Kenyan Actres Lupita Nyong’o Wins 4th Black Reel Awards

The annual American award ceremony, Black Reel Awards, is the oldest African-American-only film awards show and is hosted by the Foundation for the Augmentation of African Americans in Film (FAAAF).

The award show, which started in the year 2000, is hosted to honor the cinematic accomplishments of the African diaspora and the excellence of African Americans in the global film industry.

The winners of each category are decided by the voting members of the foundation and given a copy of a statuette officially known as the Black Reel Award.

The Black Reel Awards, which are celebrating their 25th edition this year, was held on Monday, 17 February.

At the award ceremony, Lupita Amondi Nyong’o, a Kenyan Hollywood actress, earned her fourth Black Reel Award.

The award was for the category “Outstanding Voice Acting” for her performance in the Oscar-nominated movie “Wild Robot.”

In 2020, Nyong’o became the first actor to win the Black Reel Award Triple Crown of Acting.

The Black Reel Award Triple Crown of Acting is an award given to performers who have won an award in three different major categories.

These categories are the Outstanding Lead, Outstanding Supporting Role, and Breakthrough categories.

Her performance in 12 Years a Slave earned her a 2014 award in the categories of Breakthrough Performance (Female).

In 2017, she won the category of Outstanding Supporting Actress for her supporting role as ‘Nakku Harriet’ in Queen of Katwe.

Then, in 2020, she became the first person to win the BRA’s Triple Crown of Acting after winning as Outstanding Actress for the movie US.

Other Wins at the 2025 Black Reel Awards

At the 25th Black Reel Awards, the spotlight was on the Amazon MGM Studios adaptation of Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize-winning book, “Nickel Boys.”

The movie received a total of six awards for Outstanding Screenplay, Outstanding Emerging Director, Outstanding First Screenplay, and Outstanding Cinematography.

They were followed by Netflix’s “The Piano Lesson,” which saw a total of four awards for Outstanding Supporting Performance, which was won by Danielle Deadwyler, Outstanding Ensemble, Outstanding Hairstyling & Makeup, and Outstanding Production Design.

Other notable winners included Marianne Jean-Baptiste, who earned the Outstanding Lead Performance award for her performance in Hard Truths, which also saw another award as an Outstanding International Film.

Luther: Never Too Much, which is directed by “Dawn Porter,” was recognized as it won the Outstanding Documentary category.

Huriyyah Muhammad received recognition for her work in “Chocolate With Sprinkles,” as she won the Outstanding Short Film category, while Minhal Baig’s “We Grown Now” won the award for Outstanding Independent Film.