Cynthia Onyedinmanasu Chinasaokwu Erivo (born 8 January 1987) is an English actress, singer, and songwriter.
She is known for her performance as Celie in the Broadway revival of The Color Purple, for which she won the 2016 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical, the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical, the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album, and the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Musical Performance in a Daytime Program, the latter two she shared with the rest of the cast.
Erivo ventured into films in 2018, with roles in the heist film Widows and the thriller Bad Times at the El Royale. In 2019, she portrayed abolitionist Harriet Tubman in the biopic Harriet, for which she earned nominations for an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award.
Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo Defy Gravity in Dazzling First-Ever Look at ‘Wicked’
variety.comRebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter Universal brought the first-ever footage of Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba and Ariana Grande as Glinda in the movie version of “Wicked” to CinemaCon, the annual movie theater owners convention in Las Vegas.
Erivo and Grande weren’t on hand to perform, but viewers were able to hear the captivating sounds of classic tunes like “Defying Gravity” and “Popular” in the background of the dazzling, magical footage.
In the never-before-seen clip, Michelle Yeoh as Madame Morrible works with Elphaba to help her control her powers. “Once you learn to harness your emotions, the sky is the limit,” Morrible tells her student.
The featurette gives a sense of the sweeping, brightly lit set and includes scenes of Elphaba roaming the halls of Shiz University before meeting Glinda, who presents her new roommate with that iconic pointy hat. (It’s really, uh, sharp.
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