Lupita Nyong’o spiraled with fear after her big Oscar win, but Emma Thompson’s advice saved her!
In 2014, the actress won the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her first-ever big-screen performance in 12 Years a Slave, which confused her about her career! However, she took Bridget Jones actress’ advice and became certain about her “inner navigator!”
Emma Thompson’s advice changed Lupita Nyong’o’s life
Although Lupita has been doing theatre for a while, she did not expect to win an Oscar for her very first performance on the big screen. The “biggest fear” that her win instilled in her was how she would top her big win for the role of Patsey because “the Academy Awards is considered the pinnacle of one’s career.”
The actress spoke at length about her insecurities to PEOPLE at the Paramount Pictures x Hollywood Confidential Celebrating Lupita Nyong’o event on Friday, June 14. She feared that the “Oscar’s curse” for Best Supporting Actress would plague her career and she’d never be able to outperform her Academy-worthy performance. “A lot of people who won that then went on to not have such great projects after that, and the fear of falling off the map,” she added.
However, she recalled bearing her heart open to Thompson, whose words of wisdom became her guiding light. “She was the one who encouraged me to go and do what I wanted to do, which was a play on Broadway,” Lupita shared. The British actress and writer encouraged the Black Panther actress to follow her heart and listen to her “own navigation system,” and she did.
Lupita Nyong’o on her career choices
Following Thompson’s advice, the actress went on to pursue what she loved, which was simply “acting.” Despite people resisting her comeback to Broadway, she went back and did the play Eclipsed, which “really strengthened me and reminded me of what I love to do and what I was good at.”
She added that she became certain about her instincts after feeling satisfied with her decision “know now is that I can trust my inner navigator.” The Kenyan-Mexican actress eventually earned a Tony nomination for leading actress in a play for Eclipsed. So, going back to her roots was certainly the right call!
