Lupita Nyong'o interviewed by Grace Barber-Plentie | BFI London Film Festival 2024 Screen Talk

Actor and podcaster Lupita Nyong'o talks about her career in films such as Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Black Panther, 12 Years a Slave and Us. Lupita Nyong’o exploded onto the world stage with her raw, emotionally devastating and Oscar-winning performance in Steve McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave (2013). Five years before, she made her screen debut in the short East River, followed by a recurring role in the Kenyan TV series Shuga (both 2008). Prior to attending a master's degree programme in acting at the Yale School of Drama, she directed the documentary In My Genes (2009), which focused on the discriminatory treatment of Kenya's albino population. No sooner had Nyong’o graduated than she was cast by McQueen in her big screen debut as Patsey, a young slave who suffers at the hands of Michael Fassbender’s sadistic plantation owner. She followed it with a scene-stealing performance as a space pirate in Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015), returning to the role in The Last Jedi (2017). As well as stage roles in Eclipsed (2015-16), Romeo y Julieta (2021) and Twelfth Night (2025), Nyong’o has starred in The Jungle Book (2016), Queen of Katwe (2016) and brought no small amount of charm to the role of Nakia in Black Panther (2018) and its 2022 sequel. Nyong’o was outstanding in the dual roles of Adelaide and Red in Jordan Peele’s Us (2019), impressed once again as the protagonist of A Quiet Place: Day One (2024) and is one of the voices behind The Wild Robot, which screened at the 2024 BFI London Film Festival. Still courtesy of Getty images. Subscribe: http://bit.ly/subscribetotheBFI Claim an extended BFI Player Subscription free trial (UK only) - subscribe using code BFIYOUTUBE: http://theb.fi/player-subscription Watch more on BFI Player: http://player.bfi.org.uk/ Our TikTok:   / britishfilminstitute   Like us on Facebook:   / britishfilminstitute   Follow us on Instagram:   / britishfilminstitute   Follow us on Twitter:   / bfi