Cynthia Erivo

Cynthia Erivo
Erivo during Wicked: Part I press tour
Born	January 8, 1987 (age 38 ) Stockwell, London, England
Occupation	Actress Singer
Years active	2010–present

Cynthia Erivo is a British actress and singer who in 2024 went onto star as Elphaba Thropp, a misunderstood young woman born with green skin who later becomes the Wicked Witch of the West in the film adaptation of Wicked: Part I, and will reprise the role in the 2025 sequel Wicked: For Good.

Biography

In November 2021, it was announced that Erivo and Ariana Grande were cast as Glinda and Elphaba. On October 9, 2024, to coincide with tickets going on sale, a poster was released with Erivo and Grande as Elphaba and Glinda, which paid homage to the original poster art of the stage musical. By October 16, 2024, Erivo went onto talk about the controversy surrounding the edited poster stating: This is the wildest, most offensive thing I have seen, equal to that awful AI [sic] of us fighting ... None of this is funny. None of it is cute. It degrades me. It degrades us. The original poster is an illustration. I am a real life human being, who chose to to [sic] look right down the barrel of the camera to you, the viewer ... Because without words we communicate with our eyes. Our poster is an homage not an imitation, to edit my face and hide my eyes is to erase me. And that is just deeply hurtful.

Trivia

• As revealed in an interview on Vanity Fair her full name is Cynthia Onyedinmanasu Chinasaokwu Erivo.
• Erivo previously had performed "I Couldn't Be Happier", an excerpt from the song "Thank Goodness", in the PBS special Wicked in Concert.