Hi everyone and thank you for tuning in to the 300 tenth episode of Awards Chatter,

the Hollywood Reporters Awards Podcast.

I'm the host Scott Feinberg,

and this episode is brought to you by UCP's

award-winning and critically acclaimed series,

Mr. Robot, The Act, and The Umbrella Academy. critically acclaimed My guest today is a Kenyan Mexican actress who, six years ago, almost overnight,

went from being a total unknown to a household name and face, not to mention a best supporting

actress Oscar winner, the first ever from Mexico, Kenya, or Africa, for her performance in Steve McQueen's

2013 film, 12 Years a Slave.

She subsequently picked up a Tony nomination for Deny Guerra's 2016 Broadway play Eclipse, the first Broadway show

ever with an all black and all female cast and crew. And she played a key role in

Ryan Cougler's 2018 film Black Panther, the first superhero movie to

star a majority black cast or to have a black writer and director or to land a

best picture Oscar nomination.

And most recently, she starred as two characters in Jordan Peel's Us, an elevated

horror flick which cost $20 million to make and upon its release last spring gross $ million dollars and for which she is now

generating considerable best actress Oscar Buzz.

Lupita Nyongo.

Over the course of our conversation at the Los Angeles offices of the Hollywood reporter, the 36-year-old and I discussed her unusual upbringing and how she wound up at the Yale School of Drama, how she came to be cast over 2,000 other actresses to play Patsy in 12 years a slave and how she tackled that grueling part?

Why the sudden celebrity that came with becoming only the 15th actress ever to win an Oscar for a film

debut, including being named People's Most Beautiful Person in the World, caused her to take

on screen rolls over the next few years in which she did not show her face such as Mazz canada in

...