It’s been almost twelve years since Lupita Nyong’o won her Oscar for 12 Years a Slave. She scored the role straight out of Yale Drama, and instead of hustling for years for her big break, she knocked it out of the park on what was basically her first big job. After Lupita’s 2014 Oscar win, there were so many big, mainstream conversations about “is Hollywood ready for a dark-skinned African actress?” There was so much hand-wringing and after all of those awareness-raising conversations, it turned out that very directors actually offered roles to Lupita. And the roles she was offered? Well, you can guess. Lupita talked about those post-Oscar-in years with CNN:
Lupita Nyong’o, who first broke out with her Academy Award-winning performance in 12 Years a Slave, recounted that her post-Oscars journey did not bring about a mix of abundant lead offers, but rather served up roles that offered more of the same.
“It really did set the paces for everything I’ve done since,” she told Grammy-winning musician Angélique Kidjo on a recent CNN Inside Africa interview. “But you know what’s interesting is that, after I won that Academy Award, you’d think, ‘Oh, I’m gonna get lead roles here and there.’ [Instead, it was], ‘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 Academy Award.”
The Black Panther alumna called it “a very tender time,” saying she had to ignore headlines that extrapolated on her Hollywood trajectory. “There were thinkpieces about: ‘Is this the beginning and end of this dark-skinned Black African woman’s career?’ I had to deafen myself to all those pontificators because, at the end of the day, I’m not a theory; I’m an actual person.”
Nyong’o, who was born to Kenyan parents, added that she hopes to broaden the scope of African storytelling in the entertainment industry.
“I like to be a joyful warrior for changing the paradigms of what it means to be African,” she explained, “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.”
I’m not surprised that she was immediately offered another “slave role” right after her Oscar win, but it still f–king sucks. One of the dumbest parts of all of this is that Lupita has the presence, It Factor, beauty and talent to be a leading lady and it seemed like no one had the imagination to actually cast her in those roles. She should have been the romantic lead in romcoms! She should have been cast in Oscar-bait films back-to-back. She should have been offered prestige miniseries! Instead, Lupita has spent a huge chunk of time basically trying to create opportunities for herself by moving into producing. One thing I will say is that luxury brands have more imagination than Hollywood – Lupita has scored some big modeling contracts, for brands like Lancome and Chanel, since 2014. I’d be willing to bet those brand ambassadorships bring in the most money too.
Lupita Nyong'o talks about the role offers she received after winning an Oscar
"Oh, Lupita, we'd like you to play another movie where you're a slave, but this time, you're on a slave ship."
pic.twitter.com/QUf9H6318E— Blackish Press (@blackishpress) November 22, 2025
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.
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- Lupita Nyong o bei der Closing Ceremony mit Preisverleihung auf der Berlinale 2024 / 74. Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin im Berlinale Palast. Berlin, 24.02.2024 *** Lupita Nyong o at the Closing Ceremony with Award Ceremony at the Berlinale 2024 74 Berlin International Film Festival at the Berlinale Palast Berlin, 24 02 2024 Foto:xC.xNiehausx/xFuturexImagex preisverleihung_4244,Image: 850268065, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: imago is entitled to issue a simple usage license at the time of provision. Personality and trademark rights as well as copyright laws regarding art-works shown must be observed. Commercial use at your own risk., Model Release: no, Credit line: IMAGO/Clemens Niehaus / Avalon
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- Lupita Nyong’o at the BAFTA: British Academy Film Awards 2025 at the Royal Festival Hall in Waterloo, London, United Kingdom,Image: 964959740, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Cat Morley/Avalon
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- Lupita Nyong’o arrives on the red carpet of the 97th Oscars® at the Dolby® Theatre at Ovation Hollywood on Sunday, March 2, 2025.,Image: 971217049, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** EDITORIAL USE ONLY! * NB: Fees charged by Avalon are for Avalon’s services only, and do not, nor are they intended to, convey to the user any ownership of Copyright or License in the material. Avalon does not claim any ownership including but not limited to Copyright or License in the attached material. By publishing this material you (the user) expressly agree to indemnify and to hold Avalon and its directors, shareholders and employees harmless from any loss, claims, damages, demands, expenses (including legal fees), or any causes of action or allegation against Avalon arising out of or connected in any way with publication of the material. * Handling Fee Only ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Avalon.red/Avalon
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- Lupita Nyong’o arrives on the red carpet of the 97th Oscars® at the Dolby® Theatre at Ovation Hollywood on Sunday, March 2, 2025.,Image: 971227798, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** EDITORIAL USE ONLY! * NB: Fees charged by Avalon are for Avalon’s services only, and do not, nor are they intended to, convey to the user any ownership of Copyright or License in the material. Avalon does not claim any ownership including but not limited to Copyright or License in the attached material. By publishing this material you (the user) expressly agree to indemnify and to hold Avalon and its directors, shareholders and employees harmless from any loss, claims, damages, demands, expenses (including legal fees), or any causes of action or allegation against Avalon arising out of or connected in any way with publication of the material. * Handling Fee Only ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Avalon.red/Avalon
