My immediate family was always very supportive. It was my own fear of the rest of the world not accepting me, the rest of our society not accepting my wish to be an actor.
Lupita Nyong'ORead
Whoopi Goldberg looked like me, she had hair like mine, she was dark like me. I'd been starved for images of myself. I'd grown up watching a lot of American TV. There was very little Kenyan material, because we had an autocratic ruler who stifled our creative expression.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects the need for representation and the impact it has on self-identity.
Lupita Nyong'o's quote expresses the profound effect of seeing someone who resembles you in media, highlighting the importance of representation for marginalized groups. Growing up in an environment that lacked diverse imagery, she felt a deep longing for relatable figures, which speaks to the broader issue of visibility and the role it plays in self-acceptance and empowerment.
Themes
RepresentationIdentityMediaSelf-ImageEmpowerment
In practice
Example use cases
In a motivational speech about diversity in media.
More from Lupita Nyong'O
All quotes →[My mother] always said I was beautiful and I finally believed her at some point.
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What is fundamentally beautiful is compassion: for yourself and for those around you.
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That you will feel the validation of your external beauty but also get to the deeper business of being beautiful inside. There is no shade in that beauty.
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As human beings, we aren't as individual as we'd like to believe we are. And I think that's what makes acting possible. Despite the fact that I have not experienced something, I have it in my human capacity to imagine it and to put myself in someone else's shoes, and to take someone else's circumstances personally.
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I've loved the opportunity to learn about the fashion world and appreciate it as an art form, and I look forward to my continued education, but I never want it to take over my acting.
Lupita Nyong'ORead
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