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.
died in February 2021 at the age of 91.Many of the iconic British actress’ old pals and costars such as “Princess Diaries” star Hector Elizondo also appeared throughout the evening.
Princess Mia Thermopolis herself, Anne Hathaway, sent in a lovely recorded message to pay tribute to Andrews.Her “Mary Poppins” costar Dick Van Dyke also relayed a message via video.
Other iconic who made appearances included Jane Seymour, Steve Carell, Fran Drescher, Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani.Andrews was presented with the prestigious award by comedian Carol Burnett.“This night reminds me with great clarity how many people are involved with making movies,” Andrews said in her acceptance speech. “What a huge collaborative effort it takes to bring film to the screen.
My husband Blake [Edwards] never liked when people referred to filmmaking as the business or an industry. He insisted that film was an art form and should always be called that.
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