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What’s In An Accent with Lupita Nyong’o | What Now? with Trevor Noah Podcast

This week Lupita Nyong’o is in to discuss her new podcast and its colorful stories of the African diaspora. We also discuss our multifaceted identities, why Lupita refuses to expect rejection, and get into a debate for the ages–can we crown a “best” African country. If you haven't already.... Subscribe to What Now? here on YouTube! https://bit.ly/SubscribeToWhatNow Or follow along on your other favourite podcast platforms... Spotify - https://bit.ly/WhatNowOnSpotify / Apple Podcasts - https://bit.ly/WhatNowOnApplePodcasts More episodes... For Kids or Anyone Who’s Ever Been a Kid https://youtu.be/iv3CMDfKM5w?si=_e0aLFDiHBxPutCB Have We Missed The Message? with Ta-Nehisi Coates https://youtu.be/IPbD9PZ5FP4?si=6Jo16ww9qDqjPFIF Kevin Hart Gets the Bubble Guts! https://youtu.be/LxWiLYHEdYI?si=DQfQxsE_qbQU18gc Doctor Roger Federer Will See You Now https://youtu.be/0foth8r3Zbg?si=jLLMfq9DE90rLAZn Welcome To The Julia Louis-Dreyfus Brain Museum https://youtu.be/gIM1aQ9KS1o?si=z6pYIWwtEOfjqspB Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson Kicks Off The Podcast! https://youtu.be/gPmBuZbnn0g?si=R2jJLxG5cb-BwF03 Jessica Alba Is Standing in Her Power! https://youtu.be/zY9KZyJ1EiI?si=qGolN-Ga4PI3C-5a Making Bureaucracies Sexier with Yuval Noah Harari https://youtu.be/jO8ZLWYg71M?si=Ihm6QzZEnueJJWr1 Gabriel “Fluffy” Iglesias and the Art of Mentoring https://youtu.be/_ZeEiE42kNk?si=UNc9HE9NnyQbSVs6 Tripping Past Your Ego with Michael Pollan https://youtu.be/RMXu7Fn_bZc?si=fujRFMjoW0gwtMLu Why AI Won’t Destroy Us with Microsoft’s Brad Smith https://youtu.be/N5qEv-0fyQ4?si=YqEp8HUM5TCvVoZi Sam Altman Speaks Out About What Happened at OpenAI https://youtu.be/dVTxt5K8YZo?si=tNjKcPxtZuj6crVd There’s No I In Trevor Noah https://youtu.be/NZYnFYmn1Q0?si=5mYwzWfs83XoXhLO The Ozempic Obsession with Jia Tolentino https://youtu.be/ZR9QASRetRc?si=FmhMdLFmYKAOtxP8 #LupitaNyongo #TrevorNoah #WhatNowPodcast

