# What are the best Lupita Nyong'o movie performances?

> From her Oscar-winning debut in 12 Years a Slave to her captivating dual role in Us and her acclaimed voice work in The Wild Robot, Lupita Nyong'o has proven herself one of Hollywood's most fearless and versatile performers. Vote for the role you consider her greatest.

*By YPB Team · Published April 11, 2026 · https://youpick.best/ranking/what-are-the-best-lupita-nyongo-movie-performances*

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## Current results (no votes yet)

1. **12 Years a Slave**
   Her Oscar-winning debut as Patsey, a brutalized enslaved woman, is one of the most devastating and fearless screen performances in cinema history.
2. **Us**
   Playing both a suburban mother and her terrifying doppelganger Red, Nyong'o delivered a physically and emotionally demanding dual performance that earned her the New York Film Critics Circle's Best Actress award.
3. **Black Panther**
   As Nakia, Wakanda's most skilled spy and T'Challa's love interest, Nyong'o brought intelligence, strength, and warmth to one of the MCU's most grounded heroes.
4. **The Wild Robot**
   Her voice performance as Roz, an android learning motherhood in the wild, is so nuanced and emotionally layered that critics called it one of the all-time great voice acting performances.
5. **A Quiet Place: Day One**
   Playing a terminally ill cancer patient navigating an alien invasion almost entirely without dialogue, Nyong'o conveyed every emotion through expression alone in a tour-de-force silent performance.
6. **Queen of Katwe**
   As the determined mother of a Ugandan chess prodigy, Nyong'o delivered one of her most understated and quietly powerful dramatic performances in this inspiring true story.
7. **Star Wars: The Force Awakens**
   As Maz Kanata, the thousand-year-old pirate queen rendered entirely in motion capture, Nyong'o brought surprising warmth and wisdom to one of the Star Wars sequel trilogy's most memorable new characters.
8. **Widows**
   In Steve McQueen's tense heist thriller, Nyong'o held her own against an all-star ensemble as Veronica Rawlings, a widow forced to pull off an audacious robbery to survive.
9. **Little Monsters**
   As Miss Caroline, a ukulele-playing kindergarten teacher who cheerfully shields children from a zombie apocalypse, Nyong'o showed off delightful comedic charm in this cult horror-comedy.
10. **Non-Stop**
   In this Liam Neeson action thriller, Nyong'o stood out in a supporting role that showcased her screen presence before she had become a household name.
11. **Black Panther: Wakanda Forever**
   Nyong'o returned as Nakia in this emotionally charged sequel, carrying some of the film's most poignant grief-laden scenes in the wake of Chadwick Boseman's real-world passing.
12. **Star Wars: The Last Jedi**
   Nyong'o expanded Maz Kanata's role in a fan-favorite comedic sequence, proving her ease with the franchise's sense of humor even while appearing entirely as a CGI creation.
13. **Suburbicon**
   In this dark Coen Brothers-scripted satire, Nyong'o played Daisy, a Black woman at the center of a white suburban community's violent racism, in a quietly affecting dramatic turn.

Tags: movies, celebrities, women, actors, performances