Lupita Nyong’o celebrated her immigrant story and Dreamers at the Oscars

Mar 5, 2018

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Lupita Nyong’o and Kumail Nanjiani stood in solidarity Sunday night and used the Oscars’ platform to show support for the thousands of Dreamers living under the threat of deportation.

The actors presented the award for Achievement in Production Design at the 2018 Academy Awards, and encouraged DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) Dreamers to keep striving.

“Like everyone in this room and everyone watching at home, we are dreamers,” Lupita Nyong’o said. “We grew up dreaming of one day working in the movies. Dreams are the foundation of Hollywood, and dreams are the foundation of America.”

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“And so, to all the dreamers out there, we stand with you,” Nanjiani said.

Both Nyong’o and Nanjiani are immigrants who became successful actors thanks to opportunities they’ve found in the United States. The 35-year-old actress Lupita Nyong’o was born in Mexico City to Kenyan parents, and Nanjiani grew up in Pakistan before moving to Iowa for college. Nanjiani joked they both hail from “two places that nobody in Hollywood can find on a map.”

Those same freedoms are on the brink of being stripped from some 800,000 undocumented immigrants who have resided in the United States. The fight continues as March 5 is the deadline Donald Trump picked for Congress to work out a solution to prevent DACA recipients from facing deportation.

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Lupita Nyong’o was also riding high last night based off of the success or her latest movie, Black Panther. The biggest, Blackest movie of the year has only been out for two weeks, but already, it’s the 17th highest domestic release, surpassing big films like The Lion King, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. It’s only $7 million away from surpassing E.T. — The Extraterrestrial to claim the 16th spot, according to Variety.

As for what’s next for the Oscar-winning actress,Shadow and Act has confirmed that Lupita Nyong’o and Viola Davis will star in an exciting new project exploring the true story behind the Panther’s female fighting force, the Dora Milaje.

The film, entitled The Woman King, is based on an extraordinary mother-daughter story acquired by TriStar. “There’s no one more extraordinary than Viola Davis and Lupita Nyong’o to bring them to life,” said Hannah Minghella, president of TriStar Pictures.

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The film will tell the story of the Kingdom of Dahomey, the kingdom that reportedly inspired Christopher Priest — the first Black comic book writer for Black Panther—to create King T’Challa’s fierce female army.

“The Woman King has the potential to be a game changer for women of color everywhere,” Tennon told Shadow and Act. “The Woman King will tell one of history’s greatest forgotten stories from the real world in which we live, where an army of African warrior women staved off slavery, colonialism and inter-tribal warfare to unify a nation.”