Lupita Nyong'o

I discovered that joy is not the negation of pain, but rather acknowledging the presence of pain and feeling happiness in spite of it.

— Lupita Nyong'o

It's only when you risk failure that you discover things. When you play it safe, you're not expressing the utmost of your human experience.

— Lupita Nyong'o

Dreams are the foundation of Hollywood. And dreams are the foundation of America.

— Lupita Nyong'o

Clay can be dirt in the wrong hands, but clay can be art in the right hands.

— Lupita Nyong'o

I was completely overwhelmed…The body registers stress, whether good or bad, in the same way. So if it’s super exciting or super traumatising, your body is in equal distress. Though I would choose excitement over trauma every day.

— Lupita Nyong'o

There was so much joy in the making of this film, despite the fact that it’s about such a sad, traumatic experience…We all felt like we were part of something so real and so necessary. It was a joy to go on set every day and tell these real people’s story. Doing this movie, I discovered that joy is not the negation of pain, but rather acknowledging the presence of pain and feeling happiness in spite of it.

— Lupita Nyong'o

It's because of the prevalence of whiteness, Eurocentric standards of beauty that we experience this. You know? And it is subconscious. Colorism is the daughter of racism. But sometimes it seems like racism has had amnesia (laughter). You know? And so that's why I wrote this - to hopefully bring it to the fore and people can address it.

— Lupita Nyong'o