‘Super Sema’ star Lupita Nyong’o: ‘Black Panther … – yahoo.com

NEW YORK, NY - FEBRUARY 12: Lupita Nyong'o attends Marvel Studios Presents: Black Panther Welcome To Wakanda during February 2018 New York Fashion Week: The Shows at Industria Studios on February 12, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by John Lamparski/WireImage)

Lupita Nyongo was born in Mexico, raised in Kenya, and then attended college in the United States. So the 38-year-old Oscar winner understands the value and reach of globe-spanning entertainment, having grown up on a very healthy diet of film and television from America, England, Australia and Mexico.

What I didn't grow up with was entertainment that reflected myself or my community, my continent, Nyongo tells Yahoo Entertainment in a new interview. I was robbed of the experience of seeing myself in a show.

Enter Super Sema, the new YouTube kid-targeted animated series Nyongo is helping bring into homes around the world.

I wept tears of joy knowing that such a thing existed, Nyongo says of signing on to executive produce and lend her voice to the equal parts entertaining and educational Sema after being sent some early episodes. It was a no-brainer because this was exactly the kind of thing I want to see in the world.

'Super Sema' (Image courtesy of YouTube)

The show, which releases in five- to six-minute episodes, follows the adventures of the eponymous young African girl who uses the powers of STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and math) to Technovate! (her key catchphrase) and routinely save the day in the futuristic world of Dunia. Produced by Kenyas Kukua edutainment startup, Sema is written by four-time BAFTA winner Claudia Lloyd and directed by Lynne Southerland, who became Disneys first female African-American director when she made Mulan II

There series gets an undoubtable boost from the involvement of Nyongo, the in-demand actress best known for films like 12 Years a Slave, Us and Black Panther, who voices the character of Mama Dunia.

I want to be a part of getting out to the world an imaginative, positive, representation of an African world with a dark-skinned African grow the center of it whose super powers are science, technology, engineering, art, and math. Nyongo says. It just hits so many, so many boxes for me. I want us to evangelize about it because it's the kind of show that I wished I had when I was a little girl, not only to see myself in it, but also a show encouraging kids to be curious and scientific. It's making science more accessible and fun. I think I would have had way more career options if I had this show when I was little.

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Nyongo sees the globe-spanning import Super Sema as another positive development in the increasing visibility of underrepresented communities in entertainment. I think things are opening up in exciting ways, she says. You have companies that are evaluating their cultural positions. You have people recognizing that both the world is larger than their particular cultural perspective, and therefore the market is demanding what it wants to consume.

Of course, one of the biggest barrier-breaking releases of recent years was another Nyongo project steeped in Afrofuturism, the 2018 mega-hit Black Panther, which became the fourth-highest-grossing movie of all time.

Nyongo will soon return to Wakanda (actually Atlanta) to begin production on Black Panther 2, which is once again being directed by Ryan Coogler. But it will be with the heaviest of hearts having lost Chadwick Boseman, who played Marvels African king, TChalla, and died in August of colon cancer at 43.

NEW YORK, NY - FEBRUARY 27: Black Panther stars Chadwick Boseman and Lupita Nyong'o attend a panel discussion about the box office smash Black Panther at The Apollo Theater on February 27, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Shahar Azran/WireImage)

The actress grew very close to Boseman over their shooting experience together, and penned a powerful tribute to him after his death.

People will ask me, Are you excited to go back? Excitement isnt the word. I feel like Im in a very pensive and meditative state when it comes to Black Panther 2. His passing is still extremely raw for me, Nyongo says before her voice starts to crack. And I cant even begin to imagine what it will be like to step on set and not have him there.

But at the same time we have a leader in Ryan, who feels very much like we do, who feels the loss in a very, very real way as well. And his idea, the way which he has reshaped the second movie is so respectful of the loss weve all experienced as a cast and as a world. So it feels spiritually and emotionally correct to do this. And hopefully, what I do look forward to, is getting back together and honoring what he started with us and holding his light through it. Because he left us a lot of light that were still going to be bathing in. I know that for sure.

Super Sema is now streaming on YouTube. Watch the trailer:

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'Super Sema' star Lupita Nyong'o: 'Black Panther ... - yahoo.com