Lupita Nyong'o quotes

Lupita Nyong'o is a Mexican-Kenyan actress acclaimed for her powerful film and stage performances. She gained international fame for her Academy Award-winning role in "12 Years a Slave." She is also celebrated for her work in films like "Black Panther" and as an influential advocate for diversity in Hollywood. Here are 34 of her quotes:

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

I feel privileged that people are looking up to me and perhaps a dream will be born because of my presence.

Lupita Nyong'o

Part of being an artist is that you are always concerned you don't have what it takes. It keeps us honest.

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

My mother talked about the stories I used to spin as a child of three, before I started school. I would tell this story about what school I went to and what uniform I wore and who I talked to at lunchtime and what I ate, and my mother was like, 'This girl does not even go to school.'

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

My immediate family was always very supportive. It was my own fear of the rest of the world not accepting me, the rest of our society not accepting my wish to be an actor.

Lupita Nyong'o

Drama is my sweet spot, but the thing about being an actor is that you want to do a variety of things. I definitely love fantasy and would want to be in a fantasy project.

Lupita Nyong'o

There's always a sense of newness with acting, because every role, you come to every role fresh.

Lupita Nyong'o

I would love to have a career that's governed by the material; I always want to be part of stories that I feel are worthwhile.

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

What's becoming very obvious to me is that fashion is art.

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

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

As actors, you become an expert at starting over.

Lupita Nyong'o

Human beings have an instinct for freedom.

Lupita Nyong'o

As human beings, what makes us able to empathize with people is a connection that is not necessarily understood mentally.

Lupita Nyong'o

I always love to learn new things. That's the reason I like being an actor.

Lupita Nyong'o

It's great to have something to dress up for. You know, I spent three years in slacks at drama school, so now I like putting a dress on.

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

In the madness, you have to find calm.

Lupita Nyong'o

We, as human beings, have the capacity for extreme cruelty.

Lupita Nyong'o