She is the youngest of four children and siblings include Kwame Nyong'o, illustrator and animator in Kenya, Tavia Nyong'o, Associate Professor of Performance Studies at New York University, and Dr. Omondi Nyong'o, Ophthalmologist at Palo Alto Medical Foundation.
Tavia Nyong'o, Kenyan-American cultural critic, historian and performance studies scholar
In 2003, he received his Ph.D. in American Studies from Yale, where he studied under the mentorship of Paul Gilroy and Joseph Roach.