Best Lupita Nyong'o Quotes & Sayings

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. — Lupita Nyong'o

Slavery is something that is all too often swept under the carpet. — Lupita Nyong'o

I'm interested in generating work for myself. I have trouble with this waiting-for-the-phone-to-ring lifestyle, especially after drama school, which was so creatively fulfilling. — Lupita Nyong'o

I like to wear things, I don't like things to wear me. — Lupita Nyong'o

Ralph Fiennes was a pivotal influence on me. He asked me, 'So what is it you want to do?' I very shyly, timidly admitted that I wanted to be an actor. He sighed, and he said, 'Lupita, only be an actor if you feel there is nothing else in the world you want to do - only do it if you feel you cannot live without acting.' — Lupita Nyong'o

No matter where you're from, your dreams are valid. — Lupita Nyong'o

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. — Lupita Nyong'o

I am thrilled beyond words that The Academy has recognized my performance in Steve McQueen's '12 Years a Slave,' and I am deeply proud to be in the company of my fellow nominees. — Lupita Nyong'o

And my one prayer to God, the miracle worker, was that I would wake up lighter-skinned, — Lupita Nyong'o

Part of being an artist is that you are always concerned you don't have what it takes. It ... keeps us honest. — Lupita Nyong'o

Makeup isn't something I've worn a lot of in my life. — Lupita Nyong'o

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

Human beings have an instinct for freedom. — Lupita Nyong'o

One of the reasons why I went to the Yale School of Drama is because I felt that I was acting off of instinct, but sometimes that is not reliable. When you're not feeling it, what do you do? So, going to grad school was about getting the tools to just use my instrument to the best of my ability. — Lupita Nyong'o

There is something about acting that's mysterious and magical because there is only so much I can do to prepare, and then I have to just let go and breathe and believe that it will come through. — Lupita Nyong'o

I have the opportunity to learn about the fashion world, and I appreciate it as an art form ... But I never want it to take over my acting. — Lupita Nyong'o

It's great to have something to dress up for. You know, I spent three years in slacks at drama school, so now I like putting a dress on. — Lupita Nyong'o

What's becoming very obvious to me is that fashion is art. — Lupita Nyong'o

I thought I was going to school to be other people, but really, what I learned was to be myself - accepting myself, my strengths and weaknesses. — Lupita Nyong'o

The first time I cut all my hair off was when I was 19. I just got fed up going to the salon every week. I'd had enough! On a whim, it was off. It's low-maintenance. — Lupita Nyong'o

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.' — Lupita Nyong'o

Even in my dreams of being an actor, my dream was not in the celebrity. My dream was in the work that I wanted to do. — Lupita Nyong'o

I come from a very close class. I lucked out because drama schools are often very competitive ... I have fourteen classmates. — Lupita Nyong'o

I think it's a real gift to be faced with man's potential for extreme cruelty but also man's resilience and the fact that love really does conquer everything. It's the only answer to these kinds of atrocities and it's not a passive thing. — Lupita Nyong'o

I had this vivid image of myself at the age of 60 looking back on my life and truly regretting the fact that I hadn't tried to be an actor — Lupita Nyong'o

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

Personally, I don't ever want to depend on makeup to feel beautiful. — Lupita Nyong'o

I loved make-believe. I was the child in the cupboard playing with my Barbies. — Lupita Nyong'o

And what my mother meant when she said you can't eat beauty was that you can't rely on how you look to sustain you. What is fundamentally beautiful is compassion for yourself and for those around you. That kind of beauty enflames the heart and enchants the soul. — Lupita Nyong'o

I love filmmaking, but I decided to go to drama school because I thought that when I'm 60 and looking back on my life, if acting hadn't been a part of it, I would hate myself. — Lupita Nyong'o

Being a part of '12 Years a Slave' has been one of the most profound experiences of my life. — Lupita Nyong'o

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. — Lupita Nyong'o

You can't eat beauty, it doesn't sustain you. What is fundamentally beautiful is compassion, for yourself and those around you. That kind of beauty inflamed the heart and merchants the soul. — Lupita Nyong'o

I realized that beauty was not a thing that I could acquire or consume, it was something that I just had to be. — Lupita Nyong'o