Everything you need to know about Tony Award winner Cynthia Erivo

Tony and Grammy winner. Oscar nominee. Elphaba. Here’s what you need to know about Cynthia Erivo.

Cynthia Erivo is not a newbie in Hollywood, but a rather seasoned actress who has delivered memorable performances from the big screen to Broadway. Yet, with her new film Wicked, she has seemingly gathered a new legion of fans, and given the film’s mammoth budget and promotions, it is undoubtedly one of the biggest movies of her career. Taking on the role of Elphaba that Idina Menzel once immortalised on stage, Erivo now brings her own spin to it. While the world is familiar with her co-star Ariana Grande, here is everything you need to know about Cynthia Erivo, her net worth, acting career, accolades and more.

Wicked casting: How Cynthia Erivo came to play Elphaba

Casting for the roles of Glinda and Elphaba in director John M. Chu’s adaptation was a lengthy process. While the filmmaker held innumerable auditions and chemistry reads for the coveted roles, when he finalised Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, the two had never met or even been in the same room for a read. Recalling how he made the final decision, Chu told Entertainment Weekly, “They read with different people, but at the end of the day it very much was obvious that she was Elphaba and she was Glinda.”

While Erivo’s stellar vocals make her the perfect choice for the role, let’s look at her acting journey from before Wicked, her fortune and more.

Cynthia Erivo: Things to know about her net worth, acting career

Early career and breakout role

Cynthia Erivo is a London-born actress who trained at the prestigious Royal Academy of Dramatic Art before stepping into the world of showbiz. Her first brush with acting on screen started with British television as she earned roles in programmes such as Chewing Gum and The Tunnel. Further moving on to stage productions, she starred in Marine Parade by Simon Stephens at the Brighton Festival. While today she is known for being one of the most talented musical theatre actresses, Erivo’s first role in musical theatre was in John Adams’ and June Jordan’s I Was Looking at the Ceiling and Then I Saw the Sky which she performed at the Theatre Royal Stratford East.

Slowly making a name for herself in popular stage productions, her breakout role eventually happened with The Color Purple on Broadway. The musical revival which went on to do shows from 2015 to 2017 earned Erivo two major accolades including the 2016 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical and the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album. Another award earned by the musical was a Daytime Creative Arts Emmy Award in the Outstanding Musical Performance in a Daytime Program category — bringing Erivo much closer to the EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony) status considering she is only an Oscar win away.

Other famous stage roles portrayed by the actress also include her performance as Sister Mary Clarence/Deloris Van Cartier in a UK tour of the stage musical Sister Act. She also portrayed the role of Chenice in the West End musical I Can’t Sing!

Cynthia Erivo’s movies and TV shows

After charming the musical theatre audience with her incredible vocals, Erivo turned to movies to showcase her acting chops with some meaty roles. She made her film debut with the neo-noir thriller film Bad Times at the El Royale starring Dakota Johnson, Jon Hamm and Jeff Bridges. Continuing to explore genres, she also starred in the heist thriller film Widows (2018) directed by Steve McQueen. However, her most acclaimed film performance turned out to be the 2019 biopic Harriet in which Erivo portrayed the lead role of American abolitionist Harriet Tubman. Her arresting performance in the film earned her major acting nominations including Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama as well as an Oscar nomination for Best Actress. She also earned nominations for Best Original Song at the Academy Awards and the Golden Globes for her performance of “Stand Up.”

Following her acclaimed performance as Harriet Tubman, the actress has also featured in Luther: The Fallen Sun, a continuation of the crime drama series Luther and also essayed the role of a refugee during a war-torn Africa, in the movie Drift. In her impressive film career so far, Wicked is set to be one of the biggest projects and it will see her reprise the role of Elphaba in two parts. While Wicked Part 1 releases in November 2024, the second installment has been set for 2025.

After making waves on the big screen, Erivo turned to television. She appeared as investigator Holly Gibney in the HBO miniseries The Outsider in 2020. In one of her most famous TV roles, she portrayed singer Aretha Franklin in the third season of the anthology series Genius, which premiered in March 2021.

