Quotes from Lupita Nyong'o

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.

I grew up in Nairobi, which is the capital of Kenya, so it's hustle and bustle, and there's always something going on.

I had moved back to Kenya after undergrad, and I went through this crisis of, 'What is my life going to be about?'

Growing up, I had really bad skin. I had a skin disorder. Yes, I did. And my mother went to great lengths to try to find something to remedy it. I remember she took a trip to Madagascar and came back with all these alternative, medicinal herbs and stuff. They didn't smell so good, but I think they worked some magic.

I like people who don't tell you what you want to hear.

I'm still trying to get over the fact that my name is being mentioned with people like Brad Pitt.

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.

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.

My father was a professor of political science and also a young politician fighting for democracy in Kenya, and when things got ugly, he went into political exile in Mexico. Then I moved back to Kenya shortly after I turned one, and I grew up in Kenya.

My father was a professor of political science and also a young politician fighting for democracy in Kenya, and when things got ugly, he went into political exile in Mexico.

I spent some time back in Mexico at 16 because my parents thought it would be prudent for me to learn Spanish, because I held a Mexican passport.

I discovered that joy is not the negation of pain, but rather acknowledging the presence of pain and feeling happiness in spite of it.

The muscles you flex in theater are muscles that you really need. I must always find a way to get back there. It's irreplaceable.

My parents gave me a Mexican name. In our culture, we are named after the events of the day.

I want to be uncomfortable - acting is uncomfortable.

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.

I never understood who all those people are behind the actors! When you see them on the red carpet on TV, you go, 'Why does that person need such a large entourage?' And then you realize that every single person there has a role to play.

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

You fail, and then what? Life goes on. It's only when you risk failure that you discover things.

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

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.'

As actors, you become an expert at starting over.

"I don't need to be so full of myself that I feel I am without flaw. I can feel beautiful and imperfect at the same time. I have a healthy relationship with my aesthetic insecurities."

Steve McQueen is a genius. And I think that word is overused, but I think with Steve it's rightly used. He's a genius.