All throughout filming '12 Years a Slave,' there was a focus like no other. Everyone took ownership of this film and gave their all.

I got teased and taunted about my night-shaded skin, and my one prayer to God, the miracle worker, was that I would wake up lighter-skinned. The morning would come, and I would be so excited about seeing my new skin that I would refuse to look down at myself until I was in front of a mirror because I wanted to see my fair face first.

I went to an all-boys high school, and they accepted girls in only the two A.P. classes.

Before the advent of the white man, black people were doing all kinds of things with their hair. The rejection of kinks and curls did come with the white man.

I definitely love fantasy and would want to be in a fantasy project.

Ralph Fiennes was a pivotal influence on me. He asked me, 'So what is it you want to do?' I very shyly, timidly admitted that I wanted to be an actor. He sighed, and he said, 'Lupita, only be an actor if you feel there is nothing else in the world you want to do - only do it if you feel you cannot live without acting.'

The set of '12 Years a Slave' was an extremely joyous one! We all recognized that we were making a powerful, necessary and beautiful film, and we weren't about doing it without that sense of responsibility, and we recognized that we needed each other to tell this story. We also knew we needed to hold each other up as we told the story.

I hope we can form a community where a woman can speak up about abuse and not suffer another abuse by not being believed and instead being ridiculed.

The muscles you flex in theater are muscles that you really need. I must always find a way to get back there. It's irreplaceable.

I do my best work when I feel conviction to say something through the character I play. Always I want to have integrity and not compromise that.

When I was younger, I was almost too afraid to admit that I wanted to be an actor.

I spent some time back in Mexico at 16 because my parents thought it would be prudent for me to learn Spanish, because I held a Mexican passport.

I can speak of actors that I love. I love Cate Blanchett, Viola Davis, her tenacity. I love Charlize Theron. She's so surprising and so exhilarating, the kinds of projects she takes on. Marion Cotillard as well.

I am very emotional about politics in a way that makes it hard for me to articulate things in a rational fashion.

To this day, I love eating steak tacos before going to the red carpets.

I definitely intend to create my own work in the future so that we don't have to keep saying, We don't have work for black women.'

I have a very ostrich mentality. I feel like I have my head in the sand so no one can see me.

I want to be uncomfortable - acting is uncomfortable.

Home is where my family is.

The Hollywood Film Awards were really stressful. It was the biggest press line I'd ever seen.

I learned at Yale, one of the biggest lessons was to learn how special I am and therefore how totally unspecial I am. I was special among everyone else who was special. The fact that we're all so individual and that's what makes us special.

I grew up in Nairobi, which is the capital of Kenya, so it's hustle and bustle, and there's always something going on.

Being considered a fashion star is wonderful. It's definitely a bonus thing.

I'm Mexican and Kenyan at the same time. I've seen the quarrels over my nationality, but I'm Kenyan and Mexican at the same time. So again, I am Mexican-Kenyan, and I am fascinated by carne asada tacos.