Cat Mom Lupita Nyong’o Takes A Furry Friend To The Red Carpet

Lupita Nyong’o not only shares the screen with a feline co-star in the new film A Quiet Place: Day One, she’s also a devoted cat mom to a ginger tabby named Yoyo.

Although I haven’t seen most of Lupita Nyongo’s movies — I really liked her performance in Us and her voice work in Disney’s Jungle Book remake — I’m a big fan now that I know she’s a cat lover.

Nyong’o took to the red carpet for the premiere of her newest film, A Quiet Place: Day One in London on Wednesday, and her plus-one was a cat named Schnitzel, who also stars in the movie. Photos show Nyong’o posing along co-star Joseph Quinn, smiling as she cradles Schnitzel in her arms.

Lupita Nyong'o with her cat Yoyo
Lupita Nyong’o with her cat, Yoyo. In addition to posing with a cat on the red carpet premiere of her new film, Nyong’o proudly dotes on Yoyo and mentions him often. Credit: Lupita Nyong’o/Instagram

A Quiet Place is a 2018 film about a family that lives a completely silent life on a farm after the civilization has fallen to monstrous creatures that can’t see but are exceptionally sensitive to sound.

The film received nearly universal positive reviews for its use of sound — and the complete absence of it for long stretches — as a tension-building device, and a 2020 sequel continued the story.

Day One, which hits theaters on June 28, promises audiences a look at how the creatures appeared and civilization collapsed.

Schnitzel’s role isn’t entirely clear, but if it’s anything like 2022’s Prey, cats will fill their usual niche as predators, highlighting the difference between terrestrial and extraterrestrial hunters.

Caring for a cat in a world like A Quiet Place could be a double edged-sword: a super vocal cat like my Buddy wouldn’t last very long unless he quickly learned to keep a lid on his constant commentary, but cats are also incredibly sensitive to things that pass beneath the notice of us humans.

Thanks to their incredible hearing, exceptional sense of smell, the advantage of an extra olfactory organ and whiskers that pick up even the slightest stirring, felines are keenly aware of their surroundings.

As for Nyong’o, while Schnitzel is not her cat, she’s the proud cat mom of Yoyo, an orange tabby she fostered in late 2023. It only took her three days of fostering the little guy before she realized “I could not give him up,” she said last year shortly after the adoption was made official.

“I never understood people whose phones were full of photos and videos of their pets — now I am one of those people,” she wrote when she adopted the tabby. “It may look like I saved Yoyo, but really, Yoyo is saving me.”

Nyong'o and Yoyo the cat
Lupita Nyong’o with Yoyo. Credit: Lupita Nyong’o/Instagram

15 thoughts on “Cat Mom Lupita Nyong’o Takes A Furry Friend To The Red Carpet”

    1. I thought A Quiet Place was a really well made film with a unique premise, so I’m looking forward to seeing how a cat survives and navigates a world like that.

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    1. Thanks. Yeah that’s the original 2018 movie. I can confirm there are no dogs or cats killed. While it’s been a while since I’ve seen it, I’m pretty sure the oddly unspecific notes on there have to do with one of the monsters getting killed.

      The first two Quiet Place movies were PG-13 and it looks like this one will be as well. The earlier films did a good job of relying on psychological horror, the minimalist “less is more approach” to allow the viewer’s mind fill in the gaps.

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    3. Okay I bravely risked spoilers to confirm Schnitzel’s character, who is called Frodo in the film, does not die.

      Of course that doesn’t mean anything for the human characters, as we learned in Alien, but maybe Lupita is our Ripley in this movie.

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  3. Am I the only one whose first thought was “I hope Schnitzel doesn’t freak out and get loose and hurt on the red carpet!”? Yeah, I know s/he is probably a professional and used to being in the spotlight, but my cat parent instinct was “Oh no, poor baby!” 😉

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    2. I couldn’t find anything about the agency that trained this particular cat, but I’ve seen some behind the scenes stuff for cat-centric movies like Keanu and the kitties are incredibly calm. I’m willing to bet that’s the first and most important lesson for cats who are part of productions, which always have a lot going on and people around even when the cameras aren’t rolling.

      But yeah, I think we all have that thought for a second when we see stuff like this.

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  4. 🤣🤣🤣A foster fail. Thank goodness i never had that problem but i was THIS CLOSE once. Blu went to woman nearby with dog Major.May they all rest in peace. Both humans and both pets.

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  5. Schnitzel has nerves of steel compared to my cats. I could never take any of them into the public eye without them freaking and running off.

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