News Beat
Amazing rise of Wicked star Cynthia Ervio from broken home to Hollywood stardom
CYNTHIA ERIVO has sobbed her way through three years of Wicked’s press tour with co-star Ariana Grande, so imagine the epic waterworks if Hollywood whispers prove correct and the South Londoner bags an Oscar.
She is heavily tipped for the gong for her second outing as green-skinned witch Elphaba in the sequel, which just banked £174MILLION worldwide on its opening weekend.
And if she does, Cynthia will become only the sixth Brit to secure a coveted EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony), joining the likes of Audrey Hepburn, Sir Elton John and Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber.
Not bad for a girl who grew up in a small flat in Stockwell with her single mum and younger sister.
Indeed, Cynthia’s journey is worthy of a film itself, given the many hurdles she has overcome, including encountering racism, an old tweets controversy and dismay surrounding her bonkers relationship with Ariana.
A showbiz insider said: “Cynthia’s story is remarkable.
“It’s not been an easy ride for her but she’s managed to become an elite performer in many fields.
“Her drive is unparalleled — and there’s a big reason why.
“There would be zero surprise if a movie was made about her life some time in the future.”
The Oscar buzz surrounding Wicked: For Good is even greater than that sparked by 2014’s first instalment of the hit franchise.
It received ten nominations in last February’s ceremony but landed just two gongs — for Best Costume Design and Best Production Design.
Crazed fan
And a big factor behind the noise is the ramped-up scrutiny surrounding Cynthia’s bond with Ariana — who plays fellow witch Glinda.
They’ve gained traction for their cringe-worthy interviews where the pair gush over each other’s “auras”, Cynthia getting emotional after a helicopter interrupted an outside chat, Ariana refusing to speak during the film’s New York premiere to show “solidarity” with her ill co-star, as well as the fact they always seem to be touching each other.
Plus, Cynthia came to Ariana’s rescue when a crazed fan jumped a barrier in Singapore, days after she bizarrely kissed the US singer’s arm after a producer touched it during a press conference days earlier.
Their viral moments will be watched more times over than the film for many — while some naysayers say the pair’s antics is the reason they won’t be seeing the movie.
In her new memoir Simply More, Cynthia attempts to explain their intense relationship by revealing the lead stars made a pact to “protect and care” for each other throughout the entire process of the movie.
And Cynthia says a big reason for that was to dispel a lazy stereotype regarding women working together.
‘WE ALIGNED WITH EACH OTHER’
She said: “We hear often how female co-stars, or really, any co-stars, can sometimes let their egos get in the way until they battle each other, destroying the creative process for everyone involved.
“We were determined to do the opposite.
“We were determined to defy the stereotype of two women working together — bickering, catty and competitive. We aligned with each other.”
Cynthia is unlikely to be fazed about what people think of her.
With her 21 piercings, shaved head, terrifyingly long nails — which she keeps lengthy to “attract people” to her — and unique fashion sense, she’s a supremely confident individual with laser focus on achieving her dreams.
Cynthia’s sheer determination to succeed can be levelled at one major lift-altering event — being abandoned by her father aged just 16 at a London Tube station.
Her mother Edith moved to the UK from Nigeria in her early twenties and met a fellow Nigerian immigrant while working in healthcare.
The pair laid down roots in South London but when Cynthia and her sister Stephanie were very young the couple split, and Edith was left to raise the girls.
But whereas her mother was a beacon of support, encouraging Cynthia’s love of performing, her father was the opposite.
And that came to a head after an argument over a “transit pass”, when he told the then teenage Cynthia he “didn’t want to be in our lives any more”.
She said: “I was nothing. An empty space.
“From that moment forward, to him, I had ceased to exist. It was the last day I ever spoke to him.”
Cynthia reveals that other than knowing his name, favourite beer (Tennent’s) and go-to meal, she has scant information on her father and intends to keep it that way.
She has now “released him from his father role” and “holds no animosity towards him” — but says his cutting ties with her made her “desperately want to show him I was extraordinary,” sparking her drive.
She became a keen runner, completing two marathons, five half-marathons and regularly logs 15 to 20 hours a week.
At one point she wanted to become a spinal surgeon, but then shifted her focus back to her age-old dream of performing, graduating from her all-girls’ Catholic school to study music psychology at the University of East London.
However, she found the course “boring” and left, finding joy in a job at the Stratford Theatre Royal.
They literally took my voice away and gave it to someone else . . . I was devastated
Cynthia Erivo
There, she worked in every position from front of house selling tickets, to serving drinks, to usher — but she really wanted to be on stage.
However, due to her lack of experience, her pleas to show producers fell on deaf ears, so she signed up to a Young Actors Company course.
Her talent got noticed and she was encouraged to apply for the world- renowned Rada school.
But she says her time at the London acting academy was blighted by unfair treatment and lack of understanding from the powers that be.
Cynthia, who is now Rada vice- president — an irony not lost on her — was one of only four black students in her year and believes she was not afforded the same privileges as white classmates.
To pay her tuition fees, she earned money as a backing singer in a band.
She asked for an exemption from class to join the group on a mini-tour, which would have covered a significant chunk of her payments.
Her request was rejected, although she says another student, a former Eton pupil, was allowed to star in a play during the same period she asked for time off.
At 20 she felt like a total “outcast” at Rada and her fears were confirmed when, after two white female stars became ill and could not sing for a production, instead of Cynthia being drafted in to replace them, the aspiring singer had to belt out tunes backstage while the poorly leads lipsynced to her vocals.
Cynthia said they “literally took my voice away and gave it to someone else . . . I was devastated.”
After graduating from Rada in 2010 with a BA in acting, she appeared in a play called Lift at London’s Soho Theatre, and I Can’t Sing! — a musical based on TV talent show The X Factor.
Around this time she got a call to appear in a musical that would put her on the map.
The Color Purple saw her play Celie, a poor African-American woman living in the US’s rural South.
The part had been played by Whoopi Goldberg in the 1985 film.
Cynthia more than delivered in the role, with the show sold out every night in the West End before becoming a huge hit on Broadway.
The Color Purple landed Cynthia a Tony, Grammy and Emmy. Three-quarters of the EGOT were complete.
Two years later, she made a huge impact on the big screen by landing an Oscar nod for the title role in Harriet, the biopic based on the life of American activist and former slave Harriet Tubman.
During the promo run of Harriet, Cynthia became embroiled in a scandal when her old tweets resurfaced which seemed to mock black Americans, namely for their “ghetto accents”.
But she rode the storm — stressing the messages were taken out of context and were not mocking anyone, then managed to bag her dream role in the Wicked movies.
The weird relationship she has with her father [in the film] is almost too close to the bone
She had been desperate to play Elphaba due to the obvious parallels between the character and her own life.
“The weird relationship she has with her father [in the film] is almost too close to the bone,” she explained.
“She’s so young and looking for her father’s approval and wants so desperately to be loved by him.
“They have this toxic and very loving relationship.
“It was all way too similar to my own life.”
To prepare, she sang songs from the soundtrack on her gruelling runs.
But playing green-faced Elphaba was no easy ride, given how long it took to apply and remove the make-up.
“I was often the last one on set,” she said.
She also suffered extreme “chafing” courtesy of the harness worn to film flying scenes.
She said: “On a daily basis I was bruised. I definitely had a bloody nose at some point. I broke my nails.
“I kept landing on my knees and even lost the feeling in the skin on my left thigh.”
Plus being locked into her costume meant she couldn’t use the bathroom for “12 or 14 hours”.
That’s enough to reduce anyone to tears.
