“The set of '12 Years a Slave' was an extremely joyous one! We all recognized that we were making a powerful, necessary and beautiful film, and we weren't about doing it without that sense of responsibility, and we recognized that we needed each other to tell this story. We also knew we needed to hold each other up as we told the story.”

Kenyan actress

Lupita Nyong’o is a Kenyan actress, known for work in film, television, and theatre. Born Lupita Amondi Nyong’o, she has received an Academy Award, an Actor Award, and a Daytime Emmy Award. She won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for 12 Years a Slave (2013). Her credits also include the play Eclipsed (2015), which brought her a Tony Award nomination, along with Black Panther (2018) and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022), the horror films Us (2019) and A Quiet Place: Day One (2024), the animated film The Wild Robot (2024), and Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey (2026).