POPSUGAR

Oscar Winner Lupita Nyong'o "Felt Quite Fabulous" About That Hug From Liza Minnelli

Mar 2 2014 - 8:10pm

Lupita Nyong'o took home her biggest honor of award season — the Academy Award for best supporting actress [1] for her role as Patsey in 12 Years a Slave — at LA's Dolby Theatre on Sunday night. She gave a moving speech [2] that had her costar Benedict Cumberbatch in tears, and continued her sweet sentiments in the press room. Lupita gave credit to her parents for her ability to stay humble in Hollywood and added that "at the end of the day I feel it is my deeds that are more important than my fame." Lupita also shared that she's learned a lot about herself throughout this process:

"What I learned from myself is that I don't have to be anybody else and that myself is good enough. When I'm being true to myself I can avail myself to extraordinary things that I didn't think were necessarily possible, but I didn't cancel it out of my realm of possibility. And I think that's the thing — you have to allow for the impossible to be possible."

Lupita was encouraged by many previous Oscars nominees and winners, who told her going into the Academy Awards that the "outcome doesn't matter" and that she'd "already won because the work was done." When she did actually win though, Lupita had a hard time believing it:

"I'm a little dazed. I can't believe this is in my hands, I cant believe this is real life. I'm really overwhelmed. . . . I don't think it's sunk in yet. I'm holding this thing and it's in my hands, but I haven't wrapped my mind around it yet. You hear people wanting you to win and predicting you'll win and everything but it's just not real until you hear Christoph Waltz say your name, and it's perplexing. It's very perplexing, but I'm so happy to be holding this golden man. . . . This is my first time here, and I feel like Willy Wonka in the Chocolate Factory."

Lupita, who "felt quite fabulous" when she got a hug from Liza Minnelli on her way up to the stage to accept her Oscar, plans on celebrating with a stop by the Governors Ball after the show.


Source URL
https://www.popsugar.com/entertainment/Lupita-Nyongo-Oscars-Press-Room-2014-34233690