Music and singing career

Cynthia Erivo has carved her name among not only famous actresses but also singers. She is also a musician and released her debut solo album titled Ch. 1 Vs. 1, in 2021. At the 59th Annual Grammy Awards, Erivo was tasked to pay tribute to musicians who had passed away in the year and she delivered a memorable performance of “God Only Knows” alongside John Legend. She has also delivered iconic singing performances at charity events like Night of Too Many Stars, hosted by Jon Stewart, where she collaborated with Jodi DiPiazza for a performance of the Andra Day hit “Rise Up.”

In her newest film Wicked, Erivo lends her captivating voice to hits such as “The Wizard and I”, “What Is This Feeling?”, “I’m Not That Girl” and the famous “Defying Gravity.”

Friendship with Ariana Grande

Filming of Wicked truly brought Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande closer, to the point that the duo have even got multiple matching tattoos. In an interview with SiriusXM Hits 1 LA, Erivo and Grande also revealed details about their five-hour Facetime calls with each other, Grande said, “I’ll call to keep her company,” while Erivo clarified, “She’ll call when she’s doing her nails… Naturally, that’s a five-hour situation.” Besides chatting every day, the duo also found a sweet way to honour and cherish one another during press junkets. In one of her interviews, Erivo especially wore a pink ring to celebrate Grande’s character of Glinda. The actress also described Grande as the “kindest” she has ever met.

The Wicked poster and other controversies of Cynthia Erivo

Even as Harriet turned out to be a significant film for her career and even earned her critical acclaim for her performance — Cynthia Erivo’s casting for the film was not a smooth sailing ride. When Erivo was revealed as the lead star for Kasi Lemmons’ biopic, a few netizens expressed their disapproval of the same citing her Nigerian-British background. Conversations about non-African American actors being tasked to tell stories specific to Black American experiences led to online debates.

Criticism over Erivo’s casting for the film echoed the same feelings that were previously conveyed by netizens over Nigerian-British actor Chiwetel Ejiofor’s role in 12 Years a Slave. However, the discussions further worsened after Erivo came under fire for resurfaced tweets from 2013 that appeared to be mocking black Americans. Responding to the controversy and stating that her comments were taken out of context, Erivo said in an interview, “I would say it took a lot of hard work to get to this place [of playing Harriet Tubman] and I didn’t take it lightly. I love this woman and I love Black people full stop. It would do me no service, it would be like hating myself.”

Recently, Erivo also made the headlines for her reaction to a fan-edited poster of Wicked that sparked online discourse. While the iconic poster of the Broadway musical sees Glinda whispering into the ear of Elphaba whose face is covered with a hat with only her smile visible, the film’s recreated poster featured both the faces of the lead stars Erivo and Grande clearly.

After a fan edit resembling the original poster showcased Erivo’s eyes completely covered up, the actress called out the edited version offensive. Reacting to it in an Instagram story, she wrote, “This is the wildest, most offensive thing I have seen, equal to that awful AI of us fighting … None of this is funny. None of it is cute. It degrades me. It degrades us.”

It must be so crazy to be the fan who made this light edit and then wake up to this response https://t.co/gim5Thv3UL

— the federalist stinks!!!! (@rajandelman) October 16, 2024

While the film’s director John M. Chu came in support of Erivo and re-shared her comments, many netizens were surprised by the actress’ comments and found the altered poster not an insulting gesture or act of erasure.

Cynthia Erivo’s net worth and Wicked salary

Through her acting career that spans movies, TV and Broadway as well as her musical projects, Cynthia Erivo has amassed a sizeable fortune and according to Celebrity Net Worth, as of 2024, her current net worth is USD 3 million. In comparison, her Wicked co-star Ariana Grande stands at a much higher position with a fortune of USD 230 million. According to reports, there was also a significant difference in the salary drawn by the two stars for Wicked. As per Stylecaster, while Erivo earned USD 1 million for her role of Elphaba, Grande took home USD 15 million for playing Glinda.

Considering the hype surrounding Wicked part 1, it’s very much possible that Erivo and other cast members may receive a salary bump for the second instalment. The actress also has other projects lined up such as Susanna White’s directorial Prima Facie which is currently in pre-production and will further help soar her net worth.

The Tony-winning actress also owns a production company named Edith’s Daughter which recently inked a lucrative deal with Universal Pictures.

(Main and featured images: Cynthia Erivo/Instagram, Facebook)