Lupita Nyong’oguestTrevor Noahhost

Oct 24, 20241h 0mWatch on YouTube ↗

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EVERY SPOKEN WORD

65 min read · 12,630 words

0:00 – 1:25
Linkin Park and a Strict Church Upbringing
1. LNLupita Nyong’o
  I got to be interested in whatever. I, I mean, there was a time when I was, like, obsessed with Linkin Park.
2. TNTrevor Noah
  Wow.
3. LNLupita Nyong’o
  And nobody-
4. TNTrevor Noah
  That is freedom
5. LNLupita Nyong’o
  ... and, you know. Yes. [laughs]
6. SPSpeaker
  [laughs]
7. TNTrevor Noah
  That's, that's the devil's music where I'm from.
8. LNLupita Nyong’o
  [laughs]
9. SPSpeaker
  [laughs]
10. TNTrevor Noah
  Anything that involved an electric guitar-
11. LNLupita Nyong’o
  [laughs]
12. TNTrevor Noah
  ... in my mother's house was the devil.
13. SPSpeaker
  [laughs]
14. TNTrevor Noah
  I remember in church, you know, we'd go to Sunday school.
15. LNLupita Nyong’o
  Yeah.
16. TNTrevor Noah
  And then, like, so I- I'll go to different churches, so it's like, you know, the, the African church was just very simple. You, it's church and hymns-
17. LNLupita Nyong’o
  Mm
18. TNTrevor Noah
  ... and choirs and everything. And then we would go to, like, you know, the white part of it, like, that, that was the church-
19. SPSpeaker
  Mm
20. TNTrevor Noah
  ... and it was more, more, like, organized.
21. SPSpeaker
  Reserve too.
22. LNLupita Nyong’o
  Yeah. Mm-hmm.
23. TNTrevor Noah
  And even when they would tell stories about, like, the devil, like, remember the, the story when Jesus is fasting-
24. LNLupita Nyong’o
  Yeah. Oh, yeah
25. TNTrevor Noah
  ... and he's just, like, sitting-
26. SPSpeaker
  And he's tempted
27. TNTrevor Noah
  ... yeah. And then he gets tempted, and then they'd be like, "And then Satan appeared."
28. SPSpeaker
  Yeah. [growls]
29. LNLupita Nyong’o
  [laughs]
30. TNTrevor Noah
  And, like, my- literally, like, when you say Linkin Park, I'm like, wow-
1:25 – 3:39
Who Are the Best Africans? South Africans, Nigerians, Kenyans
1. TNTrevor Noah
  Lupita, of, of all the reasons I thought I'd be chatting to you on, on the podcast-
2. LNLupita Nyong’o
  Mm-hmm
3. TNTrevor Noah
  ... an African podcast is the last thing I would've thought of, and it's honestly my favorite conversation to have.
4. LNLupita Nyong’o
  Oh, wonderful.
5. TNTrevor Noah
  No, really. I was just like ... I was like, oh, Lupita's coming on. I mean, obviously you're always making movies. You're always doing things. You're always ... And then I was like, an African podcast.
6. LNLupita Nyong’o
  [laughs]
7. TNTrevor Noah
  I was in on so many different levels. This is exciting, 'cause here we are, three Africans. Actually, let's settle the debate before we get into this conversation.
8. LNLupita Nyong’o
  Okay.
9. TNTrevor Noah
  Who are the best Africans?
10. LNLupita Nyong’o
  [laughs]
11. TNTrevor Noah
  South Africans, Nigerians, or Kenyans?
12. LNLupita Nyong’o
  I mean, what kind of question is that?
13. TNTrevor Noah
  [laughs]
14. LNLupita Nyong’o
  We're all subjective. We're all gonna be w- well, you know, root for our own co-
15. TNTrevor Noah
  I told you.
16. SPSpeaker
  Somebody has to win.
17. TNTrevor Noah
  No, but what did I tell you? Kenyans are nuanced.
18. SPSpeaker
  I know. I know.
19. TNTrevor Noah
  That, like-
20. SPSpeaker
  You said this
21. TNTrevor Noah
  ... already you're like, "They're sub- we're subjective."
22. LNLupita Nyong’o
  [laughs]
23. SPSpeaker
  [laughs]
24. TNTrevor Noah
  And then if you ask a Nigerian that-
25. SPSpeaker
  Nigerian.
26. TNTrevor Noah
  [laughs]
27. SPSpeaker
  The best and worst Africans, if it means anything.
28. LNLupita Nyong’o
  The hubris of it all.
29. SPSpeaker
  The best and worst. [laughs]
30. TNTrevor Noah
  Yeah. Kenyans are always, like, are always ... What do you think it is? Like, because I find, like, South Africans ... And, uh, like, we know South Africans are always ... We're almost like the Americans of Africa.
3:39 – 6:54
Building the Mind Your Own Story Podcast
1. SPSpeaker
  One of the episodes of your podcast, you actually have a mother-
2. LNLupita Nyong’o
  Yes
3. SPSpeaker
  ... who makes a Nigerian soup-
4. LNLupita Nyong’o
  Mm-hmm
5. SPSpeaker
  ... that she, I don't wanna spoil it, but she takes it to New York from London.
6. TNTrevor Noah
  Yes. Yes.
7. SPSpeaker
  Which, which you probably shouldn't do-
8. LNLupita Nyong’o
  [laughs]
9. TNTrevor Noah
  [laughs]
10. SPSpeaker
  ... given the ingredients [laughs] in-
11. LNLupita Nyong’o
  Right
12. SPSpeaker
  ... a typical Nigerian soup.
13. LNLupita Nyong’o
  Yeah.
14. SPSpeaker
  But it's just like, it's, it has that level of specif- specificity about-
15. LNLupita Nyong’o
  Mm-hmm
16. SPSpeaker
  ... like, the soup people eat, the stories we tell each other.
17. TNTrevor Noah
  Yes.
18. LNLupita Nyong’o
  Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
19. SPSpeaker
  Like, how did you find these people?
