Lupita Nyong'o
About
Lupita Nyong'o (born 1 March 1983) is a Kenyan-Mexican actress who won an Academy Award for her first feature film role. Born in Mexico City to Kenyan parents and raised in Nairobi, she trained at the Yale School of Drama, and has since moved between prestige drama, blockbuster franchises, horror and voice work without settling into any one of them.
Her debut as Patsey in 12 Years a Slave (2013) won Best Supporting Actress in 2014. She has played the pirate Maz Kanata across three films beginning with Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015), and the Wakandan spy Nakia in Black Panther (2018) and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022). Jordan Peele's Us (2019) gave her a dual leading role as Adelaide Wilson and her double Red, and she has since led A Quiet Place: Day One (2024) and voiced the robot Roz in The Wild Robot (2024). She plays Helen of Troy and Clytemnestra in The Odyssey (2026). On stage, her performance in Eclipsed earned a Tony nomination.
Movie List
- The Odyssey (2026) as Helen of Troy and Clytemnestra
- A Quiet Place: Day One (2024) as Sam
- The Wild Robot (2024) as Roz (voice)
- Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022) as Nakia
- Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019) as Maz Kanata
- Us (2019) as Adelaide Wilson and Red
- Little Monsters (2019) as Miss Audrey Caroline
- Black Panther (2018) as Nakia
- Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017) as Maz Kanata
- Queen of Katwe (2016) as Nakku Harriet
- The Jungle Book (2016) as Raksha (voice)
- Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015) as Maz Kanata
- Non-Stop (2014) as Gwen
- 12 Years a Slave (2013) as Patsey
