Lupita Nyong'o Recalls the Bad Advice She Got After Winning an Oscar
Lupita Nyong’o is looking back at her Oscars win.
Back in 2014, the 41-year-old actress won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her first movie role in 12 Years of Slave.
In a new interview, Lupita reflected on the pressure she felt after the win and also revealed the worst career advice she was given.
Keep reading to find out more…“It definitely put the pressure on,” Lupita told People. “It was my first movie, and now I had received what is considered the pinnacle of one’s achievement as an actor…So there I was like, ‘Okay, what happens now? I can’t afford to fail.’”
As for the worst advice she was given after her win, Lupita said, “That I needed to seize the day and do bigger. That the next thing after 12 Years of Slave needed to be a lead role in a blockbuster movie.”
She added, “It wasn’t about the size of the role, it’s about the quality of the role, at least for me.”
Luckily, a conversation with fellow Oscar winner Emma Thompson set Lupita “straight.”
“She said, ‘You have to live your life the way you think is suitable. You have to listen to your own intuition,’” Lupita recalled. “Even up until that point, there was no formula that I followed, so there had to be no formula moving forward.”
She continued, “She was like, ‘You have to give yourself permission to fail.’ That was really great advice to hear at a time when everybody was saying, ‘Seize the day, you’ve got to find that lead role, then you’ve got to do this and that, and blockbuster movies and all that.’”
After her Oscar win, Lupita starred in Eclipsed on Broadway in 2016, which earned her a Tony nomination.
“I listened to my intuition,” Lupita said. “I went back to the theater and I did a play on Broadway, which really did save me from imposter syndrome and just the fear of failure.”
She also looked back at doing CGI for her role in 2015′s Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which she said was “surprising” to some.
“I’d been given the privilege of this award, it comes with having some semblance of choice. I was in a place where I was financially stable enough that I could choose. So I decided to exercise that privilege and choose.”
As for what type of movie role she still wants to tackle, Lupita would like to star in a rom-com at some point.
“I don’t get comedic roles offered to me. Ever. I’m known for dramatic roles, so I tend to get that kind of role. Lots of depth, darkness,” Lupita said, adding, “I love depth. I’m not saying I don’t want depth. But darkness and drama, I get that a lot.”
“I am always trying to choose roles that I haven’t played before, roles that will stretch me,” she continued. “I think comedy is very scary. It’s very hard to achieve, and I want to try my hand at it more.”
In another recent interview, Lupita revealed the part of being an actress she finds “irritating.”