2 weeks Ago By BANG - Entertainment News
Lupita Nyong’o spent years battling with the way she speaks. The 41-year-old – whose breakout role was playing abused plantation worker Patsey in Sir Steve McQueen’s plantation-era ‘12 Years a Slave’ film – was born in Mexico and raised mainly in Nairobi, Kenya, with the actress living in the US for the last 20 years. Opening up about how she has always had a “complicated relationship” with her voice, she said on the first episode of her new podcast ‘Mind Your Own’: “In order to create this podcast, I had to get very comfortable with my voice.
“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, because obviously I didn’t know very many people in movies and television with Kenyan accents. “There was just no market for that.” Before starting the press tour for 2013’s ‘12 Years a Slave’ she said she called her publicists and told them: “I’ve decided that from tomorrow I am going to return to my original accent.
I want to send a message that being an African is enough.” She added: “They had never heard me speak in a Kenyan accent.” The actress also said her mother backed her decision, adding: “She said, ‘Your accent is representative of your life experience.
’ “That gave me solace, that an accent comes to being from your life...
and just like skin and hair, it can change and it’s okay.” She exclaimed about her voice: “I guess this accent is called Lupita! I don’t know who could claim it but me.” Lupita recently told how she wanted to diversify her roles by doing comedy.
She said to People: “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. “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. “I think comedy is very scary.
It’s very hard to achieve, and I want to try my hand at it more.”.