20. LNLupita Nyong’o
  Well, I've always loved storytelling, and just cinema through the years-
21. SPSpeaker
  Mm
22. LNLupita Nyong’o
  ... has always been a thing for me. And growing up, radio was a big thing.
23. TNTrevor Noah
  Mm. Okay.
24. LNLupita Nyong’o
  And so coming here and learning of shows like, uh, This American Life made a big impact on me-
25. TNTrevor Noah
  Mm
26. LNLupita Nyong’o
  ... and my understanding of America from that more nuanced place.
27. TNTrevor Noah
  Mm.
28. LNLupita Nyong’o
  And so I wanted to make a show like that. And, uh, so I teamed up with a production, a, a podcasting production studio. They went out, hired story scouts around the world, who then would come, just really emailing people, just, you know, going through their own m- memory Rolodex.
29. SPSpeaker
  Yeah.
30. LNLupita Nyong’o
  You know, like, that story-
6:54 – 8:49
Losing and Reclaiming Her Accent
1. SPSpeaker
  And do you feel that's something you're still grappling with?
2. LNLupita Nyong’o
  Ooh.
3. SPSpeaker
  [laughs]
4. LNLupita Nyong’o
  No. I am not grappling it, with it in the same way. I've kind of, I've accepted that I sound, I sound mixed up and confused. [laughs]
5. TNTrevor Noah
  [laughs]
6. SPSpeaker
  [laughs]
7. LNLupita Nyong’o
  I do. Like, you know? And sometimes ... Okay, it sometimes it frustrates me because I want ... There's moments when I want to sound more Kenyan than I can.
8. SPSpeaker
  Yeah.
9. LNLupita Nyong’o
  And then, uh, m- mainly that's the, the-
10. SPSpeaker
  Mm-hmm
11. LNLupita Nyong’o
  ... betrayal, when, like, I'm back home and I say something. [laughs] I remember my, my niece, I went back home and I felt like ... When I'm back home, I code shift and I-
12. SPSpeaker
  Yeah
13. LNLupita Nyong’o
  ... sound way more Kenyan than-
14. TNTrevor Noah
  Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
15. LNLupita Nyong’o
  ... I do in America. So I'm with my cousins, I'm feeling really s- chill, and my cous- my little niece, she was probably four at the time. She goes, "Why do you sound like that?"
16. SPSpeaker
  [laughs]
17. LNLupita Nyong’o
  And then I say, "Like what?" And she goes, "Like a white somebody."
18. TNTrevor Noah
  Wow. [laughs]
19. SPSpeaker
  [laughs]
20. LNLupita Nyong’o
  I was so gutted. I was like, "Here-
21. TNTrevor Noah
  Like a white somebody
22. LNLupita Nyong’o
  ... I'm like a white somebody." And I was just so heartbroken-
23. SPSpeaker
  [laughs]
24. LNLupita Nyong’o
  ... because here I was thinking, "Ah, I'm sounding like everybody."
25. TNTrevor Noah
  You're back. [laughs]
26. LNLupita Nyong’o
  I'm back. And she called me out. So you know, there's those moments-
27. SPSpeaker
  Yeah
28. LNLupita Nyong’o
  ... where I'm like, "Oh, my God, I can't run away from my American-
29. TNTrevor Noah
  Yeah
30. LNLupita Nyong’o
  ... experience."
8:49 – 16:18
Mimicry vs. Accents and the Mexican Connection
1. TNTrevor Noah
  And I ... It's funny, you understand the difference between the two. So for instance, I always tell people, I go, "I don't do accents."
2. LNLupita Nyong’o
  Mm-hmm.
3. SPSpeaker
  Mm-hmm.
4. TNTrevor Noah
  I mimic people.
5. LNLupita Nyong’o
  Yeah, okay.
6. TNTrevor Noah
  Do you know what I mean?
7. LNLupita Nyong’o
  Mm-hmm.
8. TNTrevor Noah
  So I, like, find a person, and I'm like, "I like how they speak," and that's the person who sticks in my head.
9. LNLupita Nyong’o
  Yeah.
10. TNTrevor Noah
  You know what I mean? So someone will be like, "Do a London accent." I'm like, there's n- I ... For me, I don't think there is a London accent because-
11. LNLupita Nyong’o
  Right, there's so many
12. TNTrevor Noah
  ... when I'm in London, there are so many-
13. LNLupita Nyong’o
  Ooh
14. TNTrevor Noah
  ... accents. So I just go, "This is my friend in London. This is how they speak, and that's what I do."
15. SPSpeaker
  Oh.
16. LNLupita Nyong’o
  Yeah.
17. TNTrevor Noah
  Does that make sense?
18. LNLupita Nyong’o
  Mm-hmm.
19. TNTrevor Noah
  And then sometimes people will complain to me. They'll be like, they'll be like, "Trevor, I heard your Trinidadian accent, and that's not how Trinidad ..." I'm like, "Yes. I'm not doing a Trinidadian accent."
20. LNLupita Nyong’o
  No.
21. TNTrevor Noah
  "I'm doing my friend."
22. LNLupita Nyong’o
  Yes.
23. SPSpeaker
  Yeah.
24. TNTrevor Noah
  "This is how my friend speaks-
25. LNLupita Nyong’o
  Yeah
26. TNTrevor Noah
  ... and he's from Trinidad, so you should go complain to him-
27. LNLupita Nyong’o
  [laughs]
28. SPSpeaker
  [laughs]
29. TNTrevor Noah
  ... because I'm doing him."
30. LNLupita Nyong’o
  Yeah. But it's also, you're also owning your expression of that Trinidad-
16:18 – 18:28
Different Personalities in Different Languages
1. TNTrevor Noah
  what I mean?
2. LNLupita Nyong’o
  Yeah.
3. TNTrevor Noah
  What, what are we not getting from English Lupita that, that is, like, hidden in all these other Lupitas?
