*Lupita Nyong’o is sharing her experience navigating Hollywood after becoming an Academy Award winner, and her account reinforces longstanding concerns about how the industry treats Black actresses.
During a recent CNN Inside Africa conversation with musician Angélique Kidjo, Nyong’o recalled how her 2014 Oscar victory didn’t open doors to diverse opportunities as many might expect. Instead of receiving varied lead role offers, Nyong’o found herself repeatedly pitched scripts centered on enslaved characters.
The pattern was disheartening. “After I won that Academy Award, you’d think, ‘I’m gonna get lead roles here and there,'” the “12 Years a Slave” star said, per Complex. “[They’re like], ‘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.”
Beyond the limiting casting opportunities, Nyong’o also endured public speculation about her career longevity. “There were think pieces of ‘Is this the beginning and end of this dark-skinned Black African woman’s career?’ I had to deafen myself to all these pontificators because, at the end of the day, I’m not a theory. I’m an actual person,” she stated.
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Nyong’o made a deliberate choice to reject roles that perpetuated narrow depictions of traumatized Black women. “If that means 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,” she explained.
Check out what she had to say in the X/Twitter clip below.
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
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