Lupita Nyong’o, the celebrity Kenyan actress and music video director, is admired both home and abroad where her acting career has blossomed and inspired millions of people. Maintaining a simple but bold African look and mien, Lupita can disappear into a small crowd on the streets of Nairobi or Kampala were it not for her unique head styles – sometimes going bald or donning the afro-formation – making her a style model of sorts.
Lupita’s rise to the top – starting off humbly in downtown Nairobi – is a heartwarming story full of lessons for modern day young Kenyans. Lupita made her professional acting debut at 14 years in a production of Romeo and Juliet by the Nairobi-based Phoenix Players group. Years later, she found her breakthrough into Hollywood, the global headquarters of film production.
After graduating from Yale, Lupita landed a role that launched her into Hollywood stardom as Patsey in the film 12 Years a Slave in 2013. Her Hollywood baby steps were met with good reviews, and earned her multiple awards nominations. She was, to mention some, nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress, a BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role, and two Screen Actors Guild Awards.
In addition, she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, making her only the sixth black actress in history to do so. She is also the first African actress to win the award, and the first Kenyan actress to win an Oscar.
Well, that kind of success comes with money, and in no small amounts. According to various sources, Lupita, the Mexican-Kenyan who never acts wealthy, has crossed into the million-dollar millionaire league.
The actress, now aged 40, is estimated to be worth of $10 million (about Ksh1.3 billion), according to specialized site Celebrity Net Worth, a fete mostly associated with handful politicians and businesspeople. At over Ksh1 billion, Lupita is arguably richer than hundreds of prominent Kenyan politicians.
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Thanks to her celebrity status, Lupita earns millions of dollars from high-profile endorsement deals. Lupita, among others, served as a brand ambassador for Lancôme since 2014, representing their skincare and makeup brands. In 2016, she was named the face of Tiffany & Co.’s Legendary Style campaign, and has also worked with Italian fashion brand Miu Miu.
“In addition to her work with fashion and beauty brands, Nyong’o has also been involved in advocacy campaigns, including her partnership with WildAid to promote elephant conservation in Kenya,” says Celebrity Net Worth. “Her endorsements have helped to establish her as a style icon and role model for women around the world.”
Lupita Nyong’o was born in Mexico City, Mexico on March 1, 1983 from Kenyan parents, but her father, Peter Anyang’ Nyong’o (now second term governor of Kisumu County in Kenya), was a guest professor at El Colegio de Mexico due to the political repression and unrest in their native country.
A year later, the Nyong’o family returned to Kenya after Nyong’o got a professor job at the University of Nairobi. Lupita is the second of six children, and identifies as Kenyan-Mexican. She has dual Kenyan and Mexican citizenship.
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Lupita eventually returned to the United States and entered the entertainment industry and had some small appearances on TV series and music videos. She directed The Little Things You Do by Wahu, which was nominated in the 2009 MTV Africa Music Awards.
She earned a master’s degree in acting from the Yale School of Drama and her big breakthrough performance came in the acclaimed film 12 Years a Slave, for which she received an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in the 2014 gala.
Lupita graduated from St. Mary’s School in Nairobi with an IB Diploma in 2001. She then studied at Hampshire College in the United States, where she pursued a degree in film and theatre studies, before going for the Master’s at Yale.
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In addition to acting, Nyong’o is a published author. Her first book, Sulwe, was published by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers in 2019. It won the award for Outstanding Literary Work – Children at the 2020 NAACP Image Awards.
In addition to English, Nyong’o is fluent in Swahili, Spanish, and Luo. She is widely known for her philanthropic and advocacy work. Some of the organizations she works with include the National Trust for Historic Preservation, WildAid, and Mother Health International.
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