4. LNLupita Nyong’o
  [laughs] Well, there's two Eng-
5. TNTrevor Noah
  [laughs] It's even the [laughs] "Ha ha."
6. SPSpeaker
  [laughs]
7. TNTrevor Noah
  There we there.
8. SPSpeaker
  I know. I was like, accent Lupita-
9. TNTrevor Noah
  Yeah
10. SPSpeaker
  ... that was a whole new-
11. TNTrevor Noah
  That was a ha.
12. SPSpeaker
  And the, and the body language.
13. TNTrevor Noah
  Everything a ha.
14. SPSpeaker
  The rest too. [laughs]
15. TNTrevor Noah
  That one, that's, that's an African sound a ha.
16. LNLupita Nyong’o
  Yeah. And then with Africans-
17. TNTrevor Noah
  Yes, a ha
18. LNLupita Nyong’o
  ... those things come out.
19. TNTrevor Noah
  Already.
20. LNLupita Nyong’o
  [laughs] Well, I have two English Lupitas, right?
21. TNTrevor Noah
  Yes. Okay.
22. LNLupita Nyong’o
  There's the Kenyan English Lupita-
23. TNTrevor Noah
  Uh-huh. Uh-huh
24. LNLupita Nyong’o
  ... and then there's the American English Lupita.
25. TNTrevor Noah
  Okay.
26. LNLupita Nyong’o
  And I think it ... with my Kenyan English Lupita, I'm ... I have a, I'm a, a lot spicier, I think.
27. SPSpeaker
  Mm.
28. TNTrevor Noah
  Okay. Okay.
29. LNLupita Nyong’o
  You know?
30. TNTrevor Noah
  Yeah.
18:28 – 21:42
Breaking Barriers and Coaching Her Xhosa for Black Panther
1. SPSpeaker
  Lupita, what's so interesting is I feel that you've broken barriers for African actresses.
2. LNLupita Nyong’o
  Mm.
3. SPSpeaker
  So the Lupita that arrives at Yale School of Drama today-
4. LNLupita Nyong’o
  Mm
5. SPSpeaker
  ... may not feel the same pressure to change her accent because there's a reference for-
6. LNLupita Nyong’o
  But I-
7. SPSpeaker
  ... a African actress.
8. LNLupita Nyong’o
  Yes.
9. SPSpeaker
  But you had to be the one to walk through that door-
10. LNLupita Nyong’o
  Yes
11. SPSpeaker
  ... in a way, and do the thing that was hard-
12. LNLupita Nyong’o
  Mm
13. SPSpeaker
  ... to allow someone else coming ... If an actress comes from Nigeria or Ke- they're like, "Oh, we know Lupita. We know what this is."
14. TNTrevor Noah
  Yeah, yeah, yeah.
15. LNLupita Nyong’o
  Yes.
16. SPSpeaker
  Do you know what I mean?
17. LNLupita Nyong’o
  Yeah.
18. SPSpeaker
  Oh, yeah, you can play us 'cause we've seen it happen.
19. LNLupita Nyong’o
  Right.
20. SPSpeaker
  So that person may be able to assume a completely different posture, and just have their natural accent in a way you couldn't 15 years ago.
21. LNLupita Nyong’o
  And that-
22. SPSpeaker
  'Cause it didn't exist
23. LNLupita Nyong’o
  ... is true, but I would still encourage that person to learn other accents.
24. SPSpeaker
  Yeah.
25. LNLupita Nyong’o
  Because without my training at Yale, I wouldn't have been able to play a Ugandan.
26. SPSpeaker
  Mm.
27. LNLupita Nyong’o
  I wouldn't be able to have ... I wouldn't be able to do Black Panther-
28. SPSpeaker
  Mm. Yeah
29. LNLupita Nyong’o
  ... and try my hand at Xhosa.
30. SPSpeaker
  Right. [laughs]
21:42 – 28:03
Privacy, Vulnerability and Telling Hard Stories
1. SPSpeaker
  Talking about expanding beyond limitations, I often think with African stories told by Africans, whether from Africa or in the diaspora-
2. LNLupita Nyong’o
  Mm-hmm
3. SPSpeaker
  ... we always want to lean towards the mo- more positive side because everything is so negative-
4. LNLupita Nyong’o
  Yes
5. SPSpeaker
  ... in the Western media.
6. LNLupita Nyong’o
  Yeah.
7. SPSpeaker
  But what I like about the podcast, there are a lot of, like, heartbreaking stories in there. I thought Evelyn's story-
8. LNLupita Nyong’o
  Mm
9. SPSpeaker
  ... um, about-
10. LNLupita Nyong’o
  Interesting. Yeah
11. SPSpeaker
  ... about being shipped [laughs] from Canada to Ghana against her will.
12. LNLupita Nyong’o
  Yeah.
13. SPSpeaker
  That is an experience I know, I know so many kids that were shipped back.
14. LNLupita Nyong’o
  Yeah.
15. SPSpeaker
  And their parents trick them. And it's kind of a thing that's not spoken about publicly, but you really managed to humanize-
16. LNLupita Nyong’o
  Mm
17. SPSpeaker
  ... one of the sadder elements of the African experience that needs to be told, but it's really done in a dignified way.
18. LNLupita Nyong’o
  Oh, thank you.
19. SPSpeaker
  Yeah.
20. LNLupita Nyong’o
  And it's by giving the mic to the people who have-
21. SPSpeaker
  Mm
22. LNLupita Nyong’o
  ... experienced it and allowing them to tell their story. That had been actually the, my initial idea. In the beginning, I wasn't gonna share any of my own stories.
23. SPSpeaker
  Interesting.
24. LNLupita Nyong’o
  And then nobody wanted to buy the podcast. [laughs]
25. SPSpeaker
  [laughs]
26. TNTrevor Noah
  [laughs]
27. LNLupita Nyong’o
  And actually, Nora Mlaghe was like, "Yeah, man, you have to ... We wanna hear from you. You're the-
28. SPSpeaker
  Yeah.
29. TNTrevor Noah
  Yeah
30. LNLupita Nyong’o
  ... gateway-
28:03 – 30:30
Challenging What Is Considered African and Black
1. LNLupita Nyong’o
