The Kenyan-Mexican actor, director, producer and New York Times bestselling author Lupita Nyong’o will be president of the International Jury of the 74th Berlin International Film Festival.
Ever since her 2014 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 12 Years a Slave (director: Steve McQueen), Lupita Nyong’o has been one of the most high-profile international actors, inspiring audiences and film critics alike.
“Lupita Nyong’o embodies what we like in cinema: versatility in embracing different projects, addressing different audiences, and consistency to one idea that is quite recognisable in her characters, as diverse as they may look. We are happy and proud she has accepted our invitation to be the jury president of the 74th Berlinale,” say Berlinale directors Mariëtte Rissenbeek and Carlo Chatrian.
The daughter of Kenyan parents was born in Mexico City and grew up in Kenya. Lupita Nyong’o then studied Film and Theatre Studies at Hampshire College (USA) and initially worked on various film productions in the USA. Back in Kenya, she produced her first film In My Genes in 2009, which she also directed and wrote. After further studies at the Yale School of Drama, she began her acting career and celebrated her breakthrough with 12 Years a Slave. For which, in addition to the Oscar, she received the Screen Actors Guild Award, the Critics’ Choice Award, the Independent Spirit Award and the NAACP Image Award.
In 2018, Lupita Nyong’o first appeared in the role of the warrior Nakia in the Marvel film Black Panther, and she also starred in the sequel Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022).
Her other screen successes include Us, Little Monsters, Queen of Katwe, Star Wars: The Force Awakens and the horror film The 355. She will soon be taking on a role in the horror franchise spin-off series A Quiet Place: Day One. In addition to her film career, Lupita Nyong’o is also active on the Broadway stage and wrote the children’s book “Sulwe” in 2020, which was on the New York Times Best Sellers list.
Lupita Nyong’o is currently preparing a podcast focussing on non-fictional storytelling from the African diaspora and she is developing a series based on Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s “Americanah”.
She was recently executive producer of the Sudanese film Goodbye Julia (directorial debut of Mohamed Kordofani). Goodbye Julia was selected by the Sudanese National Committee operating in exile to compete for the Best International Feature Film at the 96th Academy Awards.
