Cynthia Erivo facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Cynthia Erivo
Erivo in 2024
Born	Cynthia Chinasaokwu Onyedinmanasu Amarachukwu Owezuke Echimino Erivo (1987-01-08) 8 January 1987 (age 38) Stockwell, London, England
Alma mater	Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
Occupation	Actress singer
Years active	2010–present
Awards	Full list
Musical career
Genres	R&B soul urban contemporary gospel Broadway
Instruments	Vocals

Cynthia Erivo (born 8 January 1987) is a talented British actress and singer. She has won many important awards, including a Daytime Emmy Award, a Grammy Award, and a Tony Award. She has also been nominated for three Academy Awards and four Golden Globe Awards.

Cynthia Erivo first performed in London's West End in the musical The Umbrellas of Cherbourg in 2011. She then made her Broadway debut playing Celie in The Color Purple from 2015 to 2017. For this role, she won the 2016 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical and a 2017 Grammy Award. In 2018, she started acting in movies like Widows and Bad Times at the El Royale. She played Harriet Tubman in the film Harriet (2019) and Elphaba in the musical fantasy film Wicked (2024). These roles earned her nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actress. She also wrote and sang the song "Stand Up" for Harriet, which was nominated for Best Original Song.

On television, Cynthia Erivo starred as Holly Gibney in the HBO crime drama The Outsider (2020). She also played Aretha Franklin in National Geographic's series Genius: Aretha (2021). As a singer, she has released several songs and her own album, Ch. 1 Vs. 1 (2021).

Early Life and Education

Cynthia Erivo was born in Stockwell, London, on 8 January 1987. Her parents were immigrants from Nigeria. She and her younger sister, Stephanie, were raised by their mother, who was a nurse. Cynthia named her production company "Edith's Daughter" to honor her mother.

She went to La Retraite Roman Catholic Girls' School in Clapham Park. As a child, she acted in school plays and even appeared on TV in Trust Me, I'm a Teenager. In 2004, she started studying music psychology at the University of East London. A year later, she was accepted into the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, where she studied acting. She graduated in 2010 with a degree in acting.

Career Highlights

Early Theater Work (2011–2014)

Cynthia Erivo started her career with roles on British TV shows like Chewing Gum and The Tunnel. Her first stage role was in Marine Parade. She also performed in the musical I Was Looking at the Ceiling and Then I Saw the Sky.

In 2013, Erivo played Celie Harris in the musical The Color Purple at the Menier Chocolate Factory. This was a role that Whoopi Goldberg had played in the movie version. Cynthia had also played Deloris Van Cartier in a UK tour of Sister Act, another role made famous by Whoopi Goldberg. She also helped write and sang the song "Fly Before You Fall" for the movie Beyond the Lights.

She also starred in the musical I Can't Sing! in London's West End in 2014. Later that year, she performed in Dessa Rose at Trafalgar Studios.

The Color Purple and Film Roles (2015–2019)

Erivo with Lupita Nyong'o at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival

Cynthia Erivo made her Broadway debut in 2015, bringing her role as Celie Harris from The Color Purple to New York. She starred alongside Jennifer Hudson and Danielle Brooks. Her performance was highly praised, with The New York Times saying it could change a performer's career. She won many awards for this role, including the 2016 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical.

In 2016, Erivo performed in a special concert of The Last Five Years to raise money for a gun violence prevention organization. In 2017, she sang "God Only Knows" with John Legend at the 59th Annual Grammy Awards to honor musicians who had passed away.

Cynthia and the cast of The Color Purple won a Daytime Emmy Award in 2017 for their musical performance on NBC's The Today Show. She also performed at a charity event called Night of Too Many Stars with Jodi DiPiazza and The Roots.

Her first movie role was in the thriller Bad Times at the El Royale in 2018. Critics praised her performance. That same year, she also starred in the heist film Widows, directed by Steve McQueen. In 2019, Erivo produced and voiced the main character in the science fiction podcast Carrier.

Erivo played the main role in Harriet, a movie about the American hero Harriet Tubman. The film was released in 2019. Her performance was called "powerful" and earned her a nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama. She also received a second nomination for Best Original Song for "Stand Up", which she co-wrote and performed for the film. In 2020, she received two Academy Awards nominations for Harriet: one for Best Actress and one for Best Original Song.

Career Expansion (2020–Present)

In 2020, Cynthia Erivo starred as investigator Holly Gibney in the HBO miniseries The Outsider, based on a novel by Stephen King. She also started her own production company, Edith's Daughter, to create TV projects. She appeared in the science fiction movie Chaos Walking, released in 2021.

Erivo played the famous singer Aretha Franklin in the series Genius, which premiered in March 2021. She released two songs, "The Good" and "Glowing Up," from her first solo album, Ch. 1 Vs. 1, released in September 2021. That same month, she joined the jury for the 78th Venice International Film Festival.

In 2022, Erivo performed at the BBC Proms, singing songs that inspired her. She also sang a medley of Stephen Sondheim songs at the 64th Annual Grammy Awards. Erivo played The Blue Fairy in Disney's 2022 live-action movie Pinocchio. Even though the movie received mixed reviews, her performance was praised. She also sang "Edelweiss" to honor Julie Andrews at the AFI Life Achievement Award ceremony.

Erivo with co-star Ariana Grande promoting Wicked in 2024

In 2023, she appeared in the Netflix crime thriller Luther: The Fallen Sun. She also starred in and produced the film Drift, where she played a refugee. She drew inspiration from her mother's experiences for this role. The next year, she performed in a concert production of Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music. She also paid tribute to Dionne Warwick at the Kennedy Center Honors.

Erivo played Elphaba in the musical fantasy film Wicked (2024), which is the first part of a two-movie adaptation of the musical play. She sang seven songs on the film's soundtrack, including "Defying Gravity", which became a top-ten hit in the UK. Critics praised her performance, and she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy and another Academy Award for Best Actress. This made her the second Black actress to be nominated for Best Actress more than once.

Personal Life

Cynthia Erivo is Roman Catholic. In 2024, she became the vice president of her former school, the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.

Acting Credits

Film

Key

Denotes films that have not yet been released

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2018	Widows	Belle
	Bad Times at the El Royale	Darlene Sweet
2019	Harriet	Harriet Tubman
2021	Chaos Walking	Hildy
	Needle in a Timestack	Janine Mikkelsen
2022	Pinocchio	The Blue Fairy
2023	Drift	Jacqueline	Also producer
	Luther: The Fallen Sun	Odette Raine
2024	Wicked	Elphaba Thropp
2025	Wicked: For Good		Post-production

Television

Theatre

Podcasts

Awards and Nominations

Cynthia Erivo has won many awards throughout her career. These include an Emmy Award, a Grammy Award, and a Tony Award. She has also been nominated for two Academy Awards, two BAFTA Awards, four Golden Globe Awards, and two Screen Actors Guild Awards.

She won the 2016 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her role in The Color Purple. The next year, she won the 2017 Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Musical Performance in a Daytime Program for The Color Purple. Also in 2017, she won the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album for The Color Purple.

Discography

Albums

Solo Studio Albums

Collaborative Studio Albums

Soundtrack Albums

Extended Plays

Singles

As Lead Artist

As Featured Artist

Other Charted Songs

Other Appearances

Images for kids

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  Erivo in 2024