  So hopefully, this is contributing to our own understanding of who we are today. 'Cause we're always grappling, don't you feel, with, like, with tradition and modernity?
2. TNTrevor Noah
  Yes. Yes.
3. SPSpeaker
  Yeah, for sure.
4. TNTrevor Noah
  Of course.
5. LNLupita Nyong’o
  And you know, that thing of like, "That's very un-African," you know. You hear that a lot, but is it?
6. SPSpeaker
  Yeah.
7. LNLupita Nyong’o
  Is it? And one of the ways to challenge what is African is to actually get Africans talking about their unique experiences.
8. TNTrevor Noah
  It's interesting, in the specificity of your podcast, I feel like you've tapped on something that is ... that sort of touches on everyone and everything. You know, like, America as a whole is a place where people are always asked to sort of, like, check their identity at the door.
9. LNLupita Nyong’o
  Mm-hmm.
10. TNTrevor Noah
  But then what they don't realize is they're also asked to then adopt an identity, but what is that identity?
11. LNLupita Nyong’o
  Yeah.
12. TNTrevor Noah
  And America always struggles and grapples with this, you know?
13. LNLupita Nyong’o
  Right.
14. TNTrevor Noah
  It's like you, you, you see it throughout time. It's like, uh, the Irish get here, and people are like, "We don't like the Irish. You're not Irish," until the Irish are like, "Okay, we're not Irish. We're American." And it's like, but what is American, and who defined what American is?
15. LNLupita Nyong’o
  Yeah.
16. TNTrevor Noah
  Nobody actually sits and says, "Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, but what is American?"
17. LNLupita Nyong’o
  Yeah.
18. TNTrevor Noah
  You know? And even in the UK you're seeing this. "Okay, but what is British? What is English?"
19. SPSpeaker
  Sure. Mm-hmm.
20. TNTrevor Noah
  You know?
21. LNLupita Nyong’o
  Yeah.
22. TNTrevor Noah
  And, and when you go now back to Africa, you even find people saying things. I remember saying to my friends one day, I said, "Do you ever think about how when we sit around," and I've seen this mirrored in, in America, we'll sit around with each other, and we'll say, "Uh, that's not, that's not Black. Do it the Black way, or do it the..." Then I go like, "But have you noticed how many times we will say that, and what we mean is it's not sophisticated, it's not considered, it's not ..." Oh.
23. LNLupita Nyong’o
  Yeah.
24. TNTrevor Noah
  You know what I mean?
25. LNLupita Nyong’o
  It's self-judgmental.
26. TNTrevor Noah
  So we'll be like, "If it, if-
27. LNLupita Nyong’o
  Yeah
28. TNTrevor Noah
  ... if it is sophisticated, if it is considered, if it is, if it has a level of panache," then we're like, "Ah, that's not Black."
29. LNLupita Nyong’o
  Yeah.
30. SPSpeaker
  Mm.
30:30 – 33:24
The Breastfeeding Episode and Africans on the Global Stage
1. SPSpeaker
  I like, um, you using the word reclaim.
2. LNLupita Nyong’o
  Mm.
3. SPSpeaker
  I'll say this as a mother, one of my favorite stories in the podcast is the breastfeeding story.
4. LNLupita Nyong’o
  [laughs]
5. TNTrevor Noah
  [laughs]
6. SPSpeaker
  Again, involving her cousin Fiona. We'll not spoil it-
7. LNLupita Nyong’o
  [laughs]
8. SPSpeaker
  But it goes somewhere you don't think it's gonna go. [laughs]
9. TNTrevor Noah
  It's a disaster, but it's, it's a great ... Like, it's, yeah.
10. SPSpeaker
  But it's just like, I can't r- ... Whenever you think of breastfeeding, I saw African women around me breastfeeding.
11. LNLupita Nyong’o
  Yeah.
12. SPSpeaker
  That's why I made the choice to do it.
13. LNLupita Nyong’o
  Uh-huh.
14. SPSpeaker
  But when it came to me having my first son, the images I saw of women breastfeeding didn't look like me, because breastfeeding has become something that is associated with being a white, affluent, privileged woman who has the time to be at home with her child, right?
15. LNLupita Nyong’o
  Wow. Yeah.
16. SPSpeaker
  Um, but the images I saw were of my mother and my aunts, and d- it's funny, but, like, African women breastfeeding is not something that you see [laughs] on television. It's not something that I've seen depicted, but it's something that's spoken about extensively in this episode of the podcast.
17. LNLupita Nyong’o
  Yeah.
18. SPSpeaker
  And it's that rec- reclamation of things that we also do.
19. LNLupita Nyong’o
  Yeah.
20. SPSpeaker
  We also do these very special, yet ordinary things.
21. LNLupita Nyong’o
  Mm-hmm.
22. SPSpeaker
  But it's not, we're not necessarily associated with it in the way we tell stories in the world right now.
23. LNLupita Nyong’o
  Hmm, how interesting. I've n- ... It's-
24. SPSpeaker
  But I'm coming to that as somebody who, like, has breastfed for a long time.
25. LNLupita Nyong’o
  Right, right.
26. SPSpeaker
  Longer than I would've liked to. [laughs]
27. LNLupita Nyong’o
  [laughs]
28. TNTrevor Noah
  [laughs]
29. SPSpeaker
  It was always six months, and it ends up being, like, a year and plus.
