Lupita Amondi Nyong’o was born in Mexico City on March 1, 1983, to Kenyan parents Dorothy Ogada Buyu and Peter Anyang’ Nyong’o, a college professor. The family had left Kenya for a time in 1980 due to political repression and unrest; Peter’s brother, Charles Nyong’o, had gone missing after being thrown off a ferry in 1980. Nyong’o is of Kenyan and Mexican descent and identifies as “Kenyan-Mexican.” She is the second of six children and is of Luo descent on both sides of her family. It is a Luo custom to name a child after the events of the day, so her parents gave her the Spanish name Lupita (a diminutive of Guadalupe). Her father was a Kenyan government Minister for Medical Services who later became the Governor of Kisumu, Kenya. He was a visiting lecturer in political science at El Colegio de México in Mexico City at the time of her birth.
When Nyong’o was less than a year old, her family relocated to Kenya, where her father was appointed as a professor at the University of Nairobi. She grew up in Nairobi, primarily in a creative family, and describes her upbringing as “middle class, suburban.” Family gatherings frequently included children’s performances and theater trips. In Kenya, she attended Rusinga International School and participated in school plays.
Lupita Nyong’o parents: Meet Anyang’ Nyong’o, Dorothy Nyong’o
Lupita Amondi Nyong’o was born in Mexico City to Kenyan parents, Dorothy Ogada Buyu and college professor Peter Anyang’ Nyong’o.
