page_title: Cynthia Erivo
section_title: Theatre
hierarchical_section_title: Cynthia Erivo / Career / Theatre
caption_attribution_description: English: Cynthia Erivo at the Black Girls Rock red carpet in 2018
context_page_description: Cynthia Onyedinmanasu Chinasaokwu Erivo is an English actress, singer and songwriter. She is the recipient of several accolades, including an Emmy Award, a Tony Award and a Grammy Award, and has been nominated for two Academy Awards.
  Erivo began acting in a 2011 stage production of The Umbrellas of Cherbourg and had her first screen role in the British television series Chewing Gum. She gained recognition for starring in the Broadway revival of The Color Purple from 2015 to 2017, for which she won the 2016 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical and the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album, among others. She ventured into films in 2018, with roles in the heist film Widows and the thriller Bad Times at the El Royale. Erivo portrayed the abolitionist Harriet Tubman in the biopic Harriet, receiving Academy Award nominations for Best Actress and Best Original Song. In 2020, Erivo starred in the crime drama miniseries The Outsider.
context_section_description: Erivo first appeared in roles on British television programmes such as Chewing Gum and The Tunnel. Her first stage role was in Marine Parade by Simon Stephens at the Brighton Festival. Her first musical role was in John Adams' and June Jordan's I Was Looking at the Ceiling and Then I Saw the Sky at Theatre Royal Stratford East.
  In 2013, Erivo played the role of Celie Harris in the Menier Chocolate Factory production of The Color Purple, a role which Whoopi Goldberg had originated onscreen. Erivo had previously portrayed Sister Mary Clarence/Deloris Van Cartier in a UK tour of the stage musical Sister Act, which Goldberg had originated in its film adaptation.
  Erivo originated the role of Chenice in the West End musical I Can't Sing! The X Factor Musical, which opened on 26 March 2014, at the London Palladium. The production closed on 10 May, just six weeks and three days since its official opening night.
  She is also featured as a recording artist, co-writing and performing "Fly Before You Fall" on the soundtrack to the American musical drama Beyond the Lights.
  She made her Broadway debut in the 2015 Broadway revival transfer of the Menier Chocolate Factory production of The Color Purple, reprising her role as Celie Harris alongside American actresses Jennifer Hudson as Shug Avery and Danielle Brooks as Sofia. The production began performances at Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre, from 10 December 2015. Among other awards for her performance, Erivo won the 2016 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical.
  Erivo starred as Cathy alongside Joshua Henry in a one-night benefit concert performance of Jason Robert Brown's The Last Five Years on 12 September 2016. Proceeds from the performance went to the Brady Center, a national gun violence organization.
  In February 2017, Erivo performed "God Only Knows" as a tribute to musicians who had died over the past year alongside John Legend at the 59th Annual Grammy Awards.
  In March 2017, Erivo and the cast of The Color Purple were nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award for their performance on NBC's The Today Show in May 2016. In April 2017, it was announced that Erivo and the cast of The Color Purple alongside The Today Show won the Daytime Creative Arts Emmy Award in the Outstanding Musical Performance in a Daytime Program category.
  In November 2017 she appeared on the charity benefit "Night of too Many Stars" hosted by Jon Stewart, where she performed a duet with frequent contributor Jodi DiPiazza of the Andra Day hit "Rise Up" they were accompanied by Questlove and The Roots.
caption: Erivo in 2018
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