Her 12 Years a Slave part was the very first feature film role that Lupita Nyong’o landed, and she won an Oscar for it. The actress had just graduated from the Yale School of Drama and now admits she was totally unprepared for overnight fame.
“We were prepared to be extras and little guest stars on TV shows before we would have our chance at any substantial role in the thing that we love to do,” Nyong’o tells Glamour magazine of school. “But it did not at all prepare us for instant success. And that is an overwhelming experience.”
Most newly-famous actors complain about paparazzi or intrusive gossip. But when asked for specifics Nyong’o seems more annoyed by another right of passage: “interviews.”
Specifically, Nyong’o calls press junkets a “torture technique.” She describes their tedium thusly: “Different people are being ferried in” to ask the exact same questions. “You have to give each one of them attention, focus, and an articulate answer that you just gave to the person before. That’s irritating.”
