Entertainment

Who Is Lupita Nyong'o's Selfie-Loving Brother?

by Lia Beck

On Sunday night's Oscars, the selfie that crashed Twitter featured a ton of A-list stars and one really stoked family member. Lupita Nyong'o's brother made his way into host Ellen DeGeneres' Oscar selfie and had no problem sticking his head right in front of Angelina Jolie. He is even more clearly in the picture than his sister who had to peep over Brad Pitt's shoulder. His sister is a new Academy Award winner and "the pride of Africa" according to Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta, but who is Lupita Nyongo's brother other than one of the most excited people on earth right now?

Lupita's brother, Peter Nyong'o was her date to the show and is a huge supporter of his sister. When she was nominated for her Oscar, Peter posted a video to his Instagram account of himself dancing shirtless to Pharrell Williams' Oscar-nominated song "Happy." Peter captioned the clip, "I LOVE LOVE LOVE MY SISTER! #HAPPY CLAP ALONG IF YOU FEEL LIKE HAPINESS IS THE TRUTH!! @lupitanyongo GOING TO THE OSCARS #notimeforclothes. [sic]"

Peter seems like a happy guy in general. Part of his Instagram profile reads, "Living life IN an exclamation point." Peter backs up this awesomely optimistic sentiment with pictures of himself living it up at events with Lupita. There's one of his mother and sister with Oprah and another of he and Lupita attending the Palm Springs Film Festival together.

Lupita thanked her brother directly in her acceptance speech saying, "My brother Junior sitting by my side. Thank you so much. You are my best friend." After the show, she spoke to E! News about his appearance in the epic selfie. "I think that's his win for sure. He got into the most famous selfie in the world. I'm glad I could have facilitated that."

The famous Oscar selfie was not the beggining or end of Peter's photos with Hollywood's biggest stars. He has pictures with Jamie Fox, Samuel L. Jackson, Meryl Streep, and Tom Hanks. Of Streep he wrote, "To see someone so extraordinary seem so extraordinarily ordinary is truly extraordinary!" After the ceremony, he added to his collection with John Travolta and Gabrielle Union pics. He also posed with Lupita's Oscar because how could you not?

It's hard to find much information on Peter himself, but reportedly he is a college student in Florida. That would explain the dorm room look in his celebratory video. We do know that he is named after his father, a Kenyan senator, and judging by the background of his Twitter page it looks like he plays saxophone. Peter is a big soccer fan too as evidenced by this funny post:

Peter remains pretty mysterious, but it's clear that he loves his sister, really loves attending events with her, and is infectiously positive. For now, he's probably fine with being known as the best part of the Oscar selfie.

Images: Peter Nyong'o Jr./Instagram