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As human beings, we aren't as individual as we'd like to believe we are. And I think that's what makes acting possible. Despite the fact that I have not experienced something, I have it in my human capacity to imagine it and to put myself in someone else's shoes, and to take someone else's circumstances personally.
Lupita Nyong'o -
I went to an all-boys high school, and they accepted girls in only the two A.P. classes.
Lupita Nyong'o
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I am thrilled beyond words that The Academy has recognized my performance in Steve McQueen's '12 Years a Slave,' and I am deeply proud to be in the company of my fellow nominees.
Lupita Nyong'o -
I discovered that joy is not the negation of pain, but rather acknowledging the presence of pain and feeling happiness in spite of it.
Lupita Nyong'o -
Slavery is something that is all too often swept under the carpet. The shame doesn't even belong to us, but we still experience it because we're a part of the African race. If it happened to one, it happened to all. We carry that burden.
Lupita Nyong'o -
I don't need to be so full of myself that I feel I am without flaw. I can feel beautiful and imperfect at the same time. I have a healthy relationship with my aesthetic insecurities.
Lupita Nyong'o -
I value not being good at things, because children are not good at things.
Lupita Nyong'o -
I grew up in the limelight and being the child of someone famous. So my relationship with fame is not bedazzled.
Lupita Nyong'o
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There is something about acting that's mysterious and magical because there is only so much I can do to prepare, and then I have to just let go and breathe and believe that it will come through.
Lupita Nyong'o -
To this day, I love eating steak tacos before going to the red carpets.
Lupita Nyong'o -
I have dabbled in martial arts all my life, since I was 7, maybe - tae kwon do, capoeira, Muay Thai. It's always been an interest because in martial arts there is a mind/body relationship.
Lupita Nyong'o -
I never understood who all those people are behind the actors! When you see them on the red carpet on TV, you go, 'Why does that person need such a large entourage?' And then you realize that every single person there has a role to play.
Lupita Nyong'o -
Dreams are the foundation of Hollywood. And dreams are the foundation of America.
Lupita Nyong'o -
Ralph Fiennes was a pivotal influence on me. He asked me, 'So what is it you want to do?' I very shyly, timidly admitted that I wanted to be an actor. He sighed, and 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.'
Lupita Nyong'o
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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.
Lupita Nyong'o -
My conscious life has all been in Kenya, and it's my point of reference. But going back to Mexico was very formative.
Lupita Nyong'o -
Growing up, I had really bad skin. I had a skin disorder. Yes, I did. And my mother went to great lengths to try to find something to remedy it. I remember she took a trip to Madagascar and came back with all these alternative, medicinal herbs and stuff. They didn't smell so good, but I think they worked some magic.
Lupita Nyong'o -
I'm still trying to get over the fact that my name is being mentioned with people like Brad Pitt.
Lupita Nyong'o -
There's always a sense of newness with acting, because every role, you come to every role fresh.
Lupita Nyong'o -
When I was younger, I was almost too afraid to admit that I wanted to be an actor. I didn't know any successful actors in Kenya, so I felt like I could get away with going to college to study film more easily than I could with saying, 'I want to be an actor.' That's what I did.
Lupita Nyong'o
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I definitely intend to create my own work in the future so that we don't have to keep saying, We don't have work for black women.'
Lupita Nyong'o -
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.
Lupita Nyong'o -
It's so funny, you go to acting school thinking you're going to learn how to be other people, but really it taught me how to be myself. Because it's in understanding yourself deeply that you can lend yourself to another person's circumstances and another person's experience.
Lupita Nyong'o -
I come from a very close class. I lucked out because drama schools are often very competitive... I have fourteen classmates.
Lupita Nyong'o