I like to play women who are in contrast to me. I think that's how I look at it: What aspect of this character offers me a chance to explore somethin… - Lupita Nyong'o

It's because of the prevalence of whiteness, Eurocentric standards of beauty that we experience this. You know? And it is subconscious. Colorism is the daughter of racism. But sometimes it seems like racism has had amnesia (laughter). You know? And so that's why I wrote this - to hopefully bring it to the fore and people can address it.

I was completely overwhelmed…The body registers stress, whether good or bad, in the same way. So if it’s super exciting or super traumatising, your body is in equal distress. Though I would choose excitement over trauma every day.

To me it felt like a question about our value system in this culture, the ways we define success for ourselves as well as others,