Lupita Nyong’o will receive this year’s CinemaCon Star of the Year Award, Mitch Neuhauser, managing director of CinemaCon, announced today. CinemaCon, the official convention of the National Association of Theatre Owners, will be held April 8-11 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. Nyong’o will be presented with this special honor at the Big Screen Achievement Awards ceremony taking place on the evening of April 11 at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace and hosted by official presenting sponsor The Coca-Cola Company.
“In just over ten years, Lupita Nyong’o has established herself as one of the most talented and respected actors of our time,” noted Neuhauser. “From her Oscar winning role in 12 Years a Slave to her most chilling and determined performance in Us, she never fails to surprise, captivate, and engross us with each new role she undertakes. Lupita Nyong’o is recognized around the world for being a star of the highest magnitude, and CinemaCon and the global exhibition community are honored to recognize her as its 2024 Star of the Year.”
Nyong’o can be seen this summer starring in A Quiet Place: Day One, releasing in theatres nationwide on June 28. Produced in association with Michael Bay's Platinum Dunes and Sunday Night Production, the film is executive produced by Allyson Seeger and Vicki Dee Rock, alongside producers Michael Bay, Andrew Form, Brad Fuller, and John Krasinski. Written and directed by Michael Sarnoski, A Quiet Place: Day One also stars Joseph Quinn, Alex Wolff, and Djimon Hounsou, as they experience the day the world went quiet.
Kenyan actress, producer and New York Times Bestselling author, Nyong’o made her feature film debut in the Academy Award winning film 12 Years a Slave for which she received the Academy Award, the Screen Actors Guild Award, the Critics’ Choice Award, the Independent Spirit Award and the NAACP Image Award. Additional film credits include Black Panther, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Us, Little Monsters, Queen of Katwe, Star Wars: The Force Awakens and The 355. She served as an executive producer for Sudanese director Mohamed Kordofani’s feature debut, Goodbye Julia, the first-ever Sudanese feature to screen at the Cannes Film Festival, which was selected by the country to be its second-ever Academy Awards submission for Best International film.
In addition to a successful career on the big screen, Nyong’o earned a Tony nomination for her Broadway debut in Eclipsed, won an Emmy® Award for the narration of her New York Times best-selling children’s book Sulwe, and executive produces the family program Super Sema, which is now in its third season. Nyong’o can also be heard narrating Discovery’s docuseries Serengeti, for which she has earned two Emmy award nominations, and she will host a podcast centered on non-fiction cultural storytelling from the African diaspora.
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