Lupita Nyong'o Covers October Vogue in Valentino Dress
Posted on September 19, 2015
Lupita Nyong'o covers the October 2015 issue of Vogue magazine. She looks stunning in a Valentino Haute Couture dress on the cover photographed by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott. Vogue calls Lupita "La Femme Lupita" on the cover.
This is the second Vogue cover for the young actress. Lupita models several new couture looks from brands including Gaultier Paris, Schiaparelli and Riccrado Tisci in the Vogue cover shoot.
Lupita found fame with her Oscar win for her 12 Years a Slave role in 2014. She did not suffer an Oscar curse and landed a role in the upcoming Star Wars film, Star Wars: The Force Awakens. She also stars in Queen of Katwe (2016) and voices Raksha, Mowgli's adoptive wolf mother, in The Jungle Book. Lupita plays a pirate named Maz Kanata in The Force Awakens. Lupita told Vogue she spent four months filming the CGI enhanced character.
She says, "I really enjoyed the fact that you're not governed by your physical presence in that kind of work. You can be a dragon. You can be anything. My training at Yale is the core of the actor that I am. Before that I was just going on instinct ... having my imagination take over. But Yale taught me that it's about giving yourself permission to pretend."
Lupita also spoke with Vogue about how she was honored with a ceremonial reception during a recent trip home to Kenya. She says, "It was overwhelming. In Africa there is a nationalism that comes with things like winning an Oscar. It's traditional to be welcomed and celebrated. Praise songs, which are the highest honor in Kenya, were sung for me, and they included lines from my Oscar speech."
Lupita has met and received advise from many in Hollywood during her rise to stardom. She shared the following advice she received from Oprah: "Oprah Winfrey advised me to figure out what my intention is and to act on it. I think I can make a difference by having certain stories be told. But it's in the hope that I will not always be the only one telling them."
In addition to the interview, Vogue also peppered Lupita with 73 questions covering subjects from what she has for breakfast to how many CGI dots she wore during filming. Her favorite Star Wars movie is The Empire Strikes Back. Her favorite gym song is "I'm So Special" by Mavada. Lupita does some hula hooping while walking at the 5:40 mark. Take a look: