British actress and singer Cynthia Erivo first garnered success in the United States when she starred as Celie in Oprah Winfrey’s revival of the Alice Walker classic The Color Purple on Broadway. Erivo won the 2016 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her performance. In 2017 — along with Jennifer Hudson and Danielle Brooks — Erivo won a Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album.
The multitalented star of Nigerian descent then turned her attention to film and television, where she starred as Black abolitionist Harriet Tubman in the film Harriet in 2019 and Aretha Franklin in the television series “Genius.”
Now, Erivo tackles arguably her biggest role, Elphaba — alongside singer Ariana Grande— in Wicked. Rolling out spoke exclusively with Erivo about the experience of filming the movie.
“It was one of the most incredible experiences I’ve ever had in film and not just because the film was a wonderful thing to do, but the people who I got to work with, the cast and crew were just spectacular,” she said to rolling out. “They are wonderful, wonderful people and I feel like I gained a bit of a family, so I’m excited for people to see it and excited to experience other people seeing it.”
Erivo then shared advice about how she decided to pursue greater opportunities in the United States.
“We have to make certain decisions in order to make sure that we have the space to do what we want to do — and that was basically the story,” she shared. “For me, the point I was making was why. There has to be a reason why, a reason why you want to stay and why you want to go. It’s not everyone else first. It starts intrinsically … before it becomes about everything else.”
Wicked is in theaters now, with the sequel scheduled for release next year.
