1983-present
Who Is Lupita Nyong'o?
Actor Lupita Nyong'o is best known for her Oscar-winning role in 12 Years a Slave. Nyong’o started acting as a teen in Kenya and went on to work behind the scenes of the film The Constant Gardener. In 2013, she went on to earn acclaim for her role as Patsey in 12 Years a Slave, for which she won the 2014 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. The following year, she starred in Star Wars: The Force Awakens and the Off-Broadway play Eclipsed. The actor was also featured prominently in the box office-shattering superhero flick Black Panther (2018), as well as the horror films Us (2019) and A Quiet Place: Day One (2024). Nyong’o next stars in The Odyssey, arriving in theaters in July 2026.
Quick Facts
FULL NAME: Lupita Amondi Nyong'o
BORN: March 1, 1983
BIRTHPLACE: Mexico City, Mexico
ASTROLOGICAL SIGN: Pisces
Early Life and Career
Nyong'o was born in 1983 in Mexico City, Mexico. Her parents, Dorothy and Peter Anyang' Nyong'o, were in political exile at the time of her birth but were able to return to their homeland of Kenya during their daughter's childhood. Her father later became part of the country's senate while her mother, who worked in family planning, took a leadership position with the Africa Cancer Foundation.
Having taken to drama and obtaining the lead role in a production of Romeo and Juliet, Nyong'o also returned to Mexico during her teens to learn Spanish. She went to college in the United States, studying at Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts, and earning her degree in film in 2003. Upon her return to Kenya during school summer vacation, Nyong'o discovered that filming for the drama The Constant Gardener was happening in her area. She joined the set as a production assistant and met Ralph Fiennes, who told her to become an actor only if it was something she couldn't imagine doing without.
Nyong'o honed her craft as a filmmaker by directing, editing and producing the 2009 documentary In My Genes, which followed the stories of several Kenyans who are living with albinism. And she became a star of Kenyan television in Shuga, an MTV/UNICEF-backed series that looked at sexual relationships among youth in Nairobi, aiming to promote HIV awareness and safe sex via storytelling.
Movies and TV Shows
Oscar Win for 12 Years a Slave
Nyong'o returned to the States and, pursuing her interest in acting, earned a master's degree from the Yale School of Drama in 2012, having performed in works like The Winter's Tale with the school's Repertory Theatre.
Weeks before graduating she found out that she had landed a part in director Steve McQueen's drama 12 Years a Slave. The Brad Pitt-produced film is based on the 19th century narrative written by Solomon Northup (played by Chiwetel Ejiofor), a Northern-based free man who was kidnapped and sold into slavery in the South. Nyong'o played the role of Patsey, an enslaved young woman who befriends Northup while being horrifically abused by plantation master Edwin Epps and his wife, portrayed by Michael Fassbender and Sarah Paulson. For her performance in the film, Nyong'o earned a slew of award nominations, before taking home the 2014 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
Star Wars and Eclipsed
Nyong'o starred opposite Liam Neeson and Julianne Moore in 2014’s Non-Stop, a thriller about an air marshal confronted by a deadly ransom threat. In June 2014, Disney’s Lucasfilm announced that the Oscar winner was joining the cast of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, with the film having a December 2015 release. On her Instagram account, Nyong'o posted, “I can finally say it out loud and proud: I'm going to a galaxy far far away!” The actress portrays CGI space pirate Maz Kanata in what became the biggest domestic box office outing of all time, a role she reprised for the sequels Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017) and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019), as well as the animated series Star Wars: Forces of Destiny.
Nyong'o also prepared for her New York stage debut in autumn 2015 with the Public Theater's Off-Broadway production of Eclipsed, a drama about the struggles of several Liberian women during civil war. Eclipsed made its way to Broadway the following year in February, and both the play and Nyong'o herself soon earned Tony nominations.
Nyong'o returned to the big screen in 2016 with the feel-good Queen of Katwe, about an African girl who becomes a chess champion, and as the voice of the maternal wolf Raksha in a remake of Disney's The Jungle Book.
