Lupita Nyong’o Says Hollywood Offered Her More Slave Roles Instead Of Diverse Opportunities After Oscar Win

Lupita Nyong’o

Lupita Nyong’o Says Hollywood Offered Her More Slave Roles Instead Of Diverse Opportunities After Oscar Win

Lupita Nyong’o, #Oscar winner for her breakout role in 12 Years a Slave, says that the acclaim she received did not translate into diverse opportunities.

Instead, Lupita shared that Hollywood offered her more roles as enslaved or suffering Black women. “After I won that Academy Award, you’d think, ‘I’m gonna get lead roles here and there,’” she told CNN Africa. “Oh, Lupita, we’d like you to play another movie where you’re a slave, but this time you’re on a slave ship. Those are the kind of offers I was getting in the months after winning my #AcademyAward.”

The actress described the experience as frustrating and limiting. “There were think-pieces of ‘Is this the beginning and end of this dark-skinned Black African woman’s career?’” she recalled. “I had to deafen myself to all these pontificators because, at the end of the day, I’m not a theory. I’m an actual person.”

Lupita called the entire ordeal “a very tender time,” continuing, “I like to be a joyful warrior for changing the paradigms of what it means to be African.” She added, “and if that means that I work one job less a year to ensure that I’m not perpetuating the stereotypes that are expected of people from my continent, then let me do that.”