Cynthia Erivo

Cynthia Chinasaokwu Onyedinmanasu Owezuke Amarachukwu Echimino Erivo was born on 8 January 1987 in Stockwell, London, England, to Igbo Nigerian immigrant parents. Her mother, Edith, worked as a nurse and raised Erivo and her younger sister Stephanie after their parents separated when Erivo was young. Erivo was disowned by her father at age 16 and has remained estranged from him. She later named her production company Edith's Daughter in tribute to her mother. Erivo attended La Retraite Roman Catholic Girls' School in Clapham Park and began a music psychology degree at the University of East London in 2004 before transferring to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, from which she graduated with a bachelor's degree in acting in 2010.

Erivo's early stage work in the United Kingdom included a role in Marine Parade by Simon Stephens at the Brighton Festival and a musical role in John Adams' and June Jordan's I Was Looking at the Ceiling and Then I Saw the Sky at Theatre Royal Stratford East. On 9 December 2012, she appeared in Alexander S. Bermange's and Stephen Clark's Living Every Day as part of The 24 Hour Musicals Celebrity Gala at the Old Vic. She also toured the UK in Sister Act, portraying Sister Mary Clarence / Deloris Van Cartier, a role Whoopi Goldberg had originated in the film adaptation. In 2013, Erivo played Celie Harris in the Menier Chocolate Factory production of The Color Purple, a role Goldberg had originated onscreen. She originated the role of Chenice in the West End musical I Can't Sing!, which opened at the London Palladium on 26 March 2014 and closed on 10 May 2014. She then starred in the European premiere of Dessa Rose at London's Trafalgar Studios from July to August 2014, earning a nomination for Best Leading Actress in a Musical at the 2015 BroadwayWorld UK Awards. Erivo also made her West End debut in the stage musical The Umbrellas of Cherbourg in 2011 and appeared in British television programmes including Chewing Gum and The Tunnel.

Erivo made her Broadway debut in 2015 in the revival transfer of the Menier Chocolate Factory production of The Color Purple, reprising her role as Celie Harris. The production began performances at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre on 10 December 2015, with Jennifer Hudson as Shug Avery and Danielle Brooks as Sofia. Her performance earned her the Tony Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical, the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical, and a Theatre World Award, all in 2016. In April 2017, Erivo and the cast received a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Musical Performance in a Daytime Program following their appearance on NBC's Today show, and the cast recording won the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album.

Beyond Broadway, Erivo starred as Cathy in a one-night benefit concert performance of Jason Robert Brown's The Last Five Years on 12 September 2016, with proceeds benefiting the Brady Center. In February 2017, she performed "God Only Knows" alongside John Legend at the 59th Annual Grammy Awards as a tribute to musicians who had died over the prior year. In November 2017, she appeared on Night of Too Many Stars, hosted by Jon Stewart, performing Andra Day's "Rise Up" in a duet with Jodi DiPiazza, accompanied by Questlove and The Roots.

Erivo expanded into film in 2018, appearing in both the neo-noir thriller Bad Times at the El Royale and Steve McQueen's heist film Widows, the latter of which was the first film she had ever shot. In 2019, she produced and starred in the scripted science fiction thriller podcast Carrier, voicing long-haul truck driver Raylene Watts. That same year, she played the title role in Harriet, a biographical film about abolitionist Harriet Tubman, which began production in October 2018 and was released on 1 November 2019. Her performance earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress, and she received a second nomination for Best Original Song for "Stand Up," a song she co-wrote and performed for the film. She became the second consecutive person, and the first person of color, to earn acting and songwriting Oscar nominations for the same film in a leading role.

On television, Erivo portrayed Holly Gibney in the HBO crime drama miniseries The Outsider in 2020 and played Aretha Franklin in National Geographic's Genius: Aretha in 2021, the latter earning her a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie. She went on to portray Elphaba in the 2024 film Wicked, receiving an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress for the role. For reprising the role in Wicked: For Good in 2025, she became the first Black actress nominated twice for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy at the Golden Globe Awards. Her rendition of "Defying Gravity" with Ariana Grande from the Wicked soundtrack earned her a second Grammy Award. As a recording artist, Erivo has released singles and two solo albums, in 2021 and 2025. Her accumulation of Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony nominations places her among a small group of artists to have been nominated for all four awards, having won all but the Oscar.