Lupita Nyong’o on being approached for more slave roles post Oscar win

Los Angeles, Nov 24 (IANS) Award-winning actress Lupita Nyong’o, who first broke out with her Academy Award-winning performance in 12 Years a Slave, recalled how her post-Oscars journey did not bring about an array of offers, but rather got roles that offered more of the same.

“It really did set the paces for everything I’ve done since. But you know what’s interesting is that, after I won that Academy Award, you’d think, ‘Oh, I’m gonna get lead roles here and there.’ Instead, it was), ‘Oh, Lupita, we’d like you to play another movie where you’re a slave, but this time you’re on a slave ship’,” Nyong’o said.

“Those are the kind of offers I was getting in the months after winning my Academy Award,” she told Grammy-winning musician Angélique Kidjo on CNN Inside Africa interview, reports deadline.com.

The actress called it “a very tender time,” saying she had to ignore headlines that extrapolated on her Hollywood trajectory.

“There were thinkpieces about: ‘Is this the beginning and end of this dark-skinned Black African woman’s career?’ I had to deafen myself to all those pontificators because, at the end of the day, I’m not a theory; I’m an actual person.”

Nyong’o, who was born to Kenyan parents, added that she hopes to broaden the scope of African storytelling in the entertainment industry.

“I like to be a joyful warrior for changing the paradigms of what it means to be African,” she explained, “and if that means that I work one job less a year to ensure that I’m not perpetuating the stereotypes that are expected of people from my continent, then let me do that.”

Nyong’o was most recently in The Wild Robot and A Quiet Place: Day One. The star will next be seen in Lunik Heist.

–IANS

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