Black Panther and Us
Nyong'o found herself in the middle of another buzzworthy project when she was tapped to join the Marvel flick Black Panther as Nakia, the love interest of Chadwick Boseman's titular superhero.
The film proved a box office smash upon its release for the four-day President's Day weekend in February 2018, raking in more than $200 million domestically and over $360 worldwide. Additionally, the production was notable for shattering stereotypes about the limitations of marketing a largely Black cast. After being inducted into Hollywood's Walk of Fame, Nyong’o later returned for the 2022 sequel Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
Nyong'o went on to a co-starring role in the comedy-horror Little Monsters, which premiered at Sundance in early 2019. She followed with a turn to scream-out-loud horror in Jordan Peele's Us, about a family confronted by a sinister group of doppelgängers, for which she received widespread critical acclaim.
A Quite Place: Day One and The Wild Robot
After narrating the 2021 documentary Who Are You, Charlie Brown?, Nyong’o appeared in the 2022 spy thriller The 355 with Diane Kruger, Penélope Cruz, and Jessica Chastain. In 2022 and 2023, she voiced the mysterious shame wizard Asha in the animates series Human Resources and Big Mouth.
The following year, the actor starred alongside Joseph Quinn in the horror prequel A Quite Place: Day One, about a woman who finds herself trapped in New York City following an alien invasion. She also lent her voice to the 2024 Oscar-nominated film The Wild Robot, voicing the titular character Roz.
The Odyssey
In July 2026, Nyong’o will play both Helen of Troy and her sister Clytemnestra in Christopher Nolan’s adaptation of The Odyssey, based on the epic written by Homer. Soon after her casting was announced, she received racist backlash for taking on the role of a Greek mythological demigoddess.
“This is a mythological story,” Nyong’o told Elle in May. “Our cast is representative of the world. I’m not spending my time thinking of a defense. The criticism will exist whether I engage with it or not.”
Fashion Icon
Nyong'o has become a majestic fashion icon, with red-carpet appearances and pics in publications like InStyle and W. She also twice graced the cover of Vogue in a short span of time, appearing on the publication's July 2014 and October 2015 issues.
However, Nyong'o's appearance on the November 2017 issue of Grazia U.K. fueled controversy, after the actress slammed the magazine for retouching the photo to chop off her ponytail and smooth out her hair. The magazine subsequently apologized for the editorial mishap, with photographer An Le taking the blame for his “incredibly monumental mistake.”
Nyong’o has also made an impact with her unique and stunning Met Gala looks, wearing a Versace rainbow gown paired for 2019’s “Camp” theme and leaned into Black dandyism with a baby blue Chanel suit, complete with matching hat and cape, for 2025’s “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style.”
Relationships
Nyong’o has kept her dating life relatively private over the years. Though she is currently single, she was most recently in a relationship with actor Joshua Jackson. Nyong’o met Jackson in 2018 and maintained a friendship until they reconnected at a Janelle Monáe concert in October 2023. The pair confirmed their relationship when they were spotted holdings that December, but their romance ultimately fizzled out by September 2024.
Prior to dating Jackson, the actor was in a relationship with television host and sports commentator Selema Masekela from 2022 to 2023. She also previously dated Somali-Canadian rapper K’Naan in 2013 and 2014.
Net Worth
As of July 2026, Nyong’o has an estimated net worth of $10 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth.
Quotes
- As an actor, although the cameras are on me and the lights are on me, it's really not about me at all, and that always helps me get out there and do the thing I've been hired to do, because I am fighting for what my character wants. And if I'm pursuing that, then I'm OK. I'm good.
- I grew up watching foreign programs—American, English, Mexican, and very little Kenyan. 'The Color Purple' was the first time I saw people who looked like me.
- Ralph Fiennes was a pivotal influence on me ... he said, 'Lupita, only be an actor if you feel there is nothing else in the world you want to do—only do it if you feel you cannot live without acting.'
- I love filmmaking, but I decided to go to drama school because I thought that when I'm 60 and looking back on my life, if acting hadn't been a part of it, I would hate myself.
- When we started this film [12 Years a Slave], I knew we were embarking on something that would make a huge difference ...
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