Lupita Nyong’o Says Losing Kenyan Accent For Hollywood Acting Career ‘Felt Like Betrayal’

Lupita Nyong’o

Lupita Nyong’o Says Losing Kenyan Accent For Hollywood Acting Career ‘Felt Like Betrayal’

Kenyan-Mexican actress Lupita Nyong’o is opening up about what she had to do to become a household name.

During a newly released podcast interview with Trevor Noah, Lupita Nyong’o candidly revealed the self-betrayal she felt when ditching her Kenyan Accent for Hollywood acting roles.

“The first permission I gave myself to change my accent or allow my accent to transform was going to drama school. I went to drama school because I didn’t want to just be an instinctive actor. I wanted to understand my instrument. I wanted to know what I was good at, what I was not good at, and work on the things that I wasn’t good at. And one of the things I wasn’t good at was accents.”

She continued,

“The process of deciding, ‘OK, I’m going to start working on my American accent and I’m not going to allow myself to sound Kenyan,’ so that I’m like monitoring and really trying to understand my mouth in a technical way to like make these new sounds. Making those new sounds in a context that wasn’t the classroom felt like betrayal. You know, I didn’t feel like myself and I cried many nights to sleep…many, many nights.”

 

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Lupita’s first big break came with 2013’s “12 Years a Slave.” She walked away with an Academy Award for her performance in the biographical drama film and has starred in many more box-office hits since. Most recently, she appeared in Paramount’s “A Quiet Place: Day One,” which grossed $261 million worldwide.

Would you like to see Lupita act with her Kenyan Accent? Tell us in the comments below! 

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