Once upon a time, the entire world simultaneously fell in love with a 31-year-old actress named Lupita Nyong’o. But of course, that is not where the story ends–not when you take into account her talent, poise, and propensity for consistently dressing like a goddess.
Lupita Nyong’o delivered a powerful speech on the power of black beauty at a luncheon for Black Women In Hollywood. In the speech, Nyong’o took the opportunity to respond to a small part of a letter a fan wrote her about the beauty of being dark black:
“Dear Lupita, I think you’re really lucky to be this Black but yet this successful in Hollywood overnight. I was just about to buy Dencia’s Whitenicious cream to lighten my skin when you appeared on the world map and saved me."
I don't think is necessary rehearsing the history of black skin lightening and hair straightening processes here, but what I do want to highlight is the importance of having a black actress who has thought so closely about the beauty of being dark black in predominantly white Hollywood.
Here is her reply
1. “I remember a time when I too felt unbeautiful. I put on the TV and only saw pale skin, I got teased and taunted about my night-shaded skin. And my one prayer to God, the miracle worker, was that I would wake up lighter-skinned.”
2. “And every day I experienced the same disappointment of being just as dark as I had been the day before. I tried to negotiate with God: I told him I would stop stealing sugar cubes at night if he gave me what I wanted; I would listen to my mother’s every word and never lose my school sweater again if he just made me a little lighter.”
3. “And then Alek Wek came on the international scene. A celebrated model, she was dark as night, she was on all of the runways and in every magazine and everyone was talking about how beautiful she was.”
4. “I couldn’t believe that people were embracing a woman who looked so much like me as beautiful. My complexion had always been an obstacle to overcome and all of a sudden, Oprah was telling me it wasn’t.”
5. “When I saw Alek (Wek) I inadvertently saw a reflection of myself that I could not deny. Now, I had a spring in my step because I felt more seen, more appreciated by the far away gatekeepers of beauty, but around me the preference for light skin prevailed.”
6. “What is fundamentally beautiful is compassion for yourself and for those around you. That kind of beauty enflames the heart and enchants the soul.”
7. “And so I hope that my presence on your screens and in the magazines may lead you, young girl, on a similar journey. That you will feel the validation of your external beauty but also get to the deeper business of being beautiful inside. There is no shade to that beauty.”
Put simply, Lupita’s own struggle with being dark, dark black underscores exactly why we need more black actresses. We feel isolated when we grow up feeling ugly, like our skin isn’t the right shade. This is why talking about race and beauty politics is so vital — if anyone is still wondering.
Biography
Lupita Nyong'o was born in Mexico, to Kenyan parents. Born March 1st 1983. She was raised in Kenya and educated in the USA. She is a graduate of the Yale University School of Drama's Acting program.
Lupita's film debut was playing "Patsey" in acclaimed director, Steve McQueen's 12 Years a Slave (2013). She was also the lead in MTV's award-winning drama series, Shuga (2009).
Lupita's stage credits include playing "Perdita" in "The Winter's Tale", (Yale Repertory Theater), "Sonya" in "Uncle Vanya", "Katherine" in "The Taming of the Shrew", as well as being in the original production of Michael Mitnick's "Elijah".
Won I Oscar. Another 42 wins and 26 nominations.
Lupita Nyong'o quotes
I feel privileged that people are looking up to me, and perhaps a dream will be born because of my presence.
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 thought I was going to school to be other people, but really, what I learned was to be myself - accepting myself, my strengths and weaknesses.
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
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.
Lupita Nyong'o
Personally, I don't ever want to depend on makeup to feel beautiful.
Lupita Nyong'o
I grew up in Nairobi, which is the capital of Kenya, so it's hustle and bustle, and there's always something going on.
Lupita Nyong'o
In the madness, you have to find calm.
Lupita Nyong'o
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
As actors, you become an expert at starting over.
Lupita Nyong'o
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
I feel privileged that people are looking up to me, and perhaps a dream will be born because of my presence.
Lupita Nyong'o
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
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 was raised in Kenya, and I always wanted to be an actor from when I was really, really little, but the first time I thought it was something that I could make a career of was when I watched 'The Color Purple.' I think I was nine, maybe, and I saw people that looked like me - Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah.
Lupita Nyong'o
Whoopi Goldberg looked like me, she had hair like mine, she was dark like me. I'd been starved for images of myself. I'd grown up watching a lot of American TV. There was very little Kenyan material, because we had an autocratic ruler who stifled our creative expression.
Lupita Nyong'o
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 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.
Lupita Nyong'o
I never, in my wildest dreams, could I have thought that the first role I get out of school would lead to an Oscar nomination.
Lupita Nyong'o
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.
Lupita Nyong'o
I'm pretty awesome at making salad dressings.
Lupita Nyong'o
I thrive on structure. I find my freedom in structure.
Lupita Nyong'o
I always love to learn new things. That's the reason I like being an actor.
Lupita Nyong'o
Home is where my family is.
Lupita Nyong'o
I do my best work when I feel conviction to say something through the character I play. Always I want to have integrity and not compromise that.
Lupita Nyong'o
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
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 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.
Lupita Nyong'o
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