Cynthia Erivo’s journey from nativity play solo to MBE

Wicked star Cynthia Erivo has topped off another hugely successful year after being made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the New Year Honours list for services to music and drama.

The stage and screen star called the news “an honour I could never have thought would happen”.

“I hope it shows that I care deeply about the work and will continue to do so to the best of my abilities,” she added.

The British star can currently be seen on the big screen in Wicked: For Good, which has already earned her a fifth Golden Globe nomination, while a fourth Oscar nod could follow next month.

The 38-year-old has already won a Grammy, daytime Emmy and Tony, meaning she is an Oscar win away from securing EGOT status – the rare achievement of winning all four of the most prestigious awards in television, music, film and Broadway.

And nepo babies, look away now – Erivo has achieved all this without any industry or family connections.

“My family’s not a musical, acting family. I had no clue how to do this,” Erivo told The Guardian last year.

The actress and singer was born to Nigerian parents who immigrated to the UK in their early 20s.

The couple split when Erivo and younger sister Stephanie were small, and Erivo has said her father cut off all contact when she was 16.

“I think it made me quite angry as a teenager. I sought out a way to prove that I was loveable, that I was good enough to be loved,” she told the BBC .

Her mother Edith, a nurse, brought the siblings up in Stockwell, south London.

“Mum always said I sang before I spoke, but I don’t remember that,” Erivo told Harper’s Bazaar in 2021, adding that she first discovered her voice had an impact when she sang in a nativity play aged five.

“I had a solo (Silent Night). I loved that I got to sing a song by myself, and that this song made people smile and be happy.”

Having caught the acting bug, she performed in a musical version of Bertolt Brecht’s The Caucasian Chalk Circle at the of 11.

She went on to star in a youth production of Romeo and Juliet at London’s Young Vic Theatre when she was 15, but wasn’t sure if she could make a career of it.

So she initially enrolled at the University of East London to study music psychology after leaving school.

However, it wasn’t long before she changed tack and took up a place at prestigious drama school, Rada (Royal Academy of Dramatic Art).

But it wasn’t plain sailing. She had to work a lot while studying and told the Guardian she was considered “lazy” when she was actually “just tired”, which she thought led to her not being offered big roles.

She still managed to get her own agent and landed several stage roles after graduating, before taking on her first West End role as Madeleine in The Umbrellas of Cherbourg in 2011.

In 2013, she played Celie, the main character in The Color Purple, again in the West End, before it transferred to Broadway, where she picked up a Tony award for her efforts. The production also won a Grammy and a daytime Emmy.

That springboard brought her to the attention of the film world, with roles in movies including Steve McQueen thriller Widow (2018).

Her titular role in biopic Harriet (2019), the story of the abolitionist Harriet Taubman, catapulted her into the Hollywood stratosphere.

Oscar and Golden Globe nominations followed, both for best actress and best original song, for Stand Up.

TV roles also began stacking up in shows such as the Stephen King mini series, The Outsider, and Genius, the anthology series about Aretha Franklin, in which she played the leading role.

Wicked, based on the hit musical of the same name, brought new levels of attention, thanks to Erivo’s critically-acclaimed performance as the so-called future Wicked Witch of the West, Elphaba, alongside Ariana Grande as Glinda the Good.

The pair went viral for their hand-holding, emotional interviews and matching tattoos, not to mention Erivo’s amazing nail art.

The recently released sequel, Wicked: For Good, has also been creating headlines, with Erivo rushing to her co-star’s aid on the yellow carpet at an event in Singapore, after a fan jumped over the barrier and put his arm around Grande.

Erivo has won rave reviews for her reprised role, so if she nabs a best Oscar win come March, and the coveted EGOT, it will be the cherry on the icing on the cake.

Erivo explained her connection with Elphaba, saying: “I understand what it feels like to be set apart from everybody else, and not fit in.

“Yes, I understand what it feels like to be a kid whose father doesn’t care; yes, I understand what it’s like to feel alone when you’re in a room full of people who don’t know where you’re coming from or why you’re so tired, or why you do things your way.

She told the Guardian: “Me and Elphaba had that same journey, trying to fit, and it doesn’t work. Your only choice is to be who you are.”