Mexicans tuning into the Oscars on Sunday, March 2 won’t only be rooting for Alfonso Cuaron, director of the space epic “Gravity.”
They would also love to see Kenyan Lupita Nyong’o win in the Best Actress in a Supporting Role category for her role in Steve McQueen’s harrowing drama “12 Years a Slave.”
Why is this? Not only was Nyong’o born in Mexico City, but she returned to this country as a teenager and says she is enamored with its culture and people.
At the time of Nyong’o’s birth, her father was a political exile, working as a visiting lecturer in political science at the Colegio de Mexico in Mexico City. The family returned to Kenya before she reached her first birthday but at the age of 16 Nyong’o parents sent her back to Mexico to learn Spanish.
Speaking recently on CNN en Español in excellent Spanish, Nyong’o explained that she spent seven months living and studying in Taxco, Guerrero at the UNAM’s Centro de Enseñanza para Extranjeros.“I loved it,” she told CNN. “Mexico was very strange for me, coming from Kenya but I found very kind people.”
Nyong’o remembers fondly her travels to Oaxaca, Cuernavca and Zijuantanjo and developing a liking for Mexican food.
“Now I love to eat tacos before going to the (award show) red carpets,” she laughed.
Nyong’o remarked that she still has friends in Mexico and would love to return here soon.
Nyong’o’s father, Peter Anyang’ Nyong’o, is now a politician in the Kenyan Senate, while her cousin Isis is considered by Forbes as one of Africa’s most powerful women. Another cousin is a professor at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts.
Her mother recently told a Kenyan magazine that sending Nyong’o to Mexico as a teen helped give her “the opportunity to find herself and to chart her own path.”
Nyong’o graduated from Hampshire College (a liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts) with a degree in film and theater studies. She worked on production crews and acted in a television series in Kenya before enrolling at the Yale School of Drama.
McQueen cast her in “12 Years a Slave” soon after she finished her course.
“Never in my wildest dreams did I believe that I’d be involved with a project of this magnitude right after graduating from drama school,” Nyong’o said.
Nyong’o received rave reviews for her performance and last weekend won the prestigious prize for Best Supporting Actress at the Screen Actors Guild Awards.