Cynthia Erivo

Cynthia Onyedinmanasu Chinasaokwu Erivo (born on January 8, 1987) is an award-winning English actress and singer-songwriter. Born in South London to Nigerian parents, Erivo graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and had her big debut in the West End as Madeleine in the 2011 production of The Umbrellas of Cherbourg. Shortly after, she toured the UK with the stage musical Sister Act and was cast as Celie in the 2013 musical version of The Color Purple. In 2014, she co-wrote and recorded the single “Fly Before You Fall” for the soundtrack of American musical drama Beyond the Lights, reaching Number 21 on Billboard’s Hot R&B Songs chart. The following year, she released the album Cynthia Erivo and Oliver Tompsett Sing Scott Alan (2015) alongside fellow stage actor Oliver Tompsett and had her Broadway debut reprising her role as Celie in the Menier Chocolate Factory production of The Color Purple, winning a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical in 2016. In subsequent years, Erivo made her film debut with the Steve McQueen-directed Widows (2018) and played political activist Harriet Tubman in the biopic Harriet (2019), for which she received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress and Best Original Song for the single “Stand Up.”