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" Every single laundromat, grocery store, everything is called 'Lupita' in Mexico. "

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" The beauty standards had nothing to do with me in Mexico. It was such a bizarre, dire time for my hair. I was living in a small town where there was not any semblance of an African community. I'd have to take the bus to Mexico City to find a woman who could braid my hair. That was two and a half hours away. "

" Ralph Fiennes was a pivotal influence on me. He asked me, 'So what is it you want to do?' I very shyly, timidly admitted that I wanted to be an actor. He sighed, and he said, 'Lupita, only be an actor if you feel there is nothing else in the world you want to do - only do it if you feel you cannot live without acting.' "

" The set of '12 Years a Slave' was an extremely joyous one! We all recognized that we were making a powerful, necessary and beautiful film, and we weren't about doing it without that sense of responsibility, and we recognized that we needed each other to tell this story. We also knew we needed to hold each other up as we told the story. "

" We, as human beings, have the capacity for extreme cruelty. "

" Being a part of '12 Years a Slave' has been one of the most profound experiences of my life. "

" I want to be uncomfortable - acting is uncomfortable. "

" My father was a professor of political science and also a young politician fighting for democracy in Kenya, and when things got ugly, he went into political exile in Mexico. Then I moved back to Kenya shortly after I turned one, and I grew up in Kenya. "

" Slavery is something that is all too often swept under the carpet. The shame doesn't even belong to us, but we still experience it because we're a part of the African race. If it happened to one, it happened to all. We carry that burden. "

" I do my best work when I feel conviction to say something through the character I play. Always I want to have integrity and not compromise that. "

" Whoopi Goldberg looked like me, she had hair like mine, she was dark like me. I'd been starved for images of myself. I'd grown up watching a lot of American TV. There was very little Kenyan material, because we had an autocratic ruler who stifled our creative expression. "

" I value not being good at things, because children are not good at things. "

" As actors, you become an expert at starting over. "

" There is something about acting that's mysterious and magical because there is only so much I can do to prepare, and then I have to just let go and breathe and believe that it will come through. "

" I got teased and taunted about my night-shaded skin, and my one prayer to God, the miracle worker, was that I would wake up lighter-skinned. The morning would come, and I would be so excited about seeing my new skin that I would refuse to look down at myself until I was in front of a mirror because I wanted to see my fair face first. "

" I am thrilled beyond words that The Academy has recognized my performance in Steve McQueen's '12 Years a Slave,' and I am deeply proud to be in the company of my fellow nominees. "

" What's becoming very obvious to me is that fashion is art. "

" Human beings have an instinct for freedom. "

" There's always a sense of newness with acting, because every role, you come to every role fresh. "

" It's so funny, you go to acting school thinking you're going to learn how to be other people, but really it taught me how to be myself. Because it's in understanding yourself deeply that you can lend yourself to another person's circumstances and another person's experience. "

" I have a very ostrich mentality. I feel like I have my head in the sand so no one can see me. "

" I can speak of actors that I love. I love Cate Blanchett, Viola Davis, her tenacity. I love Charlize Theron. She's so surprising and so exhilarating, the kinds of projects she takes on. Marion Cotillard as well. "

" I would love to have a career that's governed by the material; I always want to be part of stories that I feel are worthwhile. "

" The muscles you flex in theater are muscles that you really need. I must always find a way to get back there. It's irreplaceable. "

" I always love to learn new things. That's the reason I like being an actor. "

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

" I didn't know any successful actors in Kenya, so I felt like I could get away with going to college to study film more easily than I could with saying, 'I want to be an actor.' That's what I did. "

" I had moved back to Kenya after undergrad, and I went through this crisis of, 'What is my life going to be about?' "

" I've loved the opportunity to learn about the fashion world and appreciate it as an art form, and I look forward to my continued education, but I never want it to take over my acting. "

" I never understood who all those people are behind the actors! When you see them on the red carpet on TV, you go, 'Why does that person need such a large entourage?' And then you realize that every single person there has a role to play. "

" I was born in Mexico because my father was teaching at a school in Mexico City. I was born during the third year he was there. And when I was 16, I returned to Mexico to learn Spanish. "