'I have to make deliberate choices on everything': Lupita Nyong'o talks about living with discrimination and dealing with the scrutiny that comes with fame

PUBLISHED: 19:02, 1 December 2015 | UPDATED: 19:24, 1 December 2015

She is ranked among the greatest Hollywood actresses after winning an Oscar last year for her harrowing role in 12 Years A Slave.

And while Lupita Nyong'o gears up for her latest blockbuster, Star Wars The Force Awakens, the 32-year-old has talked about dealing with the scrutiny that comes with fame.

Speaking with ELLE UK’s Kenya Hunt, she said: ‘I don't think being conspicuous is a state we’re supposed to live in, or at least not permanently.

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'I have to make deliberate choices on everything': Lupita Nyong'o has talked about dealing with the scrutiny that comes with fame in a new interview with ELLE UK

‘I wish there was a dial we could turn up and down. And in a sense I can, by making very deliberate choices about what I do and when and how, and with whom.’

The Mexican-Kenyan star - who became Lancôme's first black ambassador - candidly discussed the challenges and stereotyping of ‘beauty’ in the acting industry.

‘If you turn on the television and you are not represented on that television, you become invisible to yourself,’ she explained.

'it would become a society that doesn’t value darker skin': The Mexican-Kenyan star - who became Lancôme's first black ambassador - candidly discussed the challenges and stereotyping of ‘beauty’ in the acting industry

‘And there was very little of myself that I saw on TV, or in the movies that I was watching, or in magazines that were lying around the salons or around the house. And so these are subconscious things.

‘Yes, Western beauty standards are things that affect the entire world. And then what happens? You’re a society that doesn’t value darker skin.’

The Oscar winner also recalled a moment from when she was growing up as a child in Mexico, by revealing: ‘[Living in Mexico as a child] people would stop and take pictures of us just because we were black.’

Star appeal: She is ranked among the greatest Hollywood actresses after winning an Oscar last year for her harrowing role in 12 Years A Slave

‘It was a time during that tricky adolescent phase when you’re coming into yourself and you’re trying to pave your own way but you’re insecure about where you lie. It devastated me.’

Elsewhere, Lupita confirmed that she is currently producing and starring in an adaptation of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Americanah with Brad Pitt’s company Plan B.

In February, she is set to wow critics in Eclipsed, a Broadway play about four captive wives of a rebel soldier in the Liberian Civil War.

To read the full interview, buy ELLE’s January issue, which is on sale from December 3

Hot talent: In February, Lupita is set to wow critics in Eclipsed, a Broadway play about four captive wives of a rebel soldier in the Liberian Civil War