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.
‘Wicked’ Has Live Vocals From Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Director John M. Chu Says
deadline.comThe upcoming Wicked musical movie doesn’t use canned vocals, director Jon M. Chu says. Both Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande insisted on singing live during the production of his big-screen adaptation of the stage show.
Their vocals will be used in the finished version of the film. “These are live vocals,” Chu told Vanity Fair. “When we were shooting it, those girls were like, ‘F— the pre-records.
We’re going live.'” Chu was hesitant, telling his stars that there would be “a lot of wind” in their air pipes while performing and singing at the same time.
But Grande and Erivo persisted, telling the filmmaker, “‘Yeah. That’s what we do.'” Grande has long sought to be in a film version of the Broadway musical.
Read more on deadline.com