Lupita Nyong'o Talks Cold Plunges, The Wild Robot and Being on Vocal Rest for Three Months

-You look gorgeous. It is always great to see you. Thank you so much for coming back to the show. -Oh, I love being here. -Okay, good. Thank you. You were telling me backstage that you recently became an American citizen, by the way. -I did. -Congratulations. Thank you. Thank you very much. [ Cheers and applause ] -I'm so happy. -Yeah. -You'll be voting for the first time? -For the very first time, and I'm so excited about that. Thank you. -Are you excited to vote? -I'm very excited. You know, my father is a politician in Kenya, but I was never there for the election, so I was never able to vote for him. So it means a lot to me to finally be able to exercise my democratic right. -Yes! Exactly right! If you're eligible to vote, make sure you're registered. I also wanted to talk to you about this, because I read somewhere that you are getting into cold plunges, and I know -- Is it true? -Yes, it is. -Now, I've never actually, I did one on the show with Mark Wahlberg, where we sat in the bathtub together, but -- And I've been doing it for the past year and a half, and its great, Mark and I, yes. But what got you into this? And how long do you go in? And I'm afraid of it. -Well, it was part of my training for "Wakanda Forever." My trainer got me into it. [ Cheers and applause ] Shout-out The Nation. -Yeah. Come on. -And so I tried it then. And I hate the cold. -Yeah. -I hate it. -Yeah, me too. -And so it was very hard for me to start. But then the feeling after you get out, you feel like a superhero. I mean, you could do anything in the minutes after that. Didn't you feel that? -Kind of. Like, close to that emotion. I felt wet and -- Yeah, and I go -- I kind of said, "Why?" -Wow! -No, but I did feel a little invigorated. -Yeah. -But, I mean, how long do you get in there? Because Mark and I were only in for a little bit. -I get in there for about 3 to 6 minutes. -No! -I listen to a good song, and whatever length the song is, is as long as I stay in there. -That would really affect that song for me. -Yeah. [ Laughter ] -I would never think of that song the same way. I'd be like, "No!" Oh, my gosh. You brought us a video of you finishing a cold plunge. -Yeah, this is what I -- -Look at this. Wait. Well, no, no. That doesn't look -- You think that looks fun? That looks like -- That does not look like you're having a good time at all. I want to talk about your podcast, by the way. -Oh, yeah! -Congratulations on this. -Thank you so much. -"Mind Your Own." -Thank you. -You created your own show. -I did. -Tell everyone why you wanted to do this. -Well, I love podcasts, especially the storytelling shows. And I -- When I first moved to this country, I was really homesick and I started listening to "This American Life," and I loved it because you're meeting one person in America. And it just made me feel more at home in this country. And so when I was thinking about what I wanted to do, I envisioned this podcast where we could hear stories from the African perspective, because I missed home and I wanted to feel home one story at a time and kind of expand what it means to be African in today. And, yeah, so I wanted to -- -Good for you. This is -- It's out September 19th and it's available everywhere you get your podcasts. -Thank you. -Let's talk about your new movie, "The Wild Robot." It is 100% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. It is a beautiful animated movie. I wanted to read some reviews here. "'The Wild Robot' is a jaw-dropping, possibly one of the best films of the year." "An animated triumph --" -Wow. -Yes. "An animated triumph destined to become a classic." Here's one here. "If there was an Oscar category for voice performances, Nyong'o's 'The Wild Robot' is probably the strongest argument you could make for it." Congratulations. -Oh, wow! Wow! Lupita, that's big -- That's awesome. -It's big things, big things. -It's an animated film. And I heard that you lost your voice... -I did. -...halfway through this thing. What happened to you? -So, I -- So, the character I play, Roz, is a robot that starts off in her factory settings, and then, as she adapts to this wild island that she finds herself on to, you know, complete her task, which is her mission in life, she becomes more human. And, so, in the process of doing that first voice that's sort of like Siri, Alexa, very, very, very optimistic voice, I hurt myself in the booth. -It is very optimistic, those Alexas. -Yeah. -Yeah. -Yeah. -And, so, I got a polyp. And, so, the surgeon said that I had a 30% chance of curing myself naturally or else I would need surgery. And I spent three months in -- on vocal rest. -Three months? -Three months. -No talking? -I was using a bedroom voice. -Ooh! -So I could only really talk like this. -Oh, wow. -Yeah. -Oh, my gosh. -Yeah. -Is that hard to do for three months? -It was a lot of work. I mean, I realized how much my personality relies on me speaking. So I just became a very different person. -Yeah. I mean, just not only communicating, but just what if you go to a concert or something? -I did and I went to the Taylor Swift concert and I went to the Beyoncé concert. -And you didn't do any-- You didn't sing any songs? -I was like a Zen master, because I couldn't even -- Like, I couldn't even mouth the words, you know? I couldn't even think of singing in my head. I couldn't. I was just like... [ Whispering ] ♪ I'm just gonna shake, shake, shake ♪ -Yeah, it was torture. -Oh, my gosh. Is that before you did "Quiet Place"? -It was after, which wasn't helpful, was it? -That's a lot of quiet time. That's why I'm saying, oh, my gosh! -I know. -Good on you. What did you think when you first got asked to do the voice of a robot? -I thought, "Whoa. Okay. I'm -- How do you play a robot that doesn't have feelings?" -Yeah, because I would just be like, "Hello. How are you?" And that's why I don't get these roles. Yeah, exactly. -Well, I had -- I did experiment with some very robotic voices. The good thing about animation is, it takes a long time, so you can try things out and throw them out if they don't work. -You're so good. "The Wild Robot" is based on a book. Can you tell everyone what it's about? It's so cute. -Yeah. -It's about this robot called Rozzum 7134, and she gets stranded on this island. She doesn't know she's lost. And she's programmed to complete tasks. So she tries to find out who on this island would have bought her so that she can help them out. And all the wild animals are terribly afraid of her. But she lands on a task that changes the course of her existence and her programming. -Oh, that's perfect. Well done. That's the best anyone's ever set up -- And it's a little cute. Oh, my God. It's the most -- It's beautiful animation. And a great cast, by the way. -Yeah. -Pedro Pascal, Catherine O'Hara. I want to show everyone a clip. Here is Lupita Nyong'o in "The Wild Robot." Take a look. -Oh. Okay. Hello. Uh, this gosling is yours. -Negative. That gosling stalks me, emits noise, and makes simple tasks more complicated or impossible. -Yeah, they do that. Goslings imprint on the first thing they see, which would be you. -Congratulations. -As far as he's concerned, you're his mother now. -I do not have the programming to be a mother. -No one does. We just make it up. -Without an assigned task, my next priority is to return to factory. -Taking care of him is your task now. -Task acquired. Return mode delayed. A Rozzum always completes its task. -Oh, my gosh. It's so -- Lupita Nyong'o, everybody. "The Wild Robot" is in theaters and IMAX September 27th. More "Tonight Show" after the break. Stick around, everybody!