Lupita lights up Oscar night

Lupita Nyong’o’s mortifying portrayal of Patsey in the movie ‘12 Years A Slave’ delivered her an Oscar this past Sunday night. The film also won the Best Picture award. While accepting her Best Supporting Actress award, a beaming Lupita said: “When I look down on this golden statue, may it remind me and every little child that no matter where you’re from, your dreams are valid.” Her words spoke to the hearts of African boys and girls. Early life According to her online biographies, she was born Lupita Amondi Nyong’o on March 1, 1983 to Kenyan parents Dorothy and Peter Anyang’ Nyong’o. At the time of her birth, her father was working as a lecturer in Mexico, but the family returned to Kenya before she turned one. She is the second of six children and her father is a politician and former Cabinet minister. Lupita is fluent in English, Spanish, Swahili, and her native Luo. She attended an all-girls school in Kenya and at age 14, Lupita made her professional acting debut as Juliet in a production of Romeo and Juliet. The budding actress attended college in the United States and graduated with a degree in film and theatre studies. She returned to Kenya in 2008 and starred in the Kenyan television series Shuga, an MTV Base Africa/UNICEF drama about HIV/Aids prevention. In 2009, she wrote, directed, and produced the documentary ‘In My Genes’, about the treatment of Kenya’s albino population, which played at several film festivals and won first prize at the 2008 Five College Film Festival. She subsequently enrolled in the acting programme at the Yale School of Drama. Lupita landed her breakout role when she was cast in ‘12 Years a Slave’. The film was released last year to great critical acclaim. On hating her skin Speaking at Essence magazine’s seventh annual Black Women in Hollywood luncheon, Lupita left the audience tearful when she spoke about her journey to self-love. “I got teased and taunted about my skin,” she said. Lupita continued: “My one prayer to God was that I would wake up lighter skinned. The morning would come and I would be so excited about seeing my new skin that I would refuse to look down at myself until I was in front of the mirror, because I wanted to see my face first. Every day I would feel the disappointment of being just as dark as the day before.” Lupita has always praised Sudanese supermodel Alek Wek for paving the way for her to embrace her dark skin tone. “She was dark as night and was in all the magazines and on runways. My complexion had always been an obstacle to overcome. I couldn’t believe that people were embracing a woman who looked so much like me as beautiful. It was perplexing and I wanted to reject it because I had begun to enjoy the seduction of inadequacy. But a flower couldn’t help but bloom inside of me.” This weekend Lupita became only the sixth black actress to win the Best Supporting Actress award. While she was always a frontrunner, she seemed stunned when her name was called. Dressed in a flowing blue gown, an emotional Lupita proved that she hasn’t forgotten where she came from. Everyone knew that in her acceptance speech, she was speaking about the African child. - Additional reporting by CBS News and Wikipedia.