Lupita Nyong'o Quotes
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To this day, I love eating steak tacos before going to the red carpets.
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When I was younger, I was almost too afraid to admit that I wanted to be an actor.
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I come from a very close class. I lucked out because drama schools are often very competitive... I have fourteen classmates.
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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.
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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.'
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I give myself homework when I have an audition. I give myself goals, and that's how I check how I'm doing. It can be something simple like 'listen,' or 'find your feet.' And then afterward it's an assessment, so in a way it's not about booking the job or not. It's about what I learned as an actor about that character.
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It's only when you risk failure that you discover things. When you play it safe, you're not expressing the utmost of your human experience.
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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.
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I don't ever want to be president - let's just get that out of the way.
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Home is where my family is.
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I learned at Yale, one of the biggest lessons was to learn how special I am and therefore how totally unspecial I am. I was special among everyone else who was special. The fact that we're all so individual and that's what makes us special.
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Part of being an artist is that you are always concerned you don't have what it takes. It... keeps us honest.
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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.
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I am very emotional about politics in a way that makes it hard for me to articulate things in a rational fashion.
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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.
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What fame does is there is an illusion of familiarity that is cast into the world. So it's about negotiating with that illusion because, oftentimes, you encounter people who have encountered you, but you haven't encountered them. It's a little weird to find your footing.
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I hope we can form a community where a woman can speak up about abuse and not suffer another abuse by not being believed and instead being ridiculed.
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Being a part of '12 Years a Slave' has been one of the most profound experiences of my life.
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I spent some time back in Mexico at 16 because my parents thought it would be prudent for me to learn Spanish, because I held a Mexican passport.
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Makeup isn't something I've worn a lot of in my life.
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What's becoming very obvious to me is that fashion is art.
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I can speak of actors that I love. I love Cate Blanchett, Viola Davis, her tenacity. I love Charlize Theron. She's so surprising and so exhilarating, the kinds of projects she takes on. Marion Cotillard as well.
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I'm a crybaby.
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I thrive on structure. I find my freedom in structure.