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- Lupita Nyong’o arrives on the red carpet of the 97th Oscars® at the Dolby® Theatre at Ovation Hollywood on Sunday, March 2, 2025.,Image: 971228346, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** EDITORIAL USE ONLY! * NB: Fees charged by Avalon are for Avalon’s services only, and do not, nor are they intended to, convey to the user any ownership of Copyright or License in the material. Avalon does not claim any ownership including but not limited to Copyright or License in the attached material. By publishing this material you (the user) expressly agree to indemnify and to hold Avalon and its directors, shareholders and employees harmless from any loss, claims, damages, demands, expenses (including legal fees), or any causes of action or allegation against Avalon arising out of or connected in any way with publication of the material. * Handling Fee Only ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Avalon.red/Avalon
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- Lupita Nyong’o arrives on the red carpet of the 97th Oscars® at the Dolby® Theatre at Ovation Hollywood on Sunday, March 2, 2025.,Image: 971231572, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** EDITORIAL USE ONLY! * NB: Fees charged by Avalon are for Avalon’s services only, and do not, nor are they intended to, convey to the user any ownership of Copyright or License in the material. Avalon does not claim any ownership including but not limited to Copyright or License in the attached material. By publishing this material you (the user) expressly agree to indemnify and to hold Avalon and its directors, shareholders and employees harmless from any loss, claims, damages, demands, expenses (including legal fees), or any causes of action or allegation against Avalon arising out of or connected in any way with publication of the material. * Handling Fee Only ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Avalon.red/Avalon
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- Paramount’s New York Premiere Of ‘A Quiet Place: Day One’ Featuring: Lupita Nyong’o Where: New York, New York, United States When: 26 Jun 2024 Credit: Janet Mayer/INSTARimages.com
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- Celebrities attending the Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute Benefit Gala 2025 in New York Featuring: Lupita Nyong’o Where: New York City, United States When: 05 May 2025 Credit: Matt Crossick/PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
I remember when this happened and how she quietly pivoted and started pursuing plays. Hollywood will never be innovative. They care about “what will people in the Midwest think?” Not knowing that black people live in the Midwest. Meanwhile we get reboots and remakes shoved down are throats and refuse to pivot when it doesn’t do well.
Even when they put out original movies, people do not go to see them, as this fall has shown. They will see a familiar IP, and go see that in droves (See Predator: Badlands, Wicked, Now you see me 2).
Hollywood still operates very conservatively like they are in the Hayes code era, except its people in board rooms with no creative bone in their bodies making the decisions.
So gross.
Many Black actors have also spoken out about Hollywood’s obsession with glorifying slavery–it’s always felt like exploitation of trauma to me. If producers, directors, studios want to retraumatize folks by making money off of movies about the oppression and subjugation of Black people at the very least leave this material to Black folks in the industry. Because if it’s a project created by Black folks then their experiences will be properly centered and respected instead of told through a white lens.
It’s particularly crazy because Lupita possesses both an unearthly beauty and great range as an actress that should open her up for a myriad of acting roles but alas, Hollywood is gonna Hollywood.
Well, this is depressing.
I just finished Viola Davis’ memoir (a fantastic audiobook) and she talks a lot about the opportunities for Black people in Hollywood. She was out of Julliard and had trouble finding anything more than bit parts or she was always offered the part of the drug dealers mother or something.
hollywood puts everyone into predetermined boxes obviously but its even more extreme for Black women (I think probably harder for Black women than Black men?) Lupita played a slave, played it well, and so that’s how Hollywood thought of her. It also gets to the point of how Hollywood can’t think of Black stories to tell besides slavery and drugs, maybe civil rights sometimes. She wasn’t considered for rom coms because hollywood doesn’t think of rom coms as being for Black people besides select movies.
I do think we’re starting to see a shift in that regard but I think its happening because more Black people are taking control behind the scenes – Ryan Coogler or Jordan Peele for example. Shonda Rhimes.
and the thing is – its kind of what I said about Wicked in the other post. People will go to see movies directed by and starring Black people, so hollywood needs to change its thinking accordingly. Sinners was one of the most talked about movies of the year. Black Panther, to me, is one of the best Marvel movies (that and Shang Chi.) You would think the continued success of creative, original* movies by Black directors and producers would encourage Hollywood to make MORE of those movies. But I feel like we’re just going to get a bunch of Black vampire movies for the next 5 years, trying and failing to recreate Sinners.
*I know BP wasn’t original per se but close enough.
I read her autobiography and what shocked me was how Americans are just fine with children growing up in those conditions. No heat, no running water in winter. Wild.
This is kinda why I stopped watching slave movies altogether: 1) I think there’s other stories to tell about the African American experience…why do these ones always get so much attention? There’s more than just civil rights/slavery. And 2) I think those movies all tend to depict slave owners as these fantastically evil characters (see Leo D in Django Unchained). I started to think it was unethical to support these narratives because the truth is that you didn’t have to be evil to own slaves. Everyone did. Average people, ordinary people, owned other human beings and treated them grotesquely. That’s the reality – the banality of evil. So I started to think I can’t support this depiction of the exceptionalism of evil when the reality of it was truly banal. And 3) I want Black actors to not have to play slaves in order to have a career.
She is so good in A Quiet Place: Day One. It’s the best of the series, reading focusing on the humanity.
Goddamn, this woman is a queen, one of the most beautiful I’ve ever seen. I’d like to see her in many more movies, diverse and challenging.