’12 Years A Slave’ Actress Lupita Nyongo Talks New Found Fame: ‘My life literally changed 3 weeks ago!’

Looks like newcomer, 30-year-old actress Lupita Nyongo, who made her debut in Steve McQueens ‘12 Years A Slave’ has made her arrival known in the film world. The Yale School of Drama graduate has acquired quite a bit of  love and respect from her fellow peers such as Gabrielle Union who (just this week) posted the Kenyan beauty as her ‘Woman Crush Wednesday‘. Raised in Nairobi but now living in Brooklyn, she continues her success for the new year as she sat down with Dujour Magazine for the January 2014 cover. According to the mag, Lupita being the child of a politician father and a family in the spotlight, fame doesn’t feel entirely unfamiliar which may also be why seems to always be focused, calm and collected despite recent achievements.

Lupita and her brother Junior

Peep some excerpts from her Dujour interview.

On her new found fame:

My life changed about three weeks ago. That’s when my schedule went from nil to this. Lots of people come up and touch my back and want to give me a hug. At this point, it’s not too crazy. I let them hug me.

On auditioning for 12 Years a Slave:

When I learned Steve McQueen was directing and Brad Pitt was producing, I thought, Well, this is huge. I had no expectation of getting the role at all; it was just too out there for me to think I had a chance. So I approached the audition like a rehearsal. It was my chance to have that role for 10 minutes, and I owned it. Then I got the part and the panic began.

On meeting different celebs:

Actors will come up to me and they look so familiar—it’s killing me because I can’t remember. I spend all this time trying to place people, and it’s like, ‘Oh, that’s the woman from Luther, not the woman who did my hair last week.’ Some people have watched the film, so they acknowledge me, but I know I’ve never met them. Or I think I haven’t. It’s quite bizarre.

On what she wants for her future:

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. And they don’t all have to be as heavy as 12 Years a Slave. 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.

Visit Dujour.com for the full interview.

[Dujour Magazine, Instagram]

@YouKnowItsJah