Cynthia Onyedinmanasu Chinasaokwu Erivo is an English actress and singer-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 2015 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 also portrayed the abolitionist Harriet Tubman in the 2019 biopic film Harriet, receiving Academy Award nominations for Best Actress and Best Original Song. In 2020, Erivo starred in the crime drama miniseries The Outsider. In 2024, she portrayed the character Elphaba Thropp in the musical fantasy film Wicked, a role which she will reprise in the 2025 film Wicked: For Good.
For Disney, she played the Blue Fairy in the 2022 live-action remake of Pinocchio. She also voices Kratu in Star Wars: Visions, Dr. Akonam Ojo in Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, and The Slink in RoboGobo. She also played Deloris Van Cartier/Sister Mary Clarence in a UK touring production of Sister Act.