Lupita Nyong’o does not want to camouflage her true self with a different accent.
In the first episode of her new podcast, Mind Your Own, the Wild Robot star opened up about returning to her African accent after adopting and learning new ones.
Born in Mexico and primarily raised in Nairobi, Kenya, Nyong’o, 41, has lived in the U.S. for two decades and embraced her African accent while attending Hampshire College in Massachusetts. However, everything changed when she joined the Yale School of Drama to pursue acting.
“I made this pact with myself that I would learn how to sound American in a way that would guarantee me a career in acting,” the Oscar-winning actress explained, noting that there was no market for a Kenyan accent in American movies and television.
After taking multiple voice lessons each week, her efforts paid off when a casting director complimented her accent. “And I was at once so elated and also so crushed. I had rid myself of myself, kind of,” the Black Panther actress said.
Before embarking on the press tour for 2014’s 12 Years a Slave, her feature film debut just after graduating from Yale, she recalled calling her publicists.
“I said, ‘I’ve decided that from tomorrow I am going to return to my original accent. I want to send a message that being African is enough,'” Nyong’o said.
The actress’s mother supported her decision, “She said, ‘Your accent is representative of your life experience.'”
“That gave me solace, that an accent comes from your life… and just like skin and hair, it can change, and it’s okay,” Nyong’o added. “I guess this accent is called Lupita! I don’t know who could claim it but me.”