30. LNLupita Nyong’o
  [laughs]
33:24 – 36:38
Coffee Connection Break
1. TNTrevor Noah
  And now it's time for a new segment, Coffee Connection, brought to you by Starbucks. I have to say what Lupita's experiencing right now in her life with the podcast and with the stories that she's connecting people to is probably one of my favorite expressions of connection that I've ever seen.
2. SPSpeaker
  In what way?
3. TNTrevor Noah
  Well, like, we sometimes forget how wonderful and important it is to connect to ourselves-
4. SPSpeaker
  Mm-hmm
5. TNTrevor Noah
  ... and to the worlds that we've come from. You know, we always, we always connect going forward.
6. SPSpeaker
  Mm-hmm.
7. TNTrevor Noah
  And I think sometimes it's only when we get really old that we think of connecting backwards.
8. SPSpeaker
  I know what you mean, yeah.
9. TNTrevor Noah
  Do you know what I mean?
10. SPSpeaker
  Yeah, yeah.
11. TNTrevor Noah
  'Cause life is always going forwards, it's always going forwards, it's always going forwards. And then you see old people, and they are really in touch with connecting backwards.
12. SPSpeaker
  Mm-hmm.
13. TNTrevor Noah
  Sitting with their friends, talking to grandkids, talking to their kids.
14. SPSpeaker
  Yeah.
15. TNTrevor Noah
  So there's like a, there's like a beautiful ... And I don't know what it was like for you, but when I was growing up, that was, like, the number one thing that my grandmother loved to do.
16. SPSpeaker
  Mm-hmm.
17. TNTrevor Noah
  It was, like, coffee and tea.
18. SPSpeaker
  Yeah.
19. TNTrevor Noah
  You know? They'd be like, "I, I, I, want a little coffee. I, I, I, want a little coffee, Trevor."
20. SPSpeaker
  Yeah.
21. TNTrevor Noah
  "I can't ... Come then till later. Come then till ..." You know what I mean?
22. SPSpeaker
  Yeah.
23. TNTrevor Noah
  It was like ... And that was the thing, like, grannies loved.
24. SPSpeaker
  Yeah, of course.
25. TNTrevor Noah
  Like, African grannies.
26. SPSpeaker
  Of course.
27. TNTrevor Noah
  It was always like, "I've got my coffee and my tea and my bread." Like, my great-grandmother loved coffee, and then my grandmother loved tea.
28. SPSpeaker
  Yeah.
29. TNTrevor Noah
  And they would just sit around with their bread and their cup of, of whatever beverage they'd chosen-
30. SPSpeaker
  Yeah
36:38 – 44:53
The Data Lie and Where Her Determination Comes From
1. TNTrevor Noah
  listening to you talk about the journey of making your podcast, it highlights for me, like, the journey of, like, navigating what I call the, the data lie.
2. LNLupita Nyong’o
  Hmm.
3. TNTrevor Noah
  So I have, I have a f- few friends who are, like, engineers or data scientists or they just work in the field. Yeah, and then, like, some of them work at Netflix, some of them work, you know, for Microsoft. Some of them ... But they work at all these, like, tech companies, and the biggest argument I will have with them is about data. And I always say to them, I go, like, "Data is a liar."
4. LNLupita Nyong’o
  Mm-hmm.
5. TNTrevor Noah
  Right? Because data looks back and then tries to assume forward.
6. LNLupita Nyong’o
  Mm-hmm.
7. TNTrevor Noah
  And so it's limited in what it can tell you about the world. And when I'm listening to your story, I think of how many times ... It's funny, Norm, you know, who we both know is my manager, he said, "Everyone in Hollywood is in a mad dash to be second."
8. LNLupita Nyong’o
  Wait.
9. TNTrevor Noah
  And when he ... Yeah, when he ...
10. LNLupita Nyong’o
  Yeah.
11. TNTrevor Noah
  That line really stuck-
12. LNLupita Nyong’o
  Yeah
13. TNTrevor Noah
  ... and he said, "Everyone in Hollywood is in a mad dash to be second."
14. LNLupita Nyong’o
  Okay.
15. TNTrevor Noah
  And I was like, "What do you mean?" And he explained it to me, and I was like, yeah, but this is so true. Think about how many times a story has been told, a movie has been made, a show has been created, and once that show's a success ... Like, let's say, like, a simple one like The Office.
16. LNLupita Nyong’o
  Yeah.
17. SPSpeaker
  Yes. Yeah.
18. TNTrevor Noah
  Right? You go like, "No, people don't wanna ... You can't look at the camera, and you can't do ..." And then Ricky Gervais did it in the UK, and it was w- obviously popular there.
19. LNLupita Nyong’o
  Mm-hmm.
20. TNTrevor Noah
  They try things all the time. They bring it to America, then, I don't know, I don't ... Becomes huge, and then everyone does it now.
21. LNLupita Nyong’o
  Yeah.
22. TNTrevor Noah
  All of a sudden, Modern Family, Parks and Recreation.
23. LNLupita Nyong’o
  Yeah.
24. TNTrevor Noah
  Everyone's looking in the camera. Everyone's making a mockumentary, and now it's the most normal thing to do.
25. LNLupita Nyong’o
  Yes.
26. TNTrevor Noah
  You know what I mean?
27. LNLupita Nyong’o
  Yes.
28. TNTrevor Noah
  And then you, you look at the next story. You go like, "Oh, let's make a ... I don't know if this w- oh, is there a market for-
