Laura Harman
Published November 25, 2025 8:30am
Updated November 25, 2025 8:31am
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Lupita Nyong’o has revealed she was offered several slave roles after winning an Oscar (Picture: Universal/Everett/Shutterstock)
Lupita Nyong’o has revealed that she was inundated with offers to play a slave after winning an Oscar.
Lupita, 42, was a breakout star in 2013 after appearing in 12 Years a Slave, a biographical historical drama film directed by Steve McQueen.
Following her performance as Patsey, she won a best supporting actress Academy Award, along with many other accolades, as she became a household name.
However, the star has revealed that she was shocked to find that instead of the film’s success leading to a variety of new roles, she was inundated with offers to play a slave.
On CNN Inside Africa, she commented: ‘It really did set the paces for everything I’ve done since. But you know what’s interesting is that, after I won that Academy Award, you’d think, “Oh, I’m gonna get lead roles here and there.”
‘[Instead, it was], “Oh, Lupita, we’d like you to play another movie where you’re a slave, but this time you’re on a slave ship.” Those are the kind of offers I was getting in the months after winning my Academy Award.’
Lupita played Patsey in 12 Years A Slave (Picture: FoxSearch/Everett/Shutterstock)
She starred alongside Michael Fassbender and Chiwetel Ejiofor (Picture: Duhamel /THA/Shutterstock)
She added that it was a ”very tender time’ and was forced to ignore press coverage about her Hollywood career.
‘There were thinkpieces about: “Is this the beginning and end of this dark-skinned Black African woman’s career?”
‘I had to deafen myself to all those pontificators because, at the end of the day, I’m not a theory; I’m an actual person.’
Lupita – whose parents are Kenyan – added that she is willing to miss out on roles like this if it means she isn’t ‘perpetuating stereotypes’ of African people.
She explained: ‘I like to be a joyful warrior for changing the paradigms of what it means to be African. And if that means I work one job less a year to ensure I’m not perpetuating the stereotypes that are expected of people from my continent, then let me do that.’
The actress has most recently starred in films such as Us, Black Panther, The Jungle Book, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, and The Wild Robot.
The actress starred in A Quiet Place: Day One in 2024 (Picture: Paramount/Everett/Shutterstock)
She also starred in the horror film Us (Picture: Universal/Everett/Shutterstock)
Lupita isn’t the only actress to have turned down roles as a slave. Many other Black actors have echoed the same sentiment.
In an interview with GQ in 2021, actor Will Smith said: ‘I’ve always avoided making films about slavery.’
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He continued: ‘I didn’t want to show Black people in that light. I wanted to be a superhero.’
Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman, who died in 2020, reportedly didn’t want to play slaves on screen either.
His agent told The Hollywood Reporter after his death: ‘I remember him and Tessa [Thompson] were offered a movie, it was about two slaves, and he was like, “I do not want to perpetuate slavery.”
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‘It was like, “We’re not going to keep perpetuating the stereotypes,” and that’s why he wanted to show men of strength and of character.’
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