Lupita Nyong'o - breakout performance

2nd March 2014
The 86th Academy Awards held on Sunday, 2nd March 2014  ended, with "12 Years a Slave" winning the best picture of the year. The movie won the night's biggest prize for best picture and 2 other awards including best supporting actress where my interest was. Although "Gravity” took home most of the awards including the Best Actor,  all the technical awards, including best visual effects and sound editing, the joy that Lupita an African won in the supporting category was overwhelming. It would have been nice if Chinwetal won for Best Actor but since he didnt, it was still great that a cast member won.



It was a beautiful night full of expectations, suspense and surprises. Though the Best Actor went to gravity which was well deserved, was glad that Lupita won the supporting act. I watched her in the television series - SHUGA years back and was impressed with her interpretation of her role as the carefree, fun loving but hardworking young lady. I knew she was going places but did not see her for a while. The first thing i noticed about her is the colour of her skin. I am a woman of colour like the American would say but Lupita's colour is something else. I was just laughing when i read the speech she made when she was accepting her honor for best breakout performance at Essence magazine's seventh annual Women in Hollywood luncheon. She confessed that as a young girl, she had wished her dark-coloured skin would become lighter.

I got teased and taunted about my skin. My one prayer to God was that I would wake up lighter skinned. The morning would come and I would be so excited about seeing my new skin that I would refuse to look down at myself until I was in front of the mirror because I wanted to see my face first. Every day I would feel the disappointment of being just as dark as the day before."

Nyong'o said she tried to bargain with God by vowing to stop eating sugar cubes and to never lose her school sweater again, if she could only see a change in her skin tone. It wasn't until she discovered Sudanese British supermodel Alek Wek that she began to believe in her own beauty. She continued

She was dark as night and was in all the magazines and on runways, My complexion had always been an obstacle to overcome. I couldn't believe that people were embracing a woman who looked so much like me as beautiful. It was perplexing and I wanted to reject it because I had begun to enjoy the seduction of inadequacy. But a flower couldn't help but bloom inside of me.

Nyong'o said she would also like to inspire young women.

"I hope that my presence on your screen and my face in magazines may lead you, young girls, on a beautiful journey,". "That you will feel the validation of your external beauty, but also get to the deeper business of being beautiful inside.

Thank God she learnt to accept herself the way she is. Its not the colour that determines the personality or character like Martin Luther King stated in his famous speech but the intellect and upbringing. And for me Christianity also plays a major role in shaping one's character and personality.

Some critics claimed Lupita just spoke few words and appeared in few scenes compared to other cast members but I think she acted her scenes so well that you felt what she was feeling. It's beautiful that among the whole lot, she was nominated and eventually won the OSCAR. I hope some of the aspiring actresses all over the world will belief in themselves and improve on their crafts and not give excuses about the colour of their skin.

See the complete list of Oscar Award winners below:

Best Picture
"12 Years a Slave"
"American Hustle"
"Gravity"
"The Wolf of Wall Street"
"Dallas Buyers Club"
"Her"
"Nebraska"
"Philomena"
"Captain Phillips"
Fact: "12 Years a Slave" won in three Oscar categories.

Best Actor
Matthew McConaughey, "Dallas Buyer's Club"
Christian Bale, "American Hustle"
Bruce Dern, "Nebraska"
Leonardo DiCaprio, "The Wolf of Wall Street"
Chiwetel Ejiofor, "12 Years a Slave"
Fact: This was Matthew McConaughey's first Oscar nomination and he won.

Best Actress
Cate Blanchett, "Blue Jasmine"
Amy Adams, "American Hustle"
Sandra Bullock, "Gravity"
Judi Dench, "Philomena"
Meryl Streep, "August: Osage County"
Fact: This was Cate Blanchett's first Best Actress Oscar. Nominated six times, she won her first Oscar for her supporting role in "The Aviator" in 2005.

Best Supporting Actor
Jared Leto, "Dallas Buyer's Club"
Barkhad Abdi, "Captain Phillips"
Bradley Cooper, "American Hustle"
Michael Fassbender, "12 Years a Slave"
Jonah Hill, "The Wolf of Wall Street"
Fast fact: This was Jared Leto's first Oscar nomination.



 Best Supporting Actress
Lupita Nyong’o, "12 Years a Slave"
Jennifer Lawrence, "American Hustle"
Sally Hawkins, "Blue Jasmine"
Julia Roberts, "August: Osage County"
June Squibb, "Nebraska"
Fast fact: This's Lupita Nyong'o's first Academy Award nomination and she won.

