Cynthia Erivo

Cynthia Erivo (born January 8, 1987 in London, England, of Nigerian parents) trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, starred on Broadway in the musical The Color Purple (2015-2017), earning a Tony Award and a Grammy. She played a singer in Bad Times at the El Royal (2018) with Jeff Bridges, a hairdresser in Widows (2018) directed by Steve McQueen with Viola Davis. She portrayed abolitionist Harriet Tubman in Harriet (2019) directed by Kasi Lemmons, wrote the original song “Stand Up.” She acted in Chaos Walking (2021) directed by Doug Liman from the science fiction trilogy by Patrick Ness. On television she acted in The Outsider (2020), played Aretha Franklin in the miniseries Genius: Aretha (2021).

Read Nominee Profile 2020: Cynthia Erivo, "Harriet" by Elisa Leonelli.