29. LNLupita Nyong’o
  Is it gonna resonate?
30. TNTrevor Noah
  I'm hearing the same thing here in a way.
44:53 – 50:09
Growing Up in Kenya, Colorism and Racial Awareness
1. SPSpeaker
  Lupita, I'm really curious. Do you think something about being raised in Kenya kind of insulated you from a lot of the messages that I think young Black girls, particularly dark Black girls, experience in the West?
2. LNLupita Nyong’o
  1000%.
3. SPSpeaker
  About colorism, complexion, hair, and ... 'Cause it seems like you just gave yourself the latitude to take up space.
4. LNLupita Nyong’o
  Yes. But, you know, I did experience colorism as well growing up.
5. SPSpeaker
  Mm.
6. LNLupita Nyong’o
  I experienced that, and I experienced a lot of s- of ... I ha- I had issues with self-esteem.
7. SPSpeaker
  Mm-hmm.
8. LNLupita Nyong’o
  So I wasn't spared that.
9. SPSpeaker
  Mm.
10. LNLupita Nyong’o
  But the difference is that I came from a majority population.
11. SPSpeaker
  Mm-hmm.
12. LNLupita Nyong’o
  So my issue was not being Black.
13. SPSpeaker
  Mm-hmm.
14. LNLupita Nyong’o
  It may have been being dark-
15. SPSpeaker
  Yeah
16. LNLupita Nyong’o
  ... but my issue was not being Black, and I think ... And so I was not othered in that same way.
17. SPSpeaker
  Yeah.
18. LNLupita Nyong’o
  And as much as I was being teased by about how dark I was, everybody was dark.
19. SPSpeaker
  [laughs]
20. TNTrevor Noah
  [laughs]
21. LNLupita Nyong’o
  So I'm like, what are you saying? Even you, you know? [laughs]
22. SPSpeaker
  [laughs]
23. TNTrevor Noah
  [laughs]
24. LNLupita Nyong’o
  So the self-worth thing, there was always, like, counters to it.
25. SPSpeaker
  Yeah.
26. LNLupita Nyong’o
  Right? And so I didn't have a society that was limiting me-
27. SPSpeaker
  Okay
28. LNLupita Nyong’o
  ... in the same way.
29. SPSpeaker
  Yeah.
30. LNLupita Nyong’o
  You know? And I, and I didn't have a political system that I was fighting against in that same way.
50:09 – 57:27
Belonging, Citizenship and Being Enough
1. LNLupita Nyong’o
  I, I, I, uh, I remember, like, my mom, there was a time when my visa ran out after my undergraduate degree. I'd done 12 Years a Slave, but I was on a s- I was on OPT when I did 12 Years a Slave.
2. TNTrevor Noah
  Wow.
3. LNLupita Nyong’o
  Wow. Yeah.
4. TNTrevor Noah
  Still on a student visa.
5. LNLupita Nyong’o
  I was on a student visa, right? Visa. Right. [laughs]
6. TNTrevor Noah
  Wow.
7. LNLupita Nyong’o
  Wow. I was a student. [laughs] So and that was only for a year, right? And it was running out. 12 Years wasn't out yet, and I was facing this thing of, like, do I s- try and stay, or do I go home? Mm-hmm. You know? And I got this project. They offered me this role. Uh, I ha- I was going to play, like, a Nigerian maid, and it was just a so ... And it was infuriating. Mm. It was one of those stereotypical roles that I felt was just taking me backwards, as I- Mm ... if I did it, but if I did it, I got to stay in the country and pursue my dream further.
8. TNTrevor Noah
  Mm.
9. LNLupita Nyong’o
  And I couldn't take it. I couldn't take it. And my mom said to me, "You have a roof over your head and people who love you in Kenya. You do not need to struggle in America- Mm ... for them f- for them to accept you. You're accepted here." Mm-hmm. And being reminded of that, that I belong somewhere- Yeah ... that I belong to a people-
10. TNTrevor Noah
  Mm-hmm.
11. LNLupita Nyong’o
  Mm-hmm
12. TNTrevor Noah
  ... mm-hmm
13. LNLupita Nyong’o
  ... I think that really bolstered me. Mm. And I chose not to do that project. And in the end, of course, [laughs] Yeah.
14. TNTrevor Noah
  [laughs]
15. LNLupita Nyong’o
  Everything transpired- It worked out ... as it, it worked out.
16. TNTrevor Noah
  Yeah, things worked out
17. LNLupita Nyong’o
  ... this is the good news. But I think I, I really want to give my parents credit- Mm ... because they instilled in me self-worth that I go back to again and again. And sometimes it slips- Yeah ... but I have my family to remind me of who I am, right? And I know that I am not ... I am, my value doesn't come in what I've achieved. It comes from who I am and who I am like pr- who I am continually trying to be.
18. TNTrevor Noah
  I can't help but think about how important it is for countries and societies to adopt many of the ideas that you're speaking about now. Because I, I remember, I remember speaking to a friend of mine, um, from Compton, and he's a comedian, and we were chatting about life as, you know, an African American and as an African, and we were comparing our experiences and our lives. And so many, there were so many similarities.
19. LNLupita Nyong’o
  Mm.
20. TNTrevor Noah
  And I, I, I said to ... One day he looked at me, and he's like, "Man" He's like, I'm, he's like, "I ain't gonna lie." He's like, "We, it feels like we lived the same life." He said, he said, "But man" He's like, "I still wish I had, I still wish I had home."
