Lupita Nyong’o Recalls ’12 Years A Slave’ Oscar Win Led To More Slave Role Offers: “This Time You’re On A Slave Ship!”

Lupita Nyong’o is part of the fantastic high-profile cast of Christopher Nolan‘s upcoming Greek myth epic “The Odyssey” coming theaters next July, but the actress is reflecting on her Best Supporting Actress win for Steve McQueen‘s seminal drama “12 Years A Slave” and the dark side of Hollywood when it comes to the kinds of roles that African women, even after winning an Oscar statue, are offered.

Speaking with CNN (via Variety) for Inside Africa, the accomplished actress, who has notably been able to keep herself entrenched within pop culture for ages now, detailed being inundated with more slave role offers after winning her Oscar and even recalled one cringeworthy pitch made to her: “This time you’re on a slave ship!”

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“My winning an Academy Award came at the very start of my career,” Nyong’o told CNN. “It was for the first film I had ever done. So, it really did set the paces for everything I’ve done since. What’s very interesting is that after I won the Academy Award, you’d think like, ‘Oh, I’m going to get the lead roles here and there.’ But it’s ‘Oh, Lupita. We’d like you to do another movie where you’re a slave, but this time you’re on a slave ship.’ Those are the kinds of offers [I was getting] in the months after winning my Academy Award.”

“It was a very tender time,” she continued. “There is an expectation for you and your career. There were think pieces about is this the beginning or the end of this African woman’s career? I had to deafen myself to all those pontificators because at the end of the day, I am not a theory. I am an actual person. I like to be a joyful warrior for changing the paradigms of what it means to be African. If that means I work one less job a year to ensure that I am not perpetuating these stereotypes that are expected of people from my content, then let me do that.”

Nyong’o has certainly been doing an excellent job of navigating all this, attaching herself to projects since then like Jordan Peele‘s genre-bending “Us,” Ryan Coogler‘s “Black Panther” films at Marvel Studios (there is an expectation she’ll be asked to be involved with “Black Panther 3“), co-leading the spinoff sci-fi horror film “A Quiet Place: Day One,” her Oscar-nominated animated pic “The Wild Robot,” playing an alien mentor know-it-all in the recent sequel trilogy of “Star Wars” films, and the lesser known Aussie zombie satire “Little Monsters,” where she gets to play all sorts of different characters, showcasing her range as an actress rather than being seen as a working actor that can only portray slaves in historical dramas that often are seen as wealthy studios and producers exploiting black trauma for entertainment purposes.

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We have to imagine that, due to those experiences, Nyong’o is extremely careful about what projects or offers are even brought to her attention these days.

In the 25th anniversary episode of Inside Africa, @Lupita_Nyongo speaks to @angeliquekidjo about the blessing of her breakout role, the stereotypes she refused to accept after her Oscar win, and her mission to change how the world sees Africans. pic.twitter.com/nHHI4V3uCb

— CNN International PR (@cnnipr) November 23, 2025