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Why Lupita Nyong'o Decided to 'Return' to Her Kenyan Accent After Masking It as Young Actress: 'Being an African Is Enough'

Lupita Nyong'o, on the first episode of her new Lemonada Media podcast ‘Mind Your Own,’ opened up about embracing her identity and having 'a complicated relationship' with her Kenyan accent earlier in her acting career

Nyong'o, who was born in Mexico, raised primarily in Nairobi, Kenya, and has lived in the U.S. for two decades, said that “in order to create this podcast, I had to get very comfortable with my voice.” Although she embraced her African accent while at Massachusetts' Hampshire College, things changed when she joined the Yale School of Drama to pursue acting. Nyong'o has since used her distinct voice in multiple projects, including narrating documentaries and playing Maz Kanata in the Star Wars franchise and the titular role in The Wild Robot(in theaters Sept. 27). Lemonada Media ’s Mind Your Own"is about the personal, intimate, individual and quirky stories that give light to who we are as Africans today,” as the A Quiet Place: Day One actress wrote on Instagram, where she shared the podcast’s trailer on Sept. 5.

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