 | Página 25

Lupita Nyong'o
A Breaker of Barriers and Stereotypes
“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.”
F
or Mexican Born, Kenyan
actress, film director and
producer, the walk to fame and
fortune has been long torturous and
laced with seemingly insurmountable
barriers. From being born in Mexico
to a Kenyan academic turned
politician, through her growing up
years in Kenya to finally reaching for
the stars and becoming one herself in
an ultra-competitive industry like
Hollywood where mathematical
chances of success will make the faint
hearted give up even before trying.
For a continent that used to be
referred to, rather derogatorily, as 'the
dark continent, Lupita shines as a
light for the world to see a different
side of Africa.
HIV/AIDS prevention, sponsored by
MTV Base Africa/UNICEF. 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.
Her journey into the arts and acting
began in childhood as Lupita grew up
in an artistic family, where get-
togethers included performances by the
children and trips to see plays. This
led to her taking part in school plays
and by the time she was 14years old
she starred in her first play as Juliet in
Romeo & Juliet by the Nairobi- based
repertory company Phoenix Players.
She credits Whoopi Goldberg and
Oprah Winfrey with being her
mentors and inspiration to pursue a
career in acting and the arts. After her
time with the Phoenix Players she
ventured into film starring in several
productions, including Fernando
Meirelles' The Constant Gardener,
with Ralph Fiennes, Mira Nair's The
Namesake and Salvatore Stabile's
Where God Left His Shoes. In 2008
she returned to Kenya, starring in the
TV drama series Shuga, on In 2013 Lupita was cast for her
most successful role to date, playing
Patsey in Steve Mcqueen's historic
drama, Twelve Years a Slave. This
role earned her several rave reviews
including nominations and winnings
of several prestigious awards including
a Golden Globe Award for Best
Supporting Actress, a BAFTA Award
for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
and two Screen Actors Guild Awards
including Best Supporting Actress,
which she won. She was also won an
Oscar for this role, becoming the first
Kenyan, African and Mexican to win
the award. Very active in promotional
circles, Lupita was in 2014 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.
Nyong'o is on the July cover of Vogue,
making her the second African woman
and ninth black woman to cover the
magazine. Nyong'o is on the cover of
July's issue of ELLE (France). She
has also been a regular on Harper's
Bazaar's Derek Blasberg's best dressed
PR TIMES AFRICA VOL 1. JULY 2015
1ST EDITION
list
ing since the
autumn of 2013. In April 2014,
Nyong'o was announced as the new
face of Lancôme.
Despite being a multilinguist – she
speaks English, Spanish, Luo and
Swahili – she is very conscious of her
roots as this drives her to reach for
excellence in all she attempts. 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
neighborhood, one of Richmond's
oldest, was the site of major slave-
trading before the American Civil
War. On October 19, 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.
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