21. LNLupita Nyong’o
  Mm.
22. TNTrevor Noah
  And I said, "What do you mean by that, really?" And, and when he described it, he said something that I realize America as a whole would, I think could stand to benefit from.
23. LNLupita Nyong’o
  Mm.
24. TNTrevor Noah
  What you said in, in, in Kenya, no one could take away your Black card.
25. LNLupita Nyong’o
  Mm.
26. TNTrevor Noah
  No one could take away your Kenyan card.
27. LNLupita Nyong’o
  Mm-mm.
28. TNTrevor Noah
  Do you know what I'm saying?
29. LNLupita Nyong’o
  Mm.
30. TNTrevor Noah
  No one takes away, like, your Nigerian card.
57:27 – 1:00:58
Popularizing African Perspectives and Closing
1. TNTrevor Noah
  I, I, I would love to know, like, where you see these stories or these ideas going, you know? Your, your whole, your whole journey has been such a wonderful evolution. You know, it's, as you say, it's like 12 Years a Slave, you, you would be forgiven if you took the path that was presented to you after 12 Years a Slave.
2. LNLupita Nyong’o
  Mm-hmm.
3. TNTrevor Noah
  Which is like, "Okay, you do this very well, and so we would like you to do it forever." And, and, I, I must also say, this question is not about Hollywood per se.
4. LNLupita Nyong’o
  Mm.
5. TNTrevor Noah
  It's just that you happen to work in a film industry, but I think a lot of people deal with this. You did something well, and so the world said to you, "Hey, do more of it." And then you went and did something completely different, and they said, "Oh, wow. Oh, yeah. Okay, do more of that." And then you said, "No, I'm gonna do something completely different."
6. LNLupita Nyong’o
  [laughs]
7. TNTrevor Noah
  And they go, "Okay, do more of that," and they ... and do more of that. But here you are, I mean, with a podcast that is telling stories about Africans, that everyone can enjoy, by the way.
8. LNLupita Nyong’o
  Mm.
9. TNTrevor Noah
  Like, people ... I hope people listen to, to understand.
10. LNLupita Nyong’o
  Yeah.
11. TNTrevor Noah
  They're really funny and interesting, and the best way I can explain it to you is, don't go like, "Oh, but will I get it? It's, it's an African st- ... " I go like, "No, think of it this way. All food basically have the same ingredients, we just cook with different spices and different flavors." And so it's like, try a story with a different flavor.
12. LNLupita Nyong’o
  Mm-hmm.
13. TNTrevor Noah
  Yeah. That's, that's really all it is.
14. LNLupita Nyong’o
  I like that.
15. TNTrevor Noah
  Yeah. You know? I like that. And, and so I'd love to know where you would like to see this evolution continue towards. Like, what i- what does Lupita dream of doing beyond just telling the stories on the podcast? And I know you're always thinking bigger.
16. LNLupita Nyong’o
  Yeah.
17. TNTrevor Noah
  Where, where do you hope to go now?
18. LNLupita Nyong’o
  Well, my, my secret in- intention [laughs] with the podcast is that first of all, I wanted to popularize African perspective. Because one of the challenges is like when you go in with an idea for an African story, they're still scratching their head, like, "Who's the audience for this?" You know?
19. TNTrevor Noah
  Yeah.
20. LNLupita Nyong’o
  And all that.
21. TNTrevor Noah
  Yeah.
22. LNLupita Nyong’o
  So that was my intention, was to popularize African perspective in the hopes that s- maybe some of these will be a movie one day, you know?
23. TNTrevor Noah
  Right, right, right. Yeah.
24. LNLupita Nyong’o
  And, like, it, it gives more of an opportunity for people to be like, "Oh, yeah. I..." It seems familiar, you know?
25. TNTrevor Noah
  Yes. Yeah, yeah.
26. LNLupita Nyong’o
  And it's a l-
27. TNTrevor Noah
  Yes
28. LNLupita Nyong’o
  ... it's a light lift. You just spend 40 minutes with me once a week, that's not much to ask. You're in traffic anyway.
29. TNTrevor Noah
  [laughs]
30. LNLupita Nyong’o
  Put it on, you know? Mind your own. And so in that sense, hopefully it works on the subconscious of, of people who are not African, who are not familiar with Africa, to just recognize it as familiar.

Episode duration: 1:00:58

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Linkin Park and a Strict Church Upbringing

Who Are the Best Africans? South Africans, Nigerians, Kenyans

Building the Mind Your Own Story Podcast

Losing and Reclaiming Her Accent

Mimicry vs. Accents and the Mexican Connection

Different Personalities in Different Languages

Breaking Barriers and Coaching Her Xhosa for Black Panther

Privacy, Vulnerability and Telling Hard Stories

Challenging What Is Considered African and Black

The Breastfeeding Episode and Africans on the Global Stage

Coffee Connection Break

The Data Lie and Where Her Determination Comes From

Growing Up in Kenya, Colorism and Racial Awareness

Belonging, Citizenship and Being Enough

Popularizing African Perspectives and Closing

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