Let Me Introduce You To My Cousins, Lupita Nyong’o And Louis C.K.

By Carolina Gonzalez, NPR/Code Switch

Ever since actress Lupita Nyong’o first exploded all over the media, many interviewers and fans alike have stumbled and fretted over how to pronounce her last name. (Go here for a wonderful lesson from Nyong’o herself). But for some of us, it was her first name that sounded an alarm in a frequency audible only to Latinos. Lupita? We know, of course, that she is identified as Kenyan, but some of us whispered, is she, you know, secretly Mexican? A Latina incognito?

As for the question of her first name, the answer is simple. She was named after Mexico’s Virgin of Guadalupe, Lupita for short, because that’s where she was born. Her parents lived there in exile. But, beyond her first name, she is Kenyan through and through. Still, she has saidshe feels close ties to her birthplace, where she returned for about a year as a teen. Plus, she still carries a Mexican passport continues to appreciate a mean taco or three. So, since she claims Mexican culture, do Latinos get to claim her as one of our own?

Click HERE to read the full story.

[Photo by Steve Rhodes]

Subscribe today!

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Must Read