Lupita Nyong’o Discusses Getting Slave Roles After Winning the Oscar
The 42-year-old actress, who received numerous accolades, including the Best Supporting Actress Academy Award, for her breakout role as Patsey in the 2013 film 12 Years a Slave, expressed her expectation that her popularity would lead to more leading roles but was surprised to continue receiving offers for similar roles.
She stated: “It really did set the paces for everything I’ve done since,” in an interview with CNN Inside Africa.
“But the odd thing is that you would think, ‘Oh, I’m going to get starring roles here and there,’ when I got that Academy Award.
[Instead, it was], “Oh, Lupita, we want you to play another slave movie, but this time you’re on a slave ship.” In the months following my Academy Award victory, I was receiving offers similar to those.
The actress from Black Panther said she had to disregard reports about her Hollywood destiny because it was a “very tender time.”
“There were think pieces about whether this is the beginning and end of this dark-skinned Black African woman’s career,” she stated. Since I’m a real person and not just a theory, I had to deafen myself to all those pontificators.
Lupita, whose parents are Kenyan, is prepared to put in less time at work if doing so prevents her from “perpetuating stereotypes” about Africans.
“I like to be a joyful warrior for changing the paradigms of what it means to be African,” she stated. “If that means that I work one less job a year to ensure that I’m not perpetuating the stereotypes that are expected of people from my continent, then let me do that.”
Lupita has previously stated that she tries to carve out time for herself so she can be creative since she feels that “administrative work,” like responding to emails, drains her “vitality.”
“There are so many demands on our lives today, including a lot of administrative work, a lot of emails to answer, and dishes in the sink,” she said to Harper’s Bazaar. I can lose a lot of my vitality because of all of that.
Therefore, I have to protect my creativity, schedule time for it, and be quite intentional. I get creative ideas while taking a shower.
However, the US star continues to prioritize responding to her emails because of Reese Witherspoon’s advise.
“This is the best life advice I’ve ever received from a woman,” she remarked. This is really useful. I was told by Reese Witherspoon to always respond to group emails first.
And it’s excellent advice, in my opinion, since it means that people will have to respect your promptness. I try.
