Before Lupita Nyong'o was the Oscar-winning actor we know her as today, she was a high school student at an all-boys academy. The '12 Years a Slave' star had a recent interview with In Style where she talked about how she learned early on that she had to question authority and stand up for what she believed in.

"I went to an all-boys school for high school, and they had girls in the last two classes. This is a school with 700 boys and a handful of girls," Nyong'o said. "At one point, there was an archaic rule that said that girls could not wear makeup to school. I was angry that the powers that be were trying to basically oppress and control the small female population. It infuriated me to the point that I started a petition."

Though Nyong'o admitted she herself was not that interested in makeup at the time, "I said to myself, 'Look, if a woman wants to wear makeup to school to feel confident in an environment where she’s a minority, why not? It doesn’t actually change whether or not she’s able to take in the information being given to her in the classroom,'" Nyong'o explained.

As a current ambassador for the beauty brand Lancôme, Nyong'o continues her fierce perseverance for equality and choice.