Best Director
Alfonso Cuarón, "Gravity"
David O. Russell, "American Hustle"
Steve McQueen, "12 Years a Slave"
Alexander Payne, "Nebraska"
Martin Scorsese, "The Wolf of Wall Street"
Fact: This was Alfonso Cuarón's second win as he was nominated six times in total.

Best Original Screenplay
Spike Jonze, "Her"
"American Hustle"
"Blue Jasmine"
"Dallas Buyers Club"
"Nebraska"
Fact: This was Spike Jonze's first Oscar win and fourth nomination.

Best Adapted Screenplay
John Ridley, "12 Years a Slave"
"Before Midnight"
"Captain Phillips"
"Philomena"
"The Wolf of Wall Street"
Fact: This was John Ridley's first Academy Award.

Best Original Song
"Let It Go" from "Frozen," Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez
"The Moon Song" from "Her,"  Karen O. and Spike Jonze
"Ordinary Love" from "Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom," U2 (Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton, and Larry Mullen Jr.) and Danger Mouse (Brian Burton)
"Happy" from "Despicable Me 2," Pharrell Williams

Best Original Score
Steven Price, "Gravity"
Alexandre Desplat, "Philomena"
William Butler and Owen Pallett, "Her"
John Williams, "The Book Thief"
Thomas Newman, "Saving Mr. Banks"

Best Production Design
Catherine Martin, Beverley Dunn, "The Great Gatsby"
"American Hustle"
"Gravity"
"Her"
"12 Years a Slave"
Fact: "The Great Gatsby" won every Oscar for which it was nominated.

Best Film Editing
Alfonso Cuarón, Mark Sanger, "Gravity"
"12 Years a Slave"
"Captain Phillips"
"American Hustle"
"Dallas Buyers Club"

Best Cinematography
Emmanuel Lubezki, "Gravity"
"The Grandmaster"
"Inside Llewyn Davis"
"Nebraska"
"Prisoners"
Fast fact: Emmanuel Lubezki's nickname is 'Chivo' (the goat).

Best Sound Editing
Glen Freemantle, "Gravity"
"Captain Phillips"
"All Is Lost"
"The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug"
"Lone Survivor"

Best Sound Mixing
Skip Lievsay, Niv Adiri, Christopher Benstead, Chris Munro, "Gravity"
"Captain Phillips"
"The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug"
"Inside Llewyn Davis"
"Lone Survivor"

Best Foreign Language Film
"The Great Beauty"
"The Broken Circle Breakdown"
"The Hunt"
"The Missing Picture"
"Omar"

Best Documentary Feature
"20 Feet From Stardom"
"The Act of Killing"
"Cutie and the Boxer"
"Dirty Wars"
"The Square"

Best Documentary Short Subject
"The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life"
"Cavedigger"
"Facing Fear"
"Karama Has No Walls"
"Prison Terminal: Last Days of Private Jack Hall"

Best Live Action Short Film
"Helium"
"Aquel No Era Yo (That Wasn't Me)"
"Avant Que De Tout Perdre (Just Before Losing Everything)"
"Pitaako Mun Kaikki Hoitaa? (Do I Have to Take Care of Everything?)"
"The Voorman Problem"

Best Visual Effects
Tim Webber, Chris Lawrence, Dave Shirk, Neil Corbould, "Gravity"
"The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug"
"Iron Man 3"
"The Lone Ranger"
"Star Trek Into Darkness"
Fact: Nominated for 10 Oscars, this was the first win for "Gravity."

Best Animated Feature
"Frozen"
"The Croods"
"Despicable Me 2"
"Ernest and Celestine"
"The Wind Rises"
Fact: Nominated for two Oscars, this was the first win for Disney's "Frozen."

Best Animated Short Film
"Mr. Hublot"
"Feral"
"Get a Horse!"
"Possessions"
"Room on the Broom"

Best Makeup And Hairstyling
"Dallas Buyers Club"
"Bad Grandpa"
"The Lone Ranger"
Fact: The second Oscar for "Dallas Buyer's Club."

Best Costume Design
Catherine Martin, "The Great Gatsby"
"The Grandmaster"
"American Hustle"
"The Invisible Woman"
"12 Years a Slave"