Being the first African actress to win an Oscar Award didn't matter much in the Ugandan slum where Kenyan screen star Lupita Nyong’o filmed latest Hollywood blockbuster Queen of Katwe.
The locals working the market stalls didn't recognise the face that adorns fashion magazines across the world, and neither did the production's security.
"Slum dwellers, they don't care about Oscar winners," Lupita told the New York Daily News.
"Often times when we were on set, I would get stopped from entering a scene by the guards because they thought I was one of the market women. I blended in completely,” she recalled.
"It was refreshing to be in that environment and be anonymous for a change while filming."
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No such anonymity awaited her in the film industry, where she felt pressure to match her emotionally devastating turn in her first major role in 12 Years a Slave.
She said: "It was daunting."
"After you've had such a fulfilling acting experience like I had on 12 Years a Slave, what else could inspire or electrify me in the same way?"
She found an answer in the script for Queen of Katwe sent to her by director Mira Nair, a family friend.
"It's not very often you see this kind of story on a platform like a Disney movie, an African story with Africans front and center of their own narrative," said Lupita.
" It's a rarity. For me this film was an oasis."
"Because, of course, being an African myself, it's important for me to see and be a part of stories about people like me."
The actress remembers the sensory overload when she arrived in the United States as a teen.
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"I'm being reminded what it was like to be fresh off the boat when I came to America seeing it through their eyes." she actress said.
“I remember just being very overwhelmed with choice when I came to the U.S.,” she said. “Menus are exhaustive. The language is convoluted. Everything sounds like a song rather than actual food.”
Lupita will be returning to the continent for Marvel's upcoming film Black Panther, in which she'll play a fierce bodyguard to the titular African hero.
"I'm supposed to start training in a month, but I started doing it on